An introduction to contemporary German with emphasis on communicative fluency. Extensive practice in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Videos and Web-based activities introduce the student to topics from contemporary culture in German-speaking countries. Three periods.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: None.
Instructor: Hans, Nguyen
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Winter
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall
Notes: The department strongly urges all participants to sign up for both semesters in order to achieve the full introduction to the language that both semesters provide.
An introduction to contemporary German with emphasis on communicative fluency. Extensive practice in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Videos and Web-based activities introduce the student to topics from contemporary culture in German-speaking countries. Three periods.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: GER 101 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Hans, Nguyen
Typical Periods Offered: Spring
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring
Notes:
This seminar focuses on fairy tales, their history, and their continued impact on contemporary culture. We begin by studying the tales themselves, trying to uncover their original meanings and purposes. Out of what historical moments and psychological needs did the tales arise? Why did the Brothers Grimm collect and compile them in the first place? We then consider the ways in which they have been rescripted and repurposed in everything from poetry to popular film, examining how cultural production appropriates these fairy tale structures, even while radically straying from them. We read these texts against the backdrop of a range of theoretical approaches to childhood and to literary and cultural criticism, in order to uncover their significance in the past and today.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 15
Prerequisites: None
Instructor: Hans
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes:
Strengthening and expanding of all language skills with special emphasis on idiomatic usage. Thorough grammar review, written, oral, and aural practice. Readings on contemporary cultural topics. Three periods.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: GER 102 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Nguyen
Typical Periods Offered: Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall
Notes:
Strengthening and expanding of all language skills with special emphasis on idiomatic usage. Thorough grammar review, written, oral, and aural practice. Readings on contemporary cultural topics. Three periods.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: GER 201 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Nguyen
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Typical Periods Offered: Spring
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring
Notes:
Like GER 202 on campus, this course strengthens and expands all language skills including idiomatic grammar review, oral and listening practice, readings on contemporary and historical topics, and practice in composition. This course will be taught as an intensive Wintersession course in Berlin and will feature an important cultural component.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 14
Prerequisites: GER 201 or permission of the instructor. Application required. Not open to students who have taken GER 202.
Instructor: Nolden
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Typical Periods Offered: Winter
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Winter
Notes: Not offered every year. Wintersession offerings are subject to Provost's Office approval. This is a travel course, class will meet on campus prior to departure.
Before Disney, there were the Brothers Grimm: in this course, we will learn about the origins of fairy tales in a tradition of oral folklore, consider the tales' development in literature and culture, and examine their continuing impact today. What were the functions of these often so ‘grim’ tales? Can we find them reappearing today as foundational fictions by which children are taught to understand their world?
Primary readings will be in German. We will practice reading, writing, and discussion in German, and will review select grammar topics.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Hans
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall
Notes:
What does it mean to be “different” in Germany and Austria, and, by extension, what does it mean to “be” German or Austrian? In this class, we will consider the reciprocal relationship between those two positions and examine how religion, race, sexual identity, and citizenship is implicated in defining the individual’s position. Throughout history, minority groups have played key roles in shaping and (re)defining what “German” or “Austrian” actually means. By considering the centuries-long roles of the Jewish community and Black communities, the gay rights movement beginning in the late 19th century, and the history of the German-Turkish population and of immigration more broadly, we will examine the ways in which difference was defined at various points in history, trace the deep influence that those who might have been considered “outsiders” played in shaping German-speaking cultures, and look at the ways forward that are currently being sketched out by those working towards a broader and more inclusive society. We will focus on primary sources ranging from literature and journalistic texts to visual works to podcasts, interviews, and talks, and will practice how to understand and analyze these sources critically. The course will develop reading, comprehension, speaking, and writing skills.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 16
Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Hans
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes:
This course focuses on short prose forms from the post-WWII period. Among the topics we will examine will be how writers grappled with the German historical heritage and the events of the Third Reich, WWII, and the Holocaust; how literature developed in the two Germanies and how certain texts might rescript historical events in service of foundational fictions of resistance; how the women’s, students’, and other movements of the 1960s impacted and found expression in literature; and how literature increasingly makes visible an oft-hidden diversity in German-speaking society and culture. The course is designed to introduce great works of recent German literature and methods of literary analysis, and to practice advanced language skills through targeted grammatical review, analytical writing, and discussion.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Hans
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Typical Periods Offered: Fall; Every three years
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes:
This conversation course will introduce students to important topics of recent German history, beginning with the fall of the wall to present-day concerns about climate change. We will be basing our conversations on graphic novels to learn how authors represent issues of societal concern by addressing primarily younger German audiences. Appreciating the interplay of image and word, we will identify prominent patterns of colloquial speech to inform our own conversational practice.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Nolden
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes:
Intensive practice in oral and written communication and presentation; introduction to rhetorical strategies of conversation and discussion; introduction to elements of German prose style; practice of various forms of writing. Review of selected grammar topics. On the basis of newspaper and magazine articles, essays and stories, television news, film clips, and website materials, we will discuss and write about current events and issues in Germany and Austria. Designed for students who have completed four or five semesters of language training or equivalent.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: GER 202 or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Hans
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year; Spring
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes: Taught in German.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
Units: 0.5
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
This course examines the cinematic output of Nazi Germany as a test case for the development of film as propaganda. We consider the cinematic medium as entertainment and as a cultural event with the potential to influence a population. We trace the forebears of Nazi film, including WWI propaganda produced in Britain, France and Germany and Soviet films made to serve the revolutionary agenda. We examine the ways in which Goebbels' Ministry of Propaganda deployed both overtly propagandist films and films that couched Nazi ideals in narratives from melodrama to fantasy, and examine whether films could exceed their official aims and become subversive. And we consider post-WWII developments: the continuing careers of producers of propaganda and the ways that modern media shapes new forms of propaganda.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Crosslisted Courses: CAMS 286
Prerequisites: None.
Instructor: Hans
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; ARS - Visual Arts, Music, Theater, Film and Video
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Every three years
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring
Notes:
This course discusses the narrative challenges posed by the Anthropocene, the current era in history in which the impact of humans on the environment imperils the very future of our planet. Reading fictional and critical texts that have emerged in different parts of the world over the course of the last three decades, we will identify the fictional tools and aesthetic strategies that writers are exploring to address the climate catastrophe. We will discuss what the traditions of writing about biocide are to which contemporary authors can turn when creating new narratives adequate to capture the environmental crisis. We will analyze the most prominent genres involved in “green writing” and will pay close attention to the ways authors deal with the tensions between the local and the global in their narratives.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Two units taught in German above GER 202, or permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken CPLT 238/ES 238.
Instructor: Nolden
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Typical Periods Offered: Every other year
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes: This course meets with CPLT 238/ES 238 for two out of its three meetings.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 15
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
Units: 0.5
Max Enrollment: 15
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Permission of the department.
Instructor:
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: GER 360 and permission of the department.
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall
Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester.