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David Tompkins

See Also: Curriculum Vitae

Field Specialties

Modern Germany and East-Central Europe, Cultural History, Music

Professor Tompkins specializes in the history of modern Central Europe, and is particularly interested in the relationship between culture and politics in the countries of Central Europe in the twentieth century. His current research examines musical life in East Germany and Poland during the decade of high stalinism from roughly 1948 to 1957. It focuses on the complex relationship between the Party authorities and composers, including party and state institutions and the Composers’ Unions, as well as the politicization of music among wider segments of society through festivals, musical groups, the state concert agencies, and amateur musical activity. His next project will look at cultural aspects of West German Ostpolitik and how this was received in East Germany and Poland.

Professor Tompkins has given papers at conferences and seminars in Potsdam, Wales, New York, and Washington, D.C., as well as presented his research at the conferences of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies and the German Studies Association. He has also recently given invited talks at The Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies and the Harriman Institute at Columbia University.

With respect to teaching, Professor Tompkins offers courses in the history of modern Europe. He teaches advanced undergraduate courses like The Turbulent Century: East-Central Europe, 1905-2005, The History of Germany since 1800, and Comparative Dictatorships: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. He has taught two graduate seminars, Europe, 1945-1991: The Cold War in the East and West, and The Two German Dictatorships. For more on his teaching, please refer to his homepage.

Professor Tompkins also coordinates a Research Seminar on Modern German and Central Europe.

Education

  • M.A. Ph.D., Columbia University, 1996, 2004
  • B.A., Rice University, 1993

Selected Publications

  • “Mobilization and Control: Music Festivals in Poland and the GDR, 1951-1955,” in Mikuláš Bek, Geoffrey Chew and Petr Macek, eds., Socialist Realism and Music (Prague: KLP, 2004).

  • “Musik zur Schaffung des neuen sozialistischen Menschen. Offizielle Musikpolitik des Zentralkommitees der SED in der DDR.” [Music for Creating the New Socialist Person: Official Musical Politics of the SED in the GDR.] in Tillmann Bendikowski, Christian Jansen, et al., eds., Die Macht der Töne: Musik als Mittel politischer Identitätsstiftung im 20. Jahrhundert [The Power of Tones: Music as a Means of Political Identity Formation in the 20th Century] (Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2003).

Selected Awards

  • Fulbright German Studies Seminar, 2007.
  • DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Faculty Research Grant, 2007.
  • H-German Award for Best Course Syllabus, 2006.
  • Luce Fund for Distinguished Scholarship Award, The College of Wooster, 2005.
  • ACLS Dissertation Fellowship in East European Studies, 2002-2003.
  • DAAD Short-Term Research Grant, 2002.
  • Harriman Institute Junior Fellowship, 2001-2002.
  • IREX Individual Advanced Research Opportunity Grant, 2001.
  • Social Science Research Council, Berlin Program for Advanced Studies Fellow, 2000-01.
  • Fulbright Foundation/Germanistic Society of America Fellow, 1999-2000.
  • Kosciuszko Foundation Graduate Studies and Research Grant, 1999.
  • National Security Education Program, Graduate International Fellow, 1998.
  • Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the Humanities, 1995-96.
David Tompkins

Contact Information

David Tompkins
Assistant Professor of History
915 Volunteer Boulevard
6th Floor, Dunford Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4065

Office: (865) 974-9896
Fax: (865) 974-3915
E-mail: dtompki3@utk.edu
URL: Personal Website