German Courses

GERM 101, GERM 102, GERM 103 Elementary German

Willkommen! This sequence is focused on learning the German language by learning about the cultures and lives of people living in German-speaking Europe today. Students will engage with readings, videos, films and music. The goal of this course is increased intercultural knowledge and the ability to use that cultural knowledge to effectively communicate in German. Students demonstrate their abilities by using German to accomplish real-world tasks. Open to beginners, and placement by examination.

GERM 151 German History on Film

This course will examine German films (alongside some graphic novels and other texts) which take as their subject historical moments and events. We will examine the manner in which German culture views its own history via mass, popular media such as film. Such media necessarily generate collective memories and historical imaginaries which may or may not comport with historical fact. Themes may include (but aren't limited to) the legacy of the Holocaust and World War II, the division and unification of Germany, and migrants' experiences. This course is taught in English.

GERM 153 German Fairy Tales in Context

In this course, students study the advent of the fairy tale genre in the context of the German literary tradition and against the background of the changing national consciousness of Germany around 1800. By analyzing the fairy tale, students will also address German cultural identities and values, ideas of nation building, and didacticism. We will also trace the appropriation and subversion of the fairy tale in later eras and the present. Other topics in this course might include: additional theoretical frameworks (i.e. feminism in fairy tales); queer identities; adolescent development; religion (i.e.: Christianity/paganism); and linguistic projects. This course is taught in English.

GERM 154 Gender Studies in German Literature and Culture

This course introduces students to Gender Studies in German literature as well as leading to literary paradigms of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Literary Gender Studies often concentrates on the representation of gender in literature. This course adds an additional perspective: it also focuses on the gender of literature. Literature is associated with practice and faculties of the mind that carry connotations of masculinity and femininity. The different ways in which literature is gendered not only determine the type of literature produced, but they also have a decisive influence on the access men and women have to literature as authors and readers. This course is taught in English.

GERM 155 Tolerance and Intolerance in Literature and Film

Ideas that came out of German Enlightenment spread throughout Europe and beyond. Tolerance, one of the core ideals of the Enlightenment, always faces its opposite, intolerance. This course provides an in-depth look at the reverberations of German Enlightenment in various forms of tolerance and intolerance in literature and film. Political, social, and religious tolerance and intolerance are examined through literature, film and theoretical texts in various historical moments, times of political unease, cases of religious mistreatment or coexistence etc. Specific attention is paid to topics such as racism, instances of political persecution, and interreligious amity. For each literary work or film, students get a historical background and examine the work with the help of theoretical discussions. Students will gain perspectives on diverse forms of tolerance and intolerance in different contexts. This course is taught in English.

GERM 156 German Society and Film

Survey and analyses of German films within their social, political, and intellectual contexts. The course may present a broad survey from 1919 to the present, focus on an individual historical period, a director or group of directors, or on a theme in German film.

GERM 157 Afro-German Culture

This course will explore the history and culture of the African diaspora in Central Europe. For centuries, there has been a black population in German-speaking Europe, but only in the 1980s did that population begin to think of themselves as Afro-Germans or Black Germans. This class will explore the relationship between race, nationality and history in this context. This class may include topics such as the history of German colonialism, key Afro-German writers and filmmakers, Afro-Germans in the Nazi era and/or communist East Germany, the portrayal of black people in Europe and/or Africa in Germanspeaking cultures and more.

GERM 201/301 German Fairy Tales in Context

In this course, students study the advent of the fairy tale genre in the context of the German literary tradition and against the background of the changing national consciousness of Germany around 1800. By analyzing the fairy tale, students will also address German cultural identities and values, ideas of nation building, and didacticism. We will also trace the appropriation and subversion of the fairy tale in later eras and the present. Other topics in this course might include: additional theoretical frameworks (i.e. feminism in fairy tales); queer identities; adolescent development; religion (i.e.: Christianity/paganism); and linguistic projects. This course is taught in German.

GERM 202/302 Young Rebels

Moments of crisis often bring into sharp relief the differing worldviews between generations. This course will explore historical periods through the lens of intergenerational conflicts. Youth movements often attempt to tarry with the guilt of the past and the stakes of the future. We learn about the cultural and historical contexts and trace the reactions of young people through literature, film, and historical documents. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, dissidents under the Nazi and East German Communist regimes, the 1968ers in West Germany, environmental and anti-nuclear protest movements, and more.

