Undergraduate Courses

Fall 2022

Language Courses

GER 100Y full year Introduction to German

GER 100Y full year Introduction to German
GER 101H fall sem. Introduction to German

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101 -online-	MW 9-11	N/A	S. Gargova/L. Lackner
L0201	MW 11-1	CR 404 F CR403 S	H.S. Kim
L0301	MW1-3	CR405 F CR103 S	A. Klee/S. Bein
L0401	TR 8-10	CR103	S. Jordan/M. Harutyunyan
L0501	TR 10-12	CR404 F CR103 S	M. Harutyunyan/V. Shewfelt
L0601	TR 1-3	TF200 F CR103 S	F. Röessler/S. Mostafa
L5101	MW 6-8	CR405 F CR103 S	J. Evjen
L5201 -online-	TR6-8	N/A	E. Lange/V.Curran

This introductory German course is for students with no prior knowledge of the language. It is a year course divided into two sections. Based on a communicative and task-based approach, it is designed to develop proficiency in oral and written communication skills while providing students with knowledge and understanding of the societies and cultures of German-speaking countries. Students will develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through a variety of stimulating off- and on-line activities, both during live meetings and on the reliable online platform accompanying the textbook. Topics cover areas such as introducing and talking about oneself, shopping, telling time and recounting a day, family life, describing and renting an apartment, travel, health and fitness or studying abroad. Vocabulary will be presented in the context of culturally significant issues. Additionally, the course will provide students with a foundation in a number of basic grammatical structures and concepts. Live online sessions will be devoted mostly to communicative and interactive exercises. In addition to preparation at home, regularly participating in and attending the online sessions is paramount in order to successfully complete the course.

GER 200Y1/*201H (GER) Intermediate German I

GER 200Y full year Intermediate German
GER 201H fall sem. Intermediate German 1

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	MW 10-12	CR405	R. Laszlo
L0201	WF 8-10	CR103	V. Curran
L5101 -online-	MW 6-8	N/A	L. Cote-Pitre/S. Gargova

This intermediate German language course builds on skills acquired in beginner’s German. It is a year course divided into two sections and is designed to provide students with genuine communication experiences while reviewing and further developing participants’ linguistic and cultural competencies. Students will have a chance to practice and enhance their German speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills by engaging with a variety of texts and media during live classes, as well as on the reliable online platform accompanying the textbook. The themes in the textbook provide a springboard for various online activities, assignments, and vocabulary building tasks. All class readings, videos, projects, and presentations will explore historical, social, political, and popular topics while aspects of Germanic and North American cultures are being compared. Learning strategies and self-assessment are part of every chapter, allowing for differentiation among various types of learners. Students will further practice grammatical structures and acquire vocabulary that will allow them to express opinions, agreements, and disagreements in communicative situations encountered in work, school, and travel. By learning about German, Austrian, and Swiss cities featured in the textbook and supporting materials, students will get to explore regional differences in German-speaking countries. Regular online meetings will be devoted mostly to communicative and interactive exercises and group work. In order to successfully participate in these activities, independent work and preparation are paramount.

GER 300Y1/*301H (GER) Intermediate German II

GER 300Y full year Intermediate German 2
GER 301H fall sem. Intermediate German 2

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	MW 10-12	CR406 F TF102 S	E. Lange
L0201	TR 8-10	AH302 F OI4426 S	A.Flicker/N. Sachdeva
L5101	TR 6-8	TF200	F. Müeller

This intermediate German language course builds on GER200Y. It is a year course divided into two sections and focuses on effective oral and written expression, hearing and reading comprehension, in-depth review of grammar as well as the study of more complex structures. Through engagement with a variety of readings, videos, and films on important historical, cultural, social, and political topics in German-speaking countries, students will have the opportunity to practice grammar and vocabulary in embedded and culturally relevant contexts. The aim of this course is to equip students with the skills to understand extended speech, to read articles on contemporary problems, to describe personal experiences and to explain viewpoints on topical issues in speech and in writing. The textbook offers engaging culture topics, authentic readings, contextualized grammar and a reliable online platform. Regular online meetings will be devoted to communicative and interactive exercises and group work. In order to successfully participate in these activities, independent work and preparation are paramount.

GER 400H (GER) Advanced German I

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	MW 10-12	AH302	A. Flicker

This course is aimed at students with a high level of competence in German. Building on material covered in GER 100/200/300, it offers advanced studies of German language, including text-based analysis and with a focus on improving communication skills. It includes a systematic review and expansion of grammar and stylistics, and additional emphasis lies on vocabulary building. The course is partly based on newspaper articles, literary texts, films and websites.

GER 260Y1 (YID) Elementary Yiddish

GER 260Y full year Beginner’s Yiddish

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	MWF 12-1	AH108	E. Jani/S. Edelhart

This course is an introduction to the Yiddish language and culture of Ashkenazic Jews. It will begin to prepare you to be able to express yourself in Yiddish, acquire strategies to learn Yiddish independently by developing your ability to understand the structure of the language and to cue in on the features of spoken and written Yiddish.

