The workshop „The Voice(s) of the People? Literature and Film between Democracy and Populism“ will offer a space for talks, close readings,and discussions of contemporary and canonical texts addressing the role of literature and film in their relationship to democracy and populism. This includes narrative forms and strategies, questions on the social status and position of cultural agents, and reflections on the specific media practices of democratic, political, and activist literature and films.

Whom do literature and movies speak for? Where do texts and authors situate themselves in the conflicting space between democracy and populism? Whom does literature represent, and how does it contribute to or contest the formation of social, national or cultural identities? Which specific groups are included or excluded when somebody claims to speak with the voice of the people? What makes literature and film an instrument of social critique and how can it be (mis-)used for agitative purposes?