GERM 203/303 The Environment in the German Imagination

From record-breaking renewable energy production to a historical fascination with natural spaces and woodlands in fairy tales and other literature, German-speaking central Europe has long been at the forefront of environmentalism and sustainability. This course examines both historical and contemporary environmentalist movements, examining cultural products, practices and perspectives of German-speaking peoples which make environmentalism and sustainability a priority. Topics may include contemporary laws and policies, everyday cultures of sustainability, energy production, historical movements such as Romanticism, environmentalism under various German regimes in the 20th & 21st centuries, and more.

GERM 211/311 German Traditions and Everyday Culture

This course will examine traditions, festivals, celebrations and daily culture in the German-speaking world. These analyses will provide a window into the multifaceted history, culture, and values of the various peoples and cultures calling Central Europe home (whether intergenerationally or newly arrived). Possible topics include long-standing and well-known traditions such as Oktoberfest as well as daily routines and traditions which shape life in these cultures.

GERM 212/312 Migration and Immigration

In this course, we will look at current political and popular debates as well as literature to explore the complex history of migration and immigration since the Second World War. Through a variety of text--including film, literature, scholarly research, poetry, and news article--we will examine the artistic, cultural, historical, political, and religious impacts of immigration on culture and life in Germany today.

GERM 213/313 Crooks and Liars

Criminals, con-men and outsiders tell us a lot about the cultures in which they live. These characters violate norms, expose social anxieties and indulge in repressed desires. This course will explore crime fiction and stories about other outcasts in German-speaking fiction, analyzing in-groups and out-groups, what is "normal" and "aberrant", what is legal and what is moral, and related questions. Students will engage in analyzing a variety of texts from literature and film, to pop culture television and theoretical readings.

GERM 221/321 German Film

This course explores German-speaking cultures through film. Students will learn the vocabulary and grammar to analyze film as an artistic medium. Readings will provide cultural context and critical lenses through which to read films as cultural products. The course may take a survey approach (spanning early German silents from the founding of film in 1895 through today) or may take a thematic approach, dealing with a particular theme or historical period in depth.

GERM 222/322 Contemporary Conversations in German-Speaking Cultures

This course deals with contemporary social, political, and cultural discourses in Germanspeaking societies. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland went through many transformations in the 20th and 21st centuries, including two World Wars, the occupation of Germany and Austria, German reunification, waves of immigration, and modern political shifts. In this course, students will engage in discussions popular in modern German-speaking society through various thematic units. Those may include, but are not limited to, stereotyped depictions, Vergangenheitsbew�ltigung, immigration, historical women's representation, and elections/politics in Germany.

GERM 223 Introduction to German Literature

Readings and discussions in German of various nineteenth- and twentieth-century works and their literary, cultural and historical contexts. Students will learn the basic skills they need to analyze literature and film (e.g., writing a summary, writing a characterization), culminating in critical analyses of narrative prose, drama, and poetry

GERM 248 Teaching Assistant 1/2 or 1

GERM 295 Special Topics 1/2 or 1

Courses offered occasionally to students in special areas of German not covered in the usual curriculum.

GERM 325 , GERM 325E German Culture: Focus on Berlin

(In German or English) Exploration of contemporary German culture through focus on the nation's once and future capital. This is not a cultural history course but is instead designed to give students insight into the people and concerns "behind the headlines." Course materials include both fiction and non-fiction (political and economic) readings, interviews, slides, film, video and music.

GERM 330 or GERM 330E Afro-German Culture

This course will explore the history and culture of the African diaspora in Central Europe. For centuries, there has been a black population in German-speaking Europe, but only in the 1980s did that population begin to think of themselves as Afro-Germans or Black Germans. This class will explore the relationship between race, nationality and history in this context. This class may include topics such as the history of German colonialism, key Afro-German writers and filmmakers, Afro-Germans in the Nazi era and/or communist East Germany, the portrayal of black people in Europe and/or Africa in German-speaking cultures and more.

GERM 348 Teaching Assistant 1/2 or 1

GERM 395 Special Topics 1/2 or 1