Erol M. Boran

M.A. Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg 1996

Ph.D. Ohio State University 2004

Erol Boran received his PhD from the Ohio State University with a dissertation on the history of Turkish-German theater and political cabaret. He joined UofT in 2006 and teaches courses on German literature, language and theater, and directs the German student theater, Theater DU. He is a recipient of the Faculty of Arts and Science Outstanding Teaching Award (2019) and the Innovate German Award by the Canadian Association of University Teachers of German (2020). Two of his most popular courses are the Theatre Production Course, which was included in the SoGerman Blog of the German Embassy Ottawa in 2018, and his first-year seminar entitled Our Vampires, Ourselves, featured in the UofT Bulletin in 2012. He recently completed the manuscript of a 1000-page German fantasy novel and is now in the process of revising it.

For more information, see his personal website.

GER150 “How German Is It?”
Students assume the role of culture detectives by exploring various periods of German cultural history, following clues, collecting evidence and drawing daring conclusions.
GER194 “Our Vampires, Ourselves”
This course explores the cultural significance of the vampire. The first part focuses on the Stoker-paradigm, the second part allows students to reflect on contemporary images.
GER220 “Monsters, Murderers and Magic”
This course focuses on ominous aspects of German literature from the nightmares of the Romantic psyche to its evil offspring during the postmodern era.
GER334 “Art between Integration and Resistance”
This course investigates contemporary German culture by paying attention to its ‘other’ voices. Topics vary, e.g., Turkish-German Stage Productions, Minor(ity) Perspectives, Turkish Migrations into German Pasts.
GER340 “German Theatre Production”
This course addresses students who enjoy engaging with language creatively. It takes them through all the stages of a theatre production (reading, interpreting, contextualizing, rehearsing a German play) and culminates in public performances.
GER354 “A Tale of More Than Two Cities – Berlin between East and West”
This course, taught in Berlin during the summer term, focuses on fictionalizations of the divided and reunited city and offers an exploration of walls, borders and boundaries in the physical, mental and symbolic realm.

From Provocateur to Personality: Serdar Somuncu’s “Arrival” in the Discourse on German National Memory (GSA Conference at Washington DC, 2015)
Turkish Migrations into the German Past (Post-Wall (Trans)National Conference at Memorial University St. Johns, May 2013 / GSA Conference at Milwaukee, 2012)
Charwoman, Bond Girl, Prostitute: Nursel Köse and the Challenge of Ethnic Boundaries (German Studies Conference, University of Texas at Austin, 2010)
Enter the Turk: Establishing Germany’s First Migrant Theater (German Studies Conference, University of Texas at Austin, 2008)
Identität-Ethnizität-Authentizität: Selbstdarstellung im türkisch-deutschen Kabarett (Invited Lecture at Waterloo Centre of German Studies, University of Waterloo, 2008)
Theatralischer Fremdsprachenunterricht: Die Deutschland-Seifenoper (CATG Annual Meeting, Saint Mary’s University at Halifax, 2007)

2022: Der Struwwel, adapted from a gory children’s book by Heinrich Hoffmann
2019: Der Komet, based on a pre-apocalyptical farce by August Wilhelm Iffland
2016: Woyzeck, based on a fragment by Georg Büchner
2016: Deutsch vom Fass, an anniversary production by Erol Boran
2015: Hochwasser III, based on an absurd drama by Günther Grass
2012: Drakul(j)a, a horror tale adapted by Erol Boran
2010: Die Physiker, based on a grotesque play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures University of Toronto

Erol M. Boran

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Classes 2022-2023

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Selected Lectures

Theater DU: Past Productions