Undergraduate Courses

GER 290HS (ENG) Global Issues: German Contexts

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	M 4-6	online synchronous	S. Soldovieri

The movement of cultural products, material goods, capital, people, ideas, and information across national border s has resulted in a new quality of global inter dependency. The course examines the contemporary character of globalization with a special focus on its environmental impacts in German-speaking contexts. We consider artistic, cultural, technological, and social practices in German-speaking and global contexts that explore questions of sustainability and a livable future. The course is highly recommended as preparation for students interested in participating in the Department’s iPRAKTIKUM Internationalization & Experiential Learning internship program – particularly for placements with futurGenerator organizations in Germany. (Visit: https://german.utoronto.ca/ipraktikum/)

GER 322HS (GER) Kafka in Context

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	W 3-5		J. Noyes

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? Are we perhaps moving through life in a dream, or a nightmare? For Kafka, the German-Jewish-Czech writer who lived most of his life in Prague, the only way to answer these and other similarly 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. In this course we will set out in pursuit of his models and ideas.

GER 326HS (GER) Writing Memory

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	T 3-5	online synchronous	H.-S. Kim

Prerequisite GER205H

German literature in the aftermath of World War II started from a new beginning, with many authors attempting to find a way of describing the shocking, nihilistic experience of war and devastation –  often taking their cue from foreign models or existentialist and traditional Christian trains of thought. This course offers an examination of this post-War literature and culture from ‘Zero Hour’ through to contemporary debates about the Holocaust and its memorization. Texts by authors such as Günter Grass, Herinrich Böll, Ulrich Plenzdorf, Christa Wolf, Peter Schneider, Bernhard Schlink, Peter Weiss, Zafer Senocak et al.

GER 372HS (GER) Business German 2

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	T 10-12/R 10-11	online synchronous	S. Gargova

This synchronous online course is a continuation of German Business Culture II. It is designed as a fourth-year language course for students who have completed at least the first three years of college German or the equivalent. Course objectives are to increase the student’s proficiency in the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing with special emphasis on selected German business topics. Participants will engage with various authentic text and media from the textbook, online platform, relevant social media accounts, as well as top German business magazines. 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 391HS (GER) iPRAKTIKUM

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101			S. Soldovieri

The course provides a curricular complement to placements in the Department’s internationalization and experiential learning initiative, iPRAKTIKUM, which provides U of T students with high-impact work and community-engaged, work-related placements in the GTA and in German-speaking countries. The placements are designed to deepen linguistic, cultural, and analytical skills acquired in the classroom in work-related environments, create an awareness of the translatability of academic knowledge to other contexts, promote global competency, and foster links to the community. Students who have completed or are completing an iPRAKTIKUM placement are eligible for GER391. Typically, students complete the placement in the summer and enroll in GER391 in the fall term. Other arrangements are possible in consultation with iPRAKTIKUM administrators and the undergraduate coordinator. Students must seek advising before being admitted to the course. The course learning objectives and assessments are formulated on an individual basis and are designed to build on and deepen the internship experience and associated reflective activities (eJournals, mentorship meetings, etc.). Course requirements may include poster presentations, podcasts, research papers or projects, post-placement interviews, peer-to-peer mentoring, and other forms of assessment and reflection.

GER 431S (ENG) Goethe’s Novels

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	F 10-12	online synchronous	J. Noyes

From the moment he published his first novel, Die Leiden des jungen Werther, at the age of 24 to the appearance of Wilhelm Meister’s Wanderjahre three years before his death, Goethe’s novels set the tone for prose writing in German. His novels are daring, bold, experimental, never satisfied with repeating formula or meeting reader – expectations. In this course we will read all of Goethe’s novels. It is a cross-listed graduate and senior undergraduate course. The classroom language is English. Students in the German department are expected to read the novels in German. For students in Comparative Literature, all the novels are available in English translation.

First Year Seminars

GER 195HS (ENG) Cities, Real and Imagined

Section	Time	Room	Instructor
L0101	R 10-12	online synchronous	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.