GERM 1001 Elementary German (4 Credits)

Basic speech patterns, grammar and syntax; emphasis on oral skills; introduction to German culture. First quarter of three quarter sequence.

GERM 1002 Elementary German (4 Credits)

Basic speech patterns, grammar and syntax; emphasis on oral skills; introduction to German culture. Second quarter of three quarter sequence. Prerequisite: GERM 1001 or equivalent.

GERM 1003 Elementary German (4 Credits)

Basic speech patterns, grammar and syntax; emphasis on oral skills; introduction to German culture. Third quarter of three quarter sequence. Prerequisite: GERM 1002 or equivalent.

GERM 1022 German Cinema: An Introduction to German Culture, History, and Politics through Film (4 Credits)

This course is taught in English. It is an invitation to German film-making since the end of the First World War. In this class we will explore 20th-century German identity, culture, history, and politics through film analysis and readings. Studying the most famous and influential films in the history of German cinema, we will explore numerous topics (including “The Golden Twenties”, nationalsocialistic propaganda, post-WWII German nation states, terrorism, reunification, multiculturalism, education and youth, the arts, gender, and class) and investigate how a popular culture medium like film can capture the political, social, and economic atmosphere in society at different times in German history. This courses fulfills the Analytical Inquiry-Society and Culture requirement.

GERM 1416 German Civilization: History, Politics, and Culture (4 Credits)

This course is an introduction to intellectual and cultural currents in German civilization from the Enlightenment to the present, emphasizing the arts in the context of history and philosophy from the late 18th century to around the mid-20th century. Readings include excerpts from such thinkers as Kant, Fichte, Marx, Nietzsche, Weber, as well as poetry and short fictional works by Heine, Jünger, Remarque, Borchert, and others. The readings are supplemented by films that students are expected to have watched at the beginning of each week. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

GERM 1417 Recasting German Identity: Germany since the End of the Cold War (4 Credits)

Recasting German Identity: Germany since the end of the Cold War examines how Germany, a once divided nation in the heart of Europe held responsible for two World Wars, has wrestled to overcome forty years of division between a capitalist West- and communist East Germany. Our class will examine both the pains and gains of 30+ years of unity in the ‘Berlin Republic’. We will analyze the so-called “normalization” of Germany’s contemporary internal and international affairs. At the center of our class are various political, historical, but mostly cultural developments (& intellectual debates) that have reshaped German identity in profound ways given the country’s exceptionally violent 20th century history. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

GERM 1988 Study Abroad Resident Credit (0-18 Credits)

GERM 2001 Intermediate German (4 Credits)

Continuation of German 1003. Taught in German. In this course, you will strengthen your communicative skills, intercultural competencies, and knowledge of German-speaking cultural history. Discussing a variety of shorter texts and visual arts, you will learn more advanced grammatical structures, expand our lexical repertoire, practice intercultural comparison, and develop an appreciation for diversity. Prerequisites: GERM 1003 or placement exam.

GERM 2002 Intermediate German (4 Credits)

Continuation of German 2001. Taught in German. In this course, you will strengthen your communicative skills, intercultural competencies, and knowledge of German-speaking cultural history. Discussing a variety of shorter texts and visual arts, you will learn more advanced grammatical structures, expand our lexical repertoire, practice intercultural comparison, and develop an appreciation for diversity. Prerequisites: GERM 2001 or placement exam.

GERM 2005 Reading and Conversation (4 Credits)

Continuation of German 2002. Taught in German. This class introduces you to more complex cultural topics, materials, and communicative settings. Reading a variety of texts, you will expand your vocabulary and gain a deeper understanding of German grammar, syntax, and inclusive language. You will also practice various oral communication tasks and scenarios, increasing your confidence and ability to communicate effectively with different audiences. This course prepares you for cultural discussion and literary analysis in our lower-level, content-based seminars. Prerequisites: GERM 2002 or placement exam.

GERM 2100 Conversation and Composition (4 Credits)

Taught in German. In this course, you will refine your writing and speaking skills through a variety of fun speaking and writing prompts. You will discuss sociopolitical, historical, and cultural topics, enhancing your critical and analytical thinking skills, intercultural competence, and appreciation for diversity. This course will help you communicate more freely, accurately, and creatively and produce detailed texts on a wide range of subjects. Prerequisites: GERM 2005 or placement exam.

