NYPL Researcher Spotlight: Christina Dumetz

This profile is part of a series of interviews chronicling the experiences of researchers who use The New York Public Library's collections for the development of their work.

Christina Dumetz is a PhD candidate at the University of Paris-Nanterre.

Tell us about your research project.

I am currently conducting research for my doctoral dissertation on the theme “‘Heimat’ / Home in the Era of Globalisation: Responses from Germans Abroad” (here is a link to the synopsis). My research began as a desire to clarify disparate feelings about my own experiences as a German after almost twenty years living abroad in four different countries and three different continents. These experiences have led to my thesis that Germans who live abroad have different perceptions of their homeland and home than Germans who have remained in Germany. 

To investigate the variety and nature of these perceptions, I have been conducting a survey of first-generation German immigrants in the US and in France. Conducting the survey in two countries allows me to consider how these countries’ distinct geographical and cultural relationships to Germany may inform the answers I receive.

When did you first have the idea for your research project?

A little more than 10 years ago, during my training as a German teacher in France, I tried out a teaching unit lasting a few weeks on the topic of Heimat / home / homeland with my students, most of whom had an immigrant background, and I really enjoyed it. The students demonstrated considerable initiative in exploring the topic, and many were keen to talk about it. This inspired me to expand the topic and also to discuss it with adults. My subsequent experiences interviewing German immigrants to the Middle East—specifically during a stay in Bahrain in 2016—motivated me even more. I realized how interesting and fruitful an exchange this topic generates for both interviewer and interviewee.

What brought you to NYPL?

In 2018, I visited the Schwarzman Building of NYPL as a tourist and actually dreamed of working in it someday! When we moved here in 2020, despite the COVID pandemic, it was obvious—because we live in Midtown Manhattan—that I would be making use of this research library. Indeed I found many relevant works, including in German, which I could not get elsewhere. By reading a British handbook on “how to write a PhD,” and also because German libraries provide similar study rooms, I dared ask a librarian if I could get a quieter place to work than in the Rose Main Reading Room. The opportunity to work in the Wertheim Study Room has been uniquely positive for me. It is a pleasant, quiet place away from home; a place where I can fully engage in work without distractions.

Describe a moment when your research took an unexpected turn.

A research stay at the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison brought about a turning point in my work and gave me a strong motivational boost. I had learned of a “German Immigrant Oral History Project,” conducted between 2014 and 2016, in which Midwestern immigrants recounted their memories, including of Germany during the Second World War and its aftermath. The project thus addressed ideas of home in the broadest sense. With the support of my supervisor, I received a grant from my Parisian university in March 2022 to listen to these interviews. It was fascinating and inspiring to learn how German immigrants had fared in the past, and about their particular experiences in the Midwest, but it was also important to learn about oral history methodology, which ensures that ethical obligations as well as scholarly considerations are taken fully into account.

This turning point was not necessarily unexpected, but it was exciting to shift from theoretically oriented readings to the practical arena of surveys, and also to learn to conduct live interviews instead of relying on questionnaires.

What is the most interesting thing you've learned from a book lately?

That would be German social scientist Maike Schroeter’s dissertation about home and foreignness in German-French partnerships. Schroeter quotes from a book edited by Renate Nestvogel, 'Fremdes' oder 'Eigenes'? Rassismus, Antisemitismus, Kolonialismus und Rechtsextremismus aus Frauensicht (1994), which analyses how we negotiate foreignness. Rather than focusing on what is common and familiar, it is more fruitful to see and accept the actual difference of the other. Schroeter demonstrates how critical it is for us to recognize and acknowledge our dissimilarities, if living together is to succeed.