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German Current Courses

Spring 2024

Course Code Title/Instructor Meets
GRMN 102-01 German in Everyday Life
Instructor: Antje Pfannkuchen
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the German language and culture of daily life. It focuses on the acquisition of language skills, such as speaking, reading, writing, and listening and does so while also learning about aspects of every-day cultures in German-speaking countries. Classes are small and emphasize communication. After successfully completing German 101 and 102, students are expected to have reached a basic level of intercultural and cross-cultural competence, that is, to be able to communicate with members of German-speaking cultures with an awareness of differences in language and culture. Classes meet five times a week. Prerequisite: 101 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
08:30 AM-09:20 AM, MTWRF
BOSLER 310
GRMN 102-02 German in Everyday Life
Instructor: Kamaal Haque
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the German language and culture of daily life. It focuses on the acquisition of language skills, such as speaking, reading, writing, and listening and does so while also learning about aspects of every-day cultures in German-speaking countries. Classes are small and emphasize communication. After successfully completing German 101 and 102, students are expected to have reached a basic level of intercultural and cross-cultural competence, that is, to be able to communicate with members of German-speaking cultures with an awareness of differences in language and culture. Classes meet five times a week. Prerequisite: 101 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
09:30 AM-10:20 AM, MTWRF
DENNY 110
GRMN 201-01 Intermediate German I: Contemporary German Cultures
Instructor: Sarah McGaughey
Course Description:
What did the Brothers Grimm do besides collecting fairy tales? How do narratives inform national identity? Why do Germans return their empty bottles to the store? Students approach such questions, which touch on language, culture, economics, geography, history, and more, through a variety of media in this course. At the same time, students review grammatical structures, expand their knowledge of stylistic forms, and practice various registers of written and spoken German. German 201 aims to develop students skills to understand and reflect upon German-language culture at a basic intermediate level. Classes meet four days a week. Prerequisite: 102 or 103, or permission of the instructor. This course fulfills the language graduation requirement.
10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MTWR
KADE SEM
GRMN 202-01 Intermediate German II: Mediated German Cultures
Instructor: Kamaal Haque
Course Description:
What was occupied Vienna like in post-WWII Central Europe? How does a film convey fear? Is German academic writing different from how I write papers at Dickinson? Posing these or similar questions, this course builds students basic intermediate level of cultural and linguistic skill and explores the challenges of understanding and communicating with various media in colloquial, academic, and professional contexts. As it does so, students will acquire a better understanding of contemporary and historical issues, anxieties, and desires in the German-speaking world. There will be a special focus on writing in different modes, as this is a writing in the discipline (WiD) course. Prerequisite: 201, or permission of the instructor.
10:30 AM-11:20 AM, MTWR
DENNY 21
GRMN 213-01 Modern German Film
Instructor: Antje Pfannkuchen
Course Description:
Cross-listed with FMST 210-02. This course includes weekly film screenings on Tuesdays at 7pm in Bosler 208. This course will focus on German films in their cultural and historical context. Students will study selected films and develop a critical framework for viewing and analyzing them. When appropriate, Austraian and Swiss films will also be included. Topics may be early German Cinema, the New German Cinema, or post-unification films. Filmmakers may include Volker Schlondorff, Alexander Kluge, Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, or F.W. Murnau, and may cover films such as Run Lola Run, Goodbye, Lenin, Head On, and The Lives of Others. Prerequisite: 202, if offered in German, or permission of the instructor.
10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
BOSLER 310
GRMN 250-01 What is Feminismus? Women and Post-WWII German Politics
Instructor: Sarah McGaughey
Course Description:
Cross-listed with WGSS 202-04. In 2005 Angela Merkel became Germany's first female chancellor. In 2023 Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced her Feminist Foreign Policy. These historical events are perhaps the best-known moments of female agency in post-war German politics, but women are at the forefront of a longer history of activism, power, and agency in Germany. This course will look at both the forms of feminism as well as the political movements in which women took key roles. We will pose questions about the impact of feminist and female engagement in politics, changes in modes of political participation through feminist and female interventions, and conflicts and similarities in women's rights in Germany with those in the US and other countries. The course will be taught in English with a discussion session (FLIC) for German majors, German minors, and INBM/IS majors.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, MR
KADE SEM
GRMN 250-02 Vienna 1900: Modern Art in the City of Dreams
Instructor: Ty Vanover
Course Description:
Cross-listed with ARTH 205-02. This course examines the creative landscape of Vienna around the turn of the twentieth century with a focus on remarkable developments in painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, the decorative arts, architecture, and urban development. We will explore what made this capital city of the bustling and diverse Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1918) a "laboratory of ideas" and examine how new conceptions of gender and sexuality, the advent of psychoanalysis, anti-Semitism and Jewish nationalism, and class and ethnic conflict shaped a new generation of creative Austrians eager to leave their mark on the city. Topics will include depictions of sexuality in the works of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, art and "madness," and the modern market for luxury goods, furniture, and jewelry. Students will have the opportunity to pursue their own original research project and interact with masterworks of Viennese modernism on a field trip to the Neue Galerie in New York City.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
WEISS 219
GRMN 500-01 Climate Policy and Action in Germany
Instructor: Antje Pfannkuchen
Course Description: