Spring 2026

Not open for credit to students who have had two or more years of high-school German. Such students should contact the German undergraduate director for more information.

 Taught by Nadja von Bossel in person (470:102:01) and Alexander Pichugin online (470:102:90)

This course will continue introducing students to the language and culture of German-speaking countries, using both prepared and authentic materials with theme-related vocabulary and grammatical structures. Students will have the opportunity to practice listening, reading, writing, and speaking in German through in-class activities and homework assignments. The program of the course corresponds to the Level A2 (Elementary) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a widely accepted European standard for language proficiency. By the end of the semester students will be able to:

• understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).
• communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters.
• describe in simple terms aspects of their background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.More specifically, students will be able to:
• understand non-fiction texts on some topics, including classified ads
• talk about migration, backgrounds, and languages, compare cities and countries
• talk about families and everyday life, about city and country life
• describe people
• talk about travel
• talk about leisure, hobbies and interests, as well as holidays and traditions
• talk about media
• talk about inventions, products and goods
• organize a trip to a theater, etc.
• talk about professional life
• leave a message on the phone
• express emotions and react to them using language

The course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points in English. 

This course will introduce students to the language and culture of German-speaking countries focusing on the language competencies particularly relevant for oral communication in everyday situations. By the end of the semester students will be able to:

• speak about themselves;
• ask basic questions;
• share basic information about their families and relatives;
• speak about their studies;
• speak about objects relevant to everyday situations;
• speak about the weather;
• express likes and dislikes. The course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points and cultural references in English.

The course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points and cultural references in English. Not open to students who have completed 01:470:102 or the equivalent.

Prerequisite: 01:470:131 or placement.

 Taught by Kevin Wiesehahn

In this course students will further develop their competencies in German language and culture of the German-speaking countries on the intermediate level, using both prepared and authentic materials with theme-related vocabulary and grammatical structures. Students will have the opportunity to practice listening, reading, writing, and speaking in German through various in-class activities and homework assignments. Using a variety of media, such as written texts, video, and audio clips, students will explore the course’s five major themes: Climate and Environment; Social Behaviors; Generations; Migration; Europe.

The program of the course corresponds to the Level B1.2, which is the first half of Level B1 (Intermediate) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a widely accepted European standard for language proficiency. By the end of the course sequence, students will be able to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.; deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken; produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest; describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

The course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points in English.

Fulfills SAS core goal AHq

Taught in German

Taught by Claire Cai

In this course students will further develop their competencies in the German language and culture of the German-speaking countries towards the upper intermediate level, using both prepared and authentic materials with theme-related vocabulary and grammatical structures. Students will have the opportunity to practice listening, reading, writing, and speaking in German through various in-class activities and homework assignments.

Using a variety of media, such as written texts, video, and audio clips, students will explore the course’s eight major themes: Extreme Things; Nature and Technology, Lifestyles; Sites and Events; Volunteering; Architecture; Germans; Streets and Stories.

The program of the course corresponds to Level B2 (Upper Intermediate) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), a widely accepted European standard for language proficiency.

The course is taught in German with some explanation of grammar points in English. 

Taught by Siavash Talaeizadeh

Taught in English. NO Prerequisites or knowledge of German necessary. Credits may be applied toward the German major or minor.

What anxieties haunt the act of creation? What kinds of mental processes does a creator undergo in the moment of creation? And how do creatures exceed the intentions of their creators and go rogue? This mini-course explores scenes of creation: the ambitions, dreams, concerns, and even the tortures experienced by creators, as well as the fleeting, elusive, and fluid dimensions of creatures themselves. Our focus will be on beings and structures originally designed to serve, protect, or improve human life, yet which ultimately become monstrous—exerting control and domination, and even threatening their creators’ survival.
Moving across myth, literature, psychoanalysis, political theory, and contemporary technology, the course traces a recurring pattern of creation gone awry. From Goethe’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, from the Golem to Pinocchio, we examine figures that blur the line between care and violence, autonomy and obedience. The course and readings are in English.

Learning Goals:
At the end of this course, students should be able to analyze scenes of creation and their consequences as a central literary motif; apply the techniques of close reading to works of literature and film while critically engaging their historical context and the medium in which they are told; and apply a variety of theoretical reflections, such as psychoanalysis, gender studies and political theory in both written and oral form.

This course is a 1.5-credit mini-course starting on Tuesday, March 10, 2026 and running for seven weeks. The meetings of the course are conducted face-to-face.

Taught by Nadja von Bossel

Taught in English. NO Prerequisites or knowledge of German necessary. Credits may be applied toward the German major or minor.

With the rise of the metropolis, a new figure has emerged on the streets of modernity: The flaneur, or strolling man-about-town. The art of taking a walk first emerges as a uniquely gendered practice exclusively associated with male authors and protagonists. In the urban myths about and from the flaneur, the modern city is simultaneously the site of great promise and failure, while constantly being transformed by new technologies, wars, or capital. New York, Paris, Berlin – they all appear as places that are fluid, fragmented, and contradictory. Just like the ever-changing city of modernity, another figure of modernity is eternally caught in the state of becoming: the girl. By the 1920s, she is the one who is walking the streets of Berlin, Paris, or New York side by side with the male flaneur. Depictions of cities and girls appear to be full of contradictions and, more importantly,
always influenced by external attributions. In this constantly changing dynamic, girls—whether as flappers, consumers, or prostitutes —inscribe themselves into the urban landscapes as resistant yet vulnerable subjects. This course will investigate the relationship between urban spaces, modernity, and femininity by looking into literature and films depicting the modern girl in the city. Why do cities seem to offer the perfect backdrop to girlhood narratives? What is the relationship between girls and cities in the context of modernity and capitalism? And how do girls use the practices available to them to reclaim, negotiate, and transform social spaces?

This course is a 1.5-credit mini-course starting on Thursday, March 12, 2026 and running for seven weeks. The meetings of the course are conducted face-to-face.

Professor Nicola Behrmann

This cross-disciplinary course introduces you to the European avant-garde movements of the early 20th century. We will consider innovations in art, music, film, and literature, beginning with German Expressionism, followed by Italian Futurism, French Surrealism, and the international Dada movement. We will examine the various ways in which these movements reveal the irrational, the pathological, the unconscious, the precarious, the hypervisible, and the abandoned as revolutionary and subversive gestures with the potential to change the world. We will explore what binds and what separates these movements from each other. And we will trace their dependency on non-European cultures and how these influences have been appropriated and repressed. You will contribute to a DEEP MAP of early 20th-century artistic communities and the lives of artists across Europe and the globe.

No prerequisites. Readings and discussions will be in English with the option to read and research in other languages as well. Students should plan to spend 4-6 hours per week on the course. Fulfills AHo and AHp.

DELIVERY FORMAT

This course will be taught online and in asynchronous mode, wherein students work on mostly their own time but with scheduled due dates and with seven online discussion meeting in smaller teams. Each week includes a formal lecture by the instructor as well as reading assignments, and multi-media assignments. There will be one guest lecture—either by an established scholar in the field or an advanced graduate student who is working in the field of avant-garde studies. Students will actively contribute to a research platform that allows for an annotated “deep map” of early 20th-century artistic communities and lives of artists all over Europe while also tracing their ties to other regions of the world. They will present their final project, individual assignments, and deep maps at an online conference at the end of the semester. The aim is to create a group of independent learners who become experts in a particular movement, artist, or a specific vanguard practice (i.e. montage, chance, anti-art). Through reading, discussion, locating and exploring, and online presentation of essential prose texts, poems, manifestos, films, paintings, installation, music and songs, students will gain insight into various vanguard productions and their ongoing impact on art, literature, and sub-culture today. At the end of the semester, the they will have configured their very own individual approach and a unique canon of early 20th century radical modernisms.

01:470:299 Contemporary German Media & Society

Taught by Siavash Talaeizadeh

Prerequisite: 01:470:102 or 01:470:121, or higher. 

In German. If taken twice, 470:299 may be counted for three credits toward the major or minor. 

The word Vergangenheitsbewältigung refers to the social, political, and cultural processes through which an individual and a society confront and interpret the past. In German-speaking countries, the term primarily refers to the reckoning with National Socialism, the Holocaust, and World War II, but it also encompasses efforts to engage critically with the legacies of the GDR and Germany’s colonial history. What does it mean for an individual or a society to work through the past? What are the similarities and differences between Germany and the United States with regard to memory politics and culture? In this course, students develop active language skills through the study of the role of various media (including print, internet, film, and other arts) in informing contemporary German politics and society.

Questions? Contact the instructor: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Trouble with Heimat: Identity and Belonging in German Culture

Professor Regina Karl

 In an era marked by global displacement, shifting identities and rise of nationalistic movements, the idea of Heimat—a uniquely German term for "home" or "homeland"—takes on urgent new meaning. Once idealized as a space of comfort and belonging, Heimat is also deeply tied to exclusion, nationalism, and the trauma of the 20th century. This course explores Heimat in both its nostalgic and dangerous dimensions, especially its ideological manipulation from the Nazi era to the present day.
Through literature, film, and philosophy, students will engage with voices from both the past and present—including post-migrant artists and thinkers—who reflect on the promises and perils of home, homeland, and identity. Central to the course is a critical inquiry into whether Heimat can ever be truly inclusive, or if terms like Herkunft (origin) provide better alternatives.
Students will engage in guided discussions around questions such as:
• Can you be homeless in your own home?
• What roles do family and national identity play in shaping Heimat?
• When does the sense of home become unheimlich (uncanny)?

Texts, films, podcasts, and performances by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hilde Domin, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Fatih Akin, Yael Ronen, Max Czollek, Saša Stanišić and Alice Hasters. 
This class is designed for students with a solid grasp of basic German vocabulary and grammar who wish to expand their knowledge of the language and culture through reading, discussion, and writing.

Taught in German. Fulfills SAS core requirements AHp, WCd.

Prerequisite: 01:470:232, or simultaneous enrollment in 01:470:231 or 232. May be repeated for credit.  

Taught in English. No prerequisites.
Crosslisted with Comparative Literature 01:195:314:01

Subversive Bodies, Bodily Subversions

Professor Dominik Zechner

This course explores the unruly, excessive, and ecstatic ways in which bodies are represented, fragmented, and transformed across literature, film, and theory. Rejecting the fantasy of the body as natural or whole, we will trace how embodiment is historically produced, culturally inscribed, and politically wounded. Our focus is on bodies that overflow their limits—elated, disciplined, damaged, or in revolt. Their examination will lead us to consider dismembered and partial bodies from Edgar Allan Poe to Bora Chung, revealing how bodily fragmentation exposes fractures within subjectivity and the edifice of social order. With the help of Nietzsche and Foucault, we will reflect on the body under siege—tortured, surveilled, or trained into docility. How does power write itself into the flesh? What are the ways in which pain speaks through the body’s lacerations? While the body is the site of an infinite vulnerability that witnesses the collision of power and signification, it is also capable of modes of resistance through symbolic excess, performance, and monstrous metamorphoses. What forms of outrageous embodiment can we imagine?

Taught in English.

Fulfills SAS Core Goals AHo, AHp, WCd

Taught in English. No prerequisites.
Crosslisted with Comparative Literature 01:195:314:01

Technology and Melancholia

Prof. Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky

In Greek mythology, Niobe is the queen of Thebes and mother of seven daughters and seven sons. She rebelled against the gods and was severely punished for it: her children were killed and she herself was petrified in eternal mourning. In Walter Benjamin's much-discussed essay "On the Critique of Violence", Niobe's fate is a memorial to a mythical violence that has never been overcome. According to Benjamin, this violence today is linked to an instrumental approach to technology. In the seminar, we will discuss media- and technology-philosophical approaches by Benjamin, Heidegger, Günther Anders, Simondon, Haraway, Chude-Sokei, among others, but also texts by Kant, in order to explore the question of how we should understand the entanglement of melancholy, violence and an instrumental understanding of technology. Furthermore, we will discuss how this link between violence, technology and melancholy can be resolved from the perspective of Benjamin's critique of violence. Taught in English.

Fulfills SAS Core Goals AHo, AHp, WCd

Taught in English. No prerequisites.
Crosslisted with Comparative Literature 01:195:378:01, Philosophy 01:730:378:01, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 01:988:378:01

Subversive Bodies, Bodily Subversions

Professor Dominik Zechner

This course explores the unruly, excessive, and ecstatic ways in which bodies are represented, fragmented, and transformed across literature, film, and theory. Rejecting the fantasy of the body as natural or whole, we will trace how embodiment is historically produced, culturally inscribed, and politically wounded. Our focus is on bodies that overflow their limits—elated, disciplined, damaged, or in revolt. Their examination will lead us to consider dismembered and partial bodies from Edgar Allan Poe to Bora Chung, revealing how bodily fragmentation exposes fractures within subjectivity and the edifice of social order. With the help of Nietzsche and Foucault, we will reflect on the body under siege—tortured, surveilled, or trained into docility. How does power write itself into the flesh? What are the ways in which pain speaks through the body’s lacerations? While the body is the site of an infinite vulnerability that witnesses the collision of power and signification, it is also capable of modes of resistance through symbolic excess, performance, and monstrous metamorphoses. What forms of outrageous embodiment can we imagine?

Taught in English.

Fulfills SAS Core Goals AHo, CCD-1.