GERM 2350 German-Speaking Film and Media (4 Credits)

Taught in German. This course explores the German-speaking media landscape. Engaging with film and media theory, we will examine the multi-faceted role of media in society and discuss how people choose, consume, and are consumed by media at various times in history and in different political systems. We will analyze selected cultural topics and their representation in German-speaking media (television, news media, digital media, film, etc.) and draw comparisons to their media coverage in other cultures. This course also introduces you to the history of German-speaking cinema, discussing movies from the beginnings of film to the present. Prerequisites: GERM 2005 or placement exam.

GERM 2701 Topics in Literature & Culture (4 Credits)

Taught in German. This course explores authors, topics and/or movements in the German-speaking world. Topics vary. Repeatable if topic differs. Prerequisites: GERM 2005 or placement exam.

GERM 2800 Advanced German Grammar and Composition (4 Credits)

Taught in German. This course offers an in-depth grammar review. We will practice advanced grammatical structures and inclusive language through quizzes, writing assignments, cultural projects, and presentations. This course will help you advance all four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking), developing a high level of grammatical accuracy and complexity. Prerequisites: GERM 2005 or placement exam.

GERM 2900 Comedy, Humor, Satire In German-Speaking Cultures (4 Credits)

In this course, we will analyze comedy, humor and satire as tools to expose political issues or social injustices and to raise existential, religious, and philosophical questions. We will examine various German, Austrian, and Swiss works (drama, poetry, prose, films, cartoons, paintings, theoretical and autobiographical texts), discussing topics such as ethno-comedy, Jewish humor, satire in the visual arts, famous German-speaking humorists and comedians, escapist humor in the GDR, theories of humor and laughter.

GERM 2910 Contemporary Trends and Tensions in the German-Speaking World (4 Credits)

This course focuses on sociopolitical, economic, and cultural trends and tensions in contemporary German-speaking societies. Critically analyzing various authentic materials (newspaper articles, literary texts, caricatures, art, talk shows, documentaries, films), we will deepen our cultural knowledge and draw comparisons to other cultures. Topics include gender identities, religions, multiculturalism, poverty, sports, climate, economic trade, health, regional traditions, and topics that students suggest.

GERM 2920 (Multi)Cultural Identities and Values in the German-Speaking World (4 Credits)

Social roles and groups shape and/or are defined by shared cultural knowledge and history. This course explores historical and contemporary (constructions of) social identities in German-speaking societies. We will analyze the depiction of various social identities in literary, political and theoretical texts, films and other visual media, art and music and relate them to societal norms, expectations, and power hierarchies at the time. Topics include East and West German identities, youth cultures, multiculturalism, race, gender roles and identities, class, education, and topics that students suggest.

GERM 2988 Study Abroad Resident Credit (0-18 Credits)

GERM 3050 Advanced Conversation and Composition (4 Credits)

This course focuses on fluency, accuracy, and inclusive language in oral and written communication. Completing numerous writing and speaking projects, you will enhance your language confidence, intercultural competence, and appreciation for diversity. We will discuss complex cultural topics in various communicative settings and experiment with different writing styles, genres, and registers. This course will prepare you for cultural discussion and literary analysis in our upper-level seminars.

GERM 3325 Die Weimarer Republik: German Culture & Society 1918-1933 (4 Credits)

This course analyzes how violence, economic and political volatility, technology, and changing moral codes affected German society and culture (literature, visual arts, film and music) from the onset of the First World War to the rise of Nazism. Germany's first experiment in democracy, the Weimar Republic, can be viewed both as a prelude to Fascism (and therefore a failure) and as a period of radical socio-cultural change, experimentation, and even progress. This course is taught primarily in German, but occasionally we discuss particular texts in English. Prerequisite: GERM 2003 or equivalent.

