Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures University of Toronto
The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures will be offering a wide range of English-taught topic courses in 2026-27 that are open to all students, with no prerequisites required.
English-Taught Topic Courses Overview
Fall 2026
GER150HF Introduction to German Culture
| Section | Time | Instructor |
| LEC0101 | Tuesday 11-1 | TBA |
Are you curious about German culture? What comes to your mind when you think of things German? Beer and sausages, high-performance cars, the Black Forest, or a mania for efficiency? This course moves beyond these cultural stereotypes and offers a kaleidoscopic view of German culture in its varied manifestations, be it in the form of cultural artifacts, great works of literature, family histories, or big ideas. We will explore world-shaping ideas and inventions from the Reformation and the Gutenberg Press to Bauhaus and modern industrial design, the connection between the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales and their nation-building efforts, German fantasies about Indigenous North America and the longing for untouched nature, and personal narratives that grapple with the Nazi past and divided Germany. Ideal for students from across the disciplines, the course invites you to think critically about what constitutes German culture while expanding your cross-cultural understanding and global perspective.
GER230H Football and the Making of Modern Germany
| Section | Time | Instructor |
| LEC0101 | Thursday 1-3 | Tobias Hof |
Germany’s recent World Cup defeat sent shockwaves through the nation — politicians weighed in, former athletes spoke out, and players with migrant backgrounds faced racist attacks online. Why does football hit so hard? The seminar explores football’s manifold impact on German society — shaping art, politics, and national memory from 1945 to today. We’ll dive into gender, class, fandom, racism, nationalism, and internationalism through the lens of the “people’s game.”
GER270H Money and Economy in German Literature and Culture
| Section | Time | Instructor |
| LEC0101 | Monday 1-3 | Christine Lehleiter |
In this course, we examine key literary, philosophical, and cultural texts, in order to understand how modern culture approaches problems such as property, debt, and exchange value.
GER361H Yiddish Literature in Translation
| Section | Time | Instructor |
| LEC0101 | Wednesday 3-5 | Jacob Hermant |
The story of modern Yiddish literature is one of resistance and creativity. This course traces the history of Yiddish literature over two hundred years of Jewish diasporic life to investigate what it means to write literature in Yiddish. Students will engage with Hasidic tales and Neo-Hasidic stories, satires and tragicomic family narratives, modernist poetry and horrifying literatures of violence. All the while, we will put Yiddish literature in conversation with world literature, locating Yiddish firmly in the constellation of international writing. All readings are in English.
Winter 2027
GER275H Marx, Nietzsche, Freud
| Section | Time | Instructor |
| LEC0101 | Monday 1-3 | Willi Goetschel |
This is an introductory course to the thought of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud and their pioneering contributions to a critical understanding of modernity. Readings include selections from writings of the early Marx, the Communist Manifesto, and Capital, Nietzsche’s critique of culture, politics and nationalism, and Freud’s theory of culture, his views on the psychopathology of everyday life, on the meaning of dreams, symptoms, the return of the repressed, and what it might mean to live in a free society.
GER290H Global Issues – German Context
| Section | Time | Instructor |
| LEC0101 | Thursday 3-5 | Tobias Hof |
Why did Walmart’s attempt to break into the German market go down in flames? What factors have turned soccer clubs like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund into global brands? How has globalization impacted traditional German culture and what is unique about the German and European experience of globalization?
The course explores the contemporary character of globalization patterns and problems in German contexts and prepares students for future academic and professional opportunities in Germany and beyond. The course is highly recommended as preparation for students interested in participating in iPRAKTIKUM, the Department of German’s internationalization and experiential Learning program, which provides exciting placements in Germany and the GTA. It also fulfills a requirement for the U of T’s Global Scholar Certificate.
GER330H Open Topics in German Studies:
Cinematic Bildungsroman: Identity, Memory, and Coming of Age in German Cinema
| Section | Time | Instructor |
| LEC0101 | Wednesday 1-5 Film screening included. | Ina Karkani |
What does it mean to grow up in a nation constantly redefining its own borders, history, and identity? This course explores the German Bildungsroman in cinema – the traditional coming-of-age film – through the lens of 20th and 21st-century cinematic works. Moving across four thematic modules, we will examine how filmmakers have used figures of youth to navigate Germany’s complex historical fractures and contemporary social realities.
GER430H Phenomenology in the Visual Field
| Section | Time | Instructor |
| LEC0101 | Monday 5-7 & Thursday 9-11 Film screening included. | Angelica Fenner |