GER 360Y fall sem. Intermediate Yiddish

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	W 12-1/F 12-2	AH402	M. Schwartz

Topic Courses

GER 275H fall sem. (ENG) Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	W 2-4 Tut: R 12-1	AH100 TF101	W. Goetschel

This is an introductory course to the thought of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud and their pioneering contributions to the understanding of the individual and society in modernity. Readings include selections from writings of the early Marx, the Communist Manifesto, and Capital, Nietzsche’s critique of culture, academe, 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.

NOTE: Taught in English, open to students across disciplines.

GER194HF (ENG) Our Vampires, Ourselves
*FYF (First-Year-Foundation) seminars exclusively for first-year students*

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	F 10-12	SK100	E. Boran

Vampires are among the most fascinating figures of popular culture. Since Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) – and, in fact, well before that – they have been haunting the human imagination in various shapes and forms. But, of course, vampires have existed much longer than that – first in folktales and later, well before Stoker’s ominous Count, in German poetry. This course examines the figure of the vampire as a potent cultural metaphor showing how every age embraces the vampires it needs and gets the vampires it deserves. The goal is to teach students to reflect critically and independently on issues of self and society and to develop a structured approach to critical thinking in general. While focusing on what may be called the “Stoker paradigm”, we will go far beyond the portrayal of vampires as the absolute other. Students will have the opportunity to research individual topics to be presented in class.

195H fall sem. Cities – Real and Imagined
*FYF (First-Year-Foundation) seminars exclusively for first-year students*

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	R 10-12	AH103	H.-S. Kim

Cities have been described as places of desire and places of fear. They pulse with life, bringing together people from different class, gender, and ethnic backgrounds, simultaneously giving rise to a sense of freedom and oppression, a sense of belonging and alienation. This course will explore the city as a physical reality that shapes our lives, but is also a projection of our deepest imaginings. Through readings of philosophical and sociological texts by influential theorists of the city, we will consider various ancient and modern conceptions of urban space and subjectivity. Alongside these theoretical readings, we will also examine literary and filmic representations of the city as a space of desire, memory and power.

GER 305H (GER) German Literature II

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	M 1-3 / W 1-2	TF102	J. Noyes

PREREQUISITE: GER 205H

Building on GER 205H, this course provides an introduction to German literature and culture from the 18th to the 21st century. Within a chronological and thematic framework, we will read and analyze excerpts from representative works of major German writers. Students learn to read critically and to consider the literary qualities of the German language. The course is required for majors and specialists; it should be taken as soon after GER 205 as possible.

NOTES: Required course for majors and specialists. / Prerequisite for 400-level topic courses in German.

GER 410H fall sem. (ENG) German Intellectual History

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	T 2-4	CR103	J. Noyes

PREREQUISITE: Permission of department.

German intellectual history has provided some of the most important statements of Western culture from Kant to Luhmann, Hegel to Heidegger, Marx, Freud and Nietzsche, etc. In this course, we will examine select aspects of German intellectual history in detail. The content of the course will vary, please check back here for details or ask us!

GER 370H fall sem. (GER) German Business Culture 1

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	TR 12-2	CR405	S. Gargova

PREREQUISITE: GER 200H

This course provides students with a working knowledge of German business culture that allows them to navigate the German workplace. The main focus is to deepen students’ knowledge of business concepts.

NOTES: Required course for the Business German minor. / GER 270H and 272H alternate with GER 370H and 372H and are only offered every other year.

GER 350H fall sem. (GER) German Visual Cultures

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	F 10-2	CR103	A. Sharifi

PREREQUISITE: GER 205H

An overview of select writings on the emerging role of visual cultures within mass media across the 20th-century. Theorists may include Walter Benjamin, Siegfried Kracauer, Bela Balazs, Jürgen Habermas, Friedrich Kittler, Niklas Luhmann and secondary scholarly articles. Texts are read in conjunction with weekly screenings from the German film canon that illustrate the concepts under study. We also review basic principles of film analysis and integrate vocabulary specific to the study of German visual texts.

GER 334H fall sem. (GER) Turkish-German Intersections

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	R 10-12	TF101	E. Boran

PREREQUISITE: GER 205H

Identities in Process, Writing Outside the Nation, The Turkish Turn in Contemporary German Literature – the titles of recent studies emphasize that German literature has long since left the national corner. Specific topics of this course may vary, but broadly speaking the focus of this course is on minor(ity) perspectives and on voices from the ‘off’ of the past 40 years (i.e. the literary works that arose from post-war migration).

GER 322H fall sem. Kafka in Context

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	T 10-12	CR403	E. Boran

PREREQUISITE: GER 205H

How do we know how to live life in the modern world, when none of our points of reference seem to hold any reliability or stability? How can we even be sure that we are human, and not some strange, deformed animal with consciousness? For Kafka, the German-Jewish-Czech writer who lived most of his life in Prague, the only way to answer such troubling questions was to make them the basis of his writing. His works offer a unique model for thinking about human life in the modern world, about consciousness, the body, dreaming and waking, the nature of the social world, and many similar issues. And embedded in his writing is a set of unique ideas about how to read literature.

