Courses and Requirements
GECS 188B — Human/Nature: European Perspectives on Climate Change
To view the complete descriptions of the courses that satisfy the requirements for the German Studies major/minor, please visit the University Bulletin.
For course times, locations, and additional details, please visit the Schedule of Classes on the University Registrar's website.
Spring 2024 Courses
Spring 2024
GER 20B: Continuing German
Spring 2024 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Heidi Singh
Four class hours per week.Continuation of comprehending, reading, writing, and conversing in German, with an emphasis on basic grammar concepts. Special attention is paid to the development of speaking skills in the context of cultural topics of the German-speaking countries. Extensive language lab, video, and computer-aided exercises supplement this course.
GER 103A: German Culture Through Film
Spring 2024 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Sabine von Mering
Four class hours per week.
Approaches an understanding of contemporary German culture through film by focusing on one of the most fascinating and turbulent of national cinemas. Landmark films from the 1920s to the present and pertinent essays, articles and studies will provide a historical perspective on decisive social and cultural phenomena. Major themes include Vergangenheitsbewältigung, multi-ethnic societies, terrorism, life in the GDR, and cultural trends at the beginning of the 21st century. Students learn also about the technical side of filmmaking and produce their own short film under professional guidance.
CROSSLISTED COURSES
ECS 100A: European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Modernism
Spring 2024 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Stephen Dowden
COML 100A: Introduction to Global Literature
Spring 2024 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Pu Wang
PHIL 182A: Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations
Spring 2024 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professors Eli Hirsch & William Flesch
Fall 2023 Courses
GER 20A: Beginning German
Fall 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Heidi Singh
Four class hours per week.Intended for students with little or no previous knowledge of German. Emphasis is placed on comprehending, reading, writing, and conversing in German and the presentation of basic grammar. Class work is enhanced by various interactive classroom activities and is supplemented by extensive language lab, video, and computer-aided exercises.
GER 30A: Intermediate German
Fall 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Heidi Singh
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in GER 20b or the equivalent. Four class hours per week.
In concluding the development of the four language speaking skills--comprehending, writing, reading, and speaking--this course focuses on finishing up the solid grammar foundation that was laid in GER 10a and GER 20b. It also presents additional audio and video material, films, radio plays, and newspaper and magazine articles, as well as a variety of extensive interactive classroom activities.
GECS 188B: Human/Nature: European Perspectives on the Climate Crisis and What to Do About It
Fall 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Sabine von Mering
Open to all students.
Introduces European attitudes towards climate change as reflected in policy, literature, film, and art, with a focus on workable future-oriented alternatives to fossil-fueled capitalism.
CROSSLISTED COURSES
HIST 126A: Early Modern Europe (1500-1700)
Fall 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Govind Sreenivasan
PHIL 107B: Kant's Moral Theory
Fall 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kate Moran
PHIL 167A: Hegel: Self-Consciousness and Freedom in the Phenomenology of Spirit
Fall 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Eugene Sheppard
Spring 2023 Courses
GER 20B: Continuing German
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kathrin Breuer
Four class hours per week.
Continuation of comprehending, reading, writing, and conversing in German, with an emphasis on basic grammar concepts. Special attention is paid to the development of speaking skills in the context of cultural topics of the German-speaking countries. Extensive language lab, video, and computer-aided exercises supplement this course.
GER 102B: Küche, kochen, Kuchen: Advanced German Grammar, Pronunciation, and Baking
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Sabine von Mering
Prerequisite: GER 30a.
Designed in response to student demand, includes weekly pronunciation sessions focused on tough sounds like 'e', 'l', 'r', 'ü', or 'ch' are combined with grammar review and bi-weekly baking sessions.
GER 103A: German Culture Through Film
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kathrin Breuer
Prerequisite: GER 30a.
Approaches an understanding of contemporary German culture through film by focusing on one of the most fascinating and turbulent of national cinemas. Landmark films from the 1920s to the present and pertinent essays, articles and studies will provide a historical perspective on decisive social and cultural phenomena. Major themes include Vergangenheitsbewältigung, multi-ethnic societies, terrorism, life in the GDR, and cultural trends at the beginning of the 21st century. Students learn also about the technical side of filmmaking and produce their own short film under professional guidance.
GECS 130B: The Princess and the Golem: Fairy Tales
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Sabine von MeringConducted in English.
