Mirko M. Hall

Professor of German Studies, Chair of Humanities and Cultures

With his job offer on Valentine’s Day 2007, Dr. Hall became Converse’s first full-time professor of German language and literature in nearly 60 years. As the university’s only Germanist, he teaches all levels of language, literature, and culture. His upper-division courses focus on the cultural history of German-speaking Central Europe since 1750 and include interdisciplinary perspectives from the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Mirko’s recent seminars on “The Dakota-German War of 1862” and “Science Fiction Cinema of the Eastern Bloc” have attracted students from across campus.

The university has honored Mirko with the Cato Award for Faculty Excellence, the Kathryne Amelia Brown Award for Excellence in Teaching, the O’Herron Award for Faculty Excellence, the Scholarly and Creative Achievement Award, and the Student Life Faculty Involvement and Collaboration Award. He is also the recipient of a South Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities Excellence in Teaching Award. His most prized accolade remains the Joe Ann Lever Award of Excellence, which was presented to him by the graduating classes of 2011 and 2018.

Originally from the Twin Cities, Mirko received his BA with highest honors, MA, and PhD in German Studies from the University of Minnesota. He was a longtime student of the late Jochen Schulte-Sasse. As a Fulbright Fellow, he studied philosophy and musicology at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He also has a diploma in Modern Standard Arabic from the Defense Language Institute, where he studied under former Jordanian diplomat Adnan Sadduk.

Selected Publications & Presentations

Trained as an intellectual and cultural historian, Mirko’s research explores how radical forms of music promote cultural creativity, critique, and resistance. His book, Musical Revolutions in German Culture: Musicking against the Grain, 1800–1980, investigates a number of deconstructive approaches to musical production, consumption, and reception. He co-edited Beyond No Future: Cultures of German Punk with Seth Howes and Cyrus Shahan, a volume that explores how punk became an enduring cultural phenomenon. Over the past several years, Mirko has begun publishing scholarly and general interest articles on the history of Finnish-speaking Laestadian Lutherans in the Upper Midwest.

Degrees

  • BA , MA, and PhD in German Studies - University of Minnesota
  • Diploma in Modern Standard Arabic - Defense Language Institute