Little Germanies in Kansas and Missouri: Kannst du Deitsch plaudern?
9:00 a.m., Friday, Nov. 14, 2008
Webster Hall Auditorium
Admission: free

Beginning with Missouri in the 1830s and later in Kansas in the 1850s, immigrants from German-speaking lands flocked to this part of the U.S. — both Kansas and Missouri have over one-third of their population of German ancestry. Numerous German settlements emerged from Hermann and Concordia in Missouri to Hanover and Liebenthal in Kansas where German dialects and culture flourished until well into the mid-20th century. Now at the beginning of the 21st century, most of these communities have vanished into the American mainstream. A few cling to their German heritage via tourism and heritage societies. Professor William Keel will explore the history of these communities, their contributions to society, and the gradual loss of both literary German and the spoken German dialects.

William Keel, chair of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at the University of Kansas, has a Ph.D. in Germanic Linguistics from Indiana University. His primary teaching and research interests are in German dialectology, Germanic philology, the structure of Modern German, and German-American studies. He is internationally recognized as an expert on German settlement dialects (Sprachinseln) in the American Midwest and has lectured on that subject at several German universities and the Institut für deutsche Sprache in Mannheim. Since 1981, he has served as editor of the Yearbook of German-American Studies and, since 1986, as a member of the executive committee of the Society for German-American Studies.