16 courses with the subject GER, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
GER 110YElementary German5
An introduction to spoken and written German, and to the culture and history of German-speaking peoples and countries. Emphasis on grammar and practical vocabulary for use in conversational practice, written exercises, and listening and reading comprehension. By the end of the year, students are able to read short, edited literary and journalistic texts