Compares Walt Disney's films with German and other European fairy tales from the nineteenth and twentieth century, focusing on feminist and psychoanalytic readings.
CROSSLISTED COURSES
COML 100A: Introduction to Global Literature
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor David Powelstock
COML 120A: Disordered Loves and Howling Passion: European Romanticism
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Steve Dowden
ECS 100B: European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Making of European Modernity, 1250 to 1650
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Michael Randall
HIST 137B: World War I
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Paul Jankowski
NEJS 37A: The Holocaust: The Destruction of European Jewry
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Laura Jockusch
PHIL 168A: Kant's Critique of Pure Reason
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kate Moran
POL 189A: Marx, Nietzsche, and Twentieth-Century Radicalism
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Bernard Yack
THA 146A: Theater and the Holocaust
Spring 2023 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Dmitry Troyanovsky
Fall 2022 Courses
GER 10A: Beginning German
Fall 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kathrin Breuer
Four class hours per week.
Intended for students with little or no previous knowledge of German. Emphasis is placed on comprehending, reading, writing, and conversing in German and the presentation of basic grammar. Class work is enhanced by various interactive classroom activities and is supplemented by extensive language lab, video, and computer-aided exercises.
GER 30A: Intermediate German
Fall 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Heidi Singh
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in GER 20b or the equivalent. Four class hours per week.
In concluding the development of the four language speaking skills--comprehending, writing, reading, and speaking--this course focuses on finishing up the solid grammar foundation that was laid in GER 10a and GER 20b. It also presents additional audio and video material, films, radio plays, and newspaper and magazine articles, as well as a variety of extensive interactive classroom activities.
GER 106B: Migration, Kultur, Synergie
Fall 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kathrin Breuer
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in GER 30a or the equivalent.
Investigates the experience of refugees and immigrants in present-day Germany and discusses processes of social transformation. Through fictional and non-fictional texts and film, we gain an understanding of their cultural, economic, political and artistic contributions and of cross-cultural collaborations. Usually offered every second year.
CROSSLISTED COURSES
ECS 100A: European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Modernism
Fall 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Steve Dowden
Explores the interrelationship of literature, music, painting, philosophy, and other arts in the era of high modernism. Works by Artaud, Baudelaire, Benjamin, Mann, Mahler, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Kandinsky, Schiele, Beckett, Brecht, Adorno, Sartre, Heidegger, and others.
Spring 2022 Courses
GER 20B: Continuing German
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kathrin Breuer
Four class hours per week.
Continuation of comprehending, reading, writing, and conversing in German. Special attention is paid to the development of speaking skills in the context of cultural topics of the German-speaking countries. Extensive language lab, video, and computer-aided exercises supplement this course.
GER 103A: German Culture Through Film
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kathrin Breuer
Approaches an understanding of contemporary German culture through film by focusing on one of the most fascinating and turbulent of national cinemas. Landmark films from the 1920s to the present and pertinent essays, articles and studies will provide a historical perspective on decisive social and cultural phenomena.
Major themes include Vergangenheitsbewältigung, multi-ethnic societies, terrorism, life in the GDR, and cultural trends at the beginning of the 21st century. Students learn also about the technical side of filmmaking and produce their own short film under professional guidance.
GECS 182A: Kafka - Novels, Stories, Aphorisms
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Steve Dowden
A detailed exploration of Kafka's works, life, and thought. Emphasis is given to his place in the larger scheme of literary modernism.
CROSSLISTED COURSES
COML 100A: Introduction to Global Literature
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor David Powelstock
COML 116B: Nietzsche: An Introduction
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Steve Dowden
HIST 126A: Early Modern Europe (1500-1700)
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Govind Sreenivasan
NEJS 181B: Film and the Holocaust
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person
Professor Sharon Rivo
PHIL 167A: Hegel - Self-Consciousness and Freedom in the Phenomenology of Spirit
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Eugene Sheppard
PHIL 179A - God, Man, and World: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Jerry Samet
POL 189A: Marx, Nietzsche, and Twentieth-Century Radicalism
Spring 2022 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Bernard Yack
Fall 2021 Courses
GER 10A: Beginning German
Fall 2021 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kathrin Breuer
Four class hours per week.
Intended for students with little or no previous knowledge of German. Emphasis is placed on comprehending, reading, writing, and conversing in German and the presentation of basic grammar. Class work is enhanced by various interactive classroom activities and is supplemented by extensive language lab, video, and computer-aided exercises.
GER 30A: Intermediate German
Fall 2021 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Sabine von Mering
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in GER 20b or the equivalent. Four class hours per week.
In concluding the development of the four language speaking skills--comprehending, writing, reading, and speaking--this course focuses on finishing up the solid grammar foundation that was laid in GER 10a and GER 20b. It also presents additional audio and video material, films, radio plays, and newspaper and magazine articles, as well as a variety of extensive interactive classroom activities.
GER 105B: Survey of German Literature from Its Beginnings to the Present
Fall 2021 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kathrin Breuer
Conducted in German.
Prerequisite: GER 30a.
Examines the relationship between individual and their society throughout history on the basis of fictional and nonfictional German texts (poetry, philosophical texts, short prose, and plays), films and artifacts (photographs, paintings, monuments, coins and tools). While this course focuses on the work of German-language writers, it offers also insights into German social history and the socio-political changes accompanying the transformation of a medieval God-given society into a multi-ethnic society of the 20th and 21st century.
GECS 188B: Human/Nature: European Perspectives on Climate Change
Fall 2021 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Sabine von Mering
Open to all students.
Introduces European attitudes towards climate change as reflected in policy, literature, film, and art, with a focus on workable future-oriented alternatives to fossil-fueled capitalism.
CROSSLISTED COURSES
ECS 100A: European Cultural Studies Proseminar: Modernism
Fall 2021 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Steve Dowden
Explores the interrelationship of literature, music, painting, philosophy, and other arts in the era of high modernism. Works by Artaud, Baudelaire, Benjamin, Mann, Mahler, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Kandinsky, Schiele, Beckett, Brecht, Adorno, Sartre, Heidegger, and others.
HIST 123B: Reformation Europe (1400-1600)
Fall 2021 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Govind Sreenivasan
PHIL 107B: Kant's Moral Theory
Fall 2021 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor Kate Moran
PHIL 182A: Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations
Fall 2021 Mode: Instruction for this course will be offered in-person.
Professor William Flesch
Fall 2020 Courses
GER 10A: Beginning German (both sections)
Fall 2020 Information: Course will be offered remotely with optional in-person group meetings.
Professor Eva Heinrich
Four class hours per week.
Intended for students with little or no previous knowledge of German. Emphasis is placed on comprehending, reading, writing, and conversing in German and the presentation of basic grammar. Class work is enhanced by various interactive classroom activities and is supplemented by extensive language lab, video, and computer-aided exercises. Usually offered every year in the fall.
The course is scheduled to meet four times per week, but students will not meet for the full 90 minutes each day. Every class session will last 50-60 minutes. Your instructor will let you know how the time within the 90-minute block will be used. You should plan the entire 90-minutes blocked off on your schedule even though you’ll only be in class (remote or in person) for 50-60 minutes. Please contact your instructor directly with scheduling conflicts and requests.
GER 30A: Intermediate GermanFall 2020 Information: Course will be offered in hybrid mode.
Professor Sabine von Mering
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in GER 20b or the equivalent.
In concluding the development of the four language speaking skills--comprehending, writing, reading, and speaking--this course focuses on finishing up the solid grammar foundation that was laid in GER 10a and GER 20b. It also presents additional audio and video material, films, radio plays, and newspaper and magazine articles, as well as a variety of extensive interactive classroom activities. Usually offered every year in the fall.
Due to a high number of schedule conflicts, German 30 has switched to a new slot. It will now meet three times a week: T, Th 10-11:30am and F 9-10am (four total class hours per week).
GER106B: Migration, Kultur, SynergieFall 2020 Information: Course will be offered in hybrid mode.
Professor Sabine von Mering
Prerequisite: GER 30a.
Investigates the experience of refugees and immigrants in present-day Germany and discusses processes of social transformation. Through fictional and non-fictional texts and film, we gain an understanding of their cultural, economic, political and artistic contributions and of cross-cultural collaborations. Usually offered every second year.
Cross-listed CoursesFor a full list of Fall '20 courses cross-listed with German Studies, please see the Schedule of Classes.
German Studies Electives
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German Studies Electives
Electives for the German program are divided into courses taught in German and courses taught in English translation. This approach allows students to study German literature and culture at an advanced level without having to first reach full fluency in the language. Those who pursue the German major are encouraged to take as many of their upper-level courses in German as possible.