Winter Courses

Language Courses

GER101H Introduction to German (GER100Y second term)

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101 -online-	MW 9-11	N/A	S. Gargova/L. Lackner
L0201	MW 11-1	CR403	H-S. Kim
L0301	MW 1-3	CR103	A. Klee/S.Bein
L0401	TR 8-10	CR103	S. Jordan/M. Harutyunyan
L0501	TR 10-12	CR103	M. Harutyunyan/V.Shewfel
L0601	TR 1-3	CR103	F. Röessler/S. Mostafa
L5101	MW 6-8	CR103	J. Evjen
L5201 -online-	TR 6-8	N/A	E. Lange/V.Curran

GER201H Intermediate German I (GER200Y second term)

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	MW 10-12	CR405	R. Laszlo
L0201	WF 8-10	CR103	V. Curran
L5101 -online-	MW 6-8	N/A	L. Cote-Pitre/S. Gargova

GER301H Intermediate German II (GER300 second term)

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	MW 10-12	TF102	E. Lange
L0201	TR 8-10	OI4426	A.Flicker/N. Sachdeva
L5101	TR 6-8	TF200	F. Müeller

GER401H Advanced German II

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	MW 10-12	AH302	E. Boran

This is a course for advanced learners of German reviewing complex features of the language and introducing them to aspects of German stylistics. The emphasis lies on oral and written communication.

Topic Courses

GER150H Introduction to German Culture

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	F 11-1	CR103	H-S. Kim

This course is taught in English and is geared toward students with no prior knowledge of German culture. Drawing on thought-provoking literary and historical texts, cultural artifacts, and films, this course provides an interdisciplinary approach to an exploration of German culture primarily from the 19th century to the present. Students will gain familiarity with prominent figures, ideas and movements in the realms of literature, film, philosophy, media, art, architecture, and industrial design that have shaped German culture, while also influencing much of the rest of the world. In the process of exploring German culture and the question of what constitutes “Germanness,” students will have the opportunity to think about their own cultural background and to develop a critical cultural awareness.

NOTES: Required course for Specialists & Majors. / Taught in English, open to students across disciplines.

GER205H German Literature I

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	M 1-3 W 1-2	AH302	W. Goetschel

PRE-/CO-REQUISITE: GER 200Y/201H or placement test

This offers an introduction to work methods and skills pertaining to the study of German literature. As such, the course is meant to provide a transition from language to topic courses. Students will receive training in how to read and analyze short literary texts, how to find secondary literature and how to write short papers.

NOTES: Required course for majors and specialists; it should be taken as early as possible (and can’t be taken after completion of GER300Y/301H). / Prerequisite course for 300-level topic courses in German.

GER220H German Literature in Translation

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	R 10-12	NF007	E. Boran

This course offers a survey of important themes and topics in German literature from the eighteenth century to the present. In individual years, it may examine literary milestones by major authors, placing them in social and historical context, or it may focus on genres, motives or specific event, as they are reflected in literature and the arts. Texts are studied within their historical context in terms of such aspects as plot, characterization, theme, structure, style, language and theory.

NOTE: Taught in English, open to students across disciplines.

GER332H Madness-Deviance-Outsider

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	R 10-12	TF201	E. Lange

PREREQUISITE: GER 205H

What does it mean to be “normal” or “sane”? What do these categories signify and what value do they hold in our society? How can a “normal human experience” be distinguished from an “abnormal” one? What does it mean to be human in the first place?

In this course, we will examine a number of texts that deal with perspectives, states of beings and roles that were deemed “different” or “deviant” in present or past societal contexts. We will engage with the topic of deviance from a range of different literary eras, genres and styles and will thereby grasp for (a) meaning(s) of the terms “outsider” and/or “deviance.” What are examples for outsiders of the past and the present and what can we learn from them? What are positive and negative aspects of deviance?

We will discuss how our desire to belong and be recognized as normal stands in relation to past and present societal dynamics, our human condition, and the workings of our subjectivity.

We will engage with short forms of prose, excerpts from novels as well as poetry.

The primary literary texts will mostly be accompanied by philosophical texts (in English) on the concepts of deviance, madness, or related fields.

The methodology in this course will be a combination of close readings and broad historical and cultural perspectives. Our work in class will be shaped by class discussions, group work, and occasional lectures.

GER372H Business German II

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	T 12-2 R 12-2	CR405	S. Gargova

PREREQUISITE: GER 370H

This course offers an intensive development of the linguistic skills needed in the context of business transactions and management in German-speaking countries. Through materials from various sources, students develop oral and written skills for competence in German business communication as well as cross-cultural awareness.

NOTES: Required course for the Business German minor. / GER 270H and 272H alternate with GER 370H and 372H and are only offered every other year.

JGJ360H Holocaust in Literature

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	T 2-4	UCD301	Y. Wang

GER431H Open Topics in German Studies

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	F 10-12	CR106	E. Boran

PREREQUISITE: GER 305H OR permission of the department.

An open course which explores specific aspects of Germanic Studies.