GERM 3425 Nachkriegsdeutschland: German Culture & Society 1945-1990 (4 Credits)

This course introduces the student to crucial aspects of the immediate postwar years: Germany's 'Stunde Null"; denazification & reeducation; occupation; 'Americanization' of Germany; 'Berliner Blockade'; the divided memory in East and West Germany; democracy in Germany; the Cold War and 'Berliner Mauer.' Via film, literature, and historical studies we explore how both Germanies (East and West) dealt with the legacy of World War II and the Holocaust. During the first third of the course we have a close look at the concerns of the immediate postwar years 1945-49. Most Germans considered these years of occupation, hunger, homelessness, and despair in a vastly destroyed homeland as much worse than the war that preceded them. Then we investigate critiques of the so-called 'normalization' of Germany's internal and external affairs between the founding of two separate German states and the ensuing 'economic miracle' in West Germany (1949-61). Finally, we trace the development of this 'divided nation' until collapse and reunification in 1989/90. Prerequisite: GERM 2100 or equivalent, or another 2000-level GERM class beyond 2003.

GERM 3701 Topics Literature & Culture (1-4 Credits)

Taught in German. This course explores authors, topics, and/or movements in the German-speaking world. Topics vary. Repeatable if topic differs. Prerequisites: GERM 2005 or placement exam.

GERM 3910 Nature, Environmentalism and Sustainability in German-Speaking Cultures (4 Credits)

This course critically analyzes the reputation and self-perception of German-speaking countries as ‘green leaders’ and models of engaged (local and global) citizenship. We will explore interrelations between three central manifestations of environmental awareness in German-speaking cultures: the long aesthetic tradition of depicting nature (as idyllic refuge, agent, inspiration, scientific object, or powerful threat) in literature, art and film, the history of green politics and contemporary environmental debates, practices and protests. Furthermore, we will search for bridges between the Sciences and the Humanities and compare Western interpretations of the non-human world with non-Western epistemologies, such as Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

GERM 3920 Border Crossings: Exile, Migration, Travel (4 Credits)

This course explores the importance of border crossings in contemporary and historical German-speaking cultures. Using a variety of cultural materials (images, music, film, political, theoretical and literary texts, travelogues, autobiographies), we will discuss the various reasons, challenges, and opportunities for border-crossers at various times in history and analyze how exile, travel, and migration experiences changed individual and cultural perceptions of Self and ‘Other’. Furthermore, we will examine the impact that German-speaking border-crossers had on the lives, cultures, and lands of native populations. Topics include diasporic and national belonging, asylum, acculturation, integration, settler colonialism, Indianthusiasm, work migration, gender, race, construction of ‘Otherness’.

GERM 3930 Rebels and Revolutionaries in the German-Speaking World (4 Credits)

The right to protest is essential in a democracy; protest is a form of political participation that can be a catalyst for social change. This course explores historical and contemporary protest movements in German-speaking cultures. We will analyze diverse cultural materials (political, theoretical, literary and autobiographical texts, movies and documentaries, paintings, songs) to discuss various revolutionary movements and their motivations, ideologies, goals and impact on German-speaking societies at different times in history. Topics include workers’ movements, colonialism, resistance during dictatorships, terrorism, student protests, civil disobedience, climate activism.

GERM 3940 Health, (Dis-)Ability and Well-Being in German-Speaking Cultures (4 Credits)

In this course, we will analyze health, (dis-)ability, and well-being as key concepts in cultural identity constructions, not only for the imagination of the nation as a ‘fit body’ (body politic), but also for the definition and exclusion of presumed disposable, disabled/disabling, and worthless ‘Others’. Analyzing various cultural materials, we will discuss the central role that health discourses played in the past (in European colonial ambition, in the establishment of democracies, in Nazi ideology and in socialist propaganda). We will also examine health(care) discussions in contemporary German-speaking cultures, focusing on topics such as healthcare systems, integration, women’s health, refugees, climate, and other current topics that students suggest. Finally, we will compare Western understanding of health with other, non-Western epistemologies, such as Indigenous definitions of well-being.

GERM 3950 Religion, Spirituality and Social Justice (4 Credits)

Religion is a central cultural practice. As a unified system of beliefs and practices, religion influences individual, communal and national perceptions, values, behaviors and concepts of belonging. This course explores the histories of various religions in the German-speaking world: Christianity (Catholicism, Protestantism), Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. Analyzing political, theoretical, literary, autobiographical texts and visual arts, we will discuss topics such as migration and integration, holidays and practices, persecution and resistance, church and state, violence and war, science and ideology, spirituality and social justice, missions and colonialism.

GERM 3988 Study Abroad Resident Credit (0-18 Credits)

GERM 3991 Independent Study (1-5 Credits)

GERM 3997 Internship in German (1-4 Credits)

GERM 3998 Distinction in German (1-5 Credits)