Hi everyone, my name is Natasza. I'm a PhD student in German Studies and placed the following locations on the map: 1) Krakow, Poland because I spent every other summer there; 2) Rajasthan, India because the group that my dissertation is focused on, the Sinti and Roma (the largest minority group in Europe), migrated from there in the 13th or 14th century. Scholars have traced this connection through linguistic study; 3) Hanau, Germany because the Brothers Grimm, whose fairy tales largely influenced the formation of German national culture, were born there. 

I'm currently writing my dissertation on ways that Sinti and Roma literature, theater and film challenge and redefine notions of community outside the scope of national boundaries removed link As such, the words that come to mind when thinking about geography include: place, resources and history. For me, geography immediately draws connections with a particular location and, in turn, the cultural/physical resources found there; i.e. is a specific place mountainous? Near the sea? Land-locked? What physical resources are available for a community's lifestyle and how does this influence the creation of cultural products. Studying the way a place, its people, and resources have changed inherently means studying history – what remains in a particular space and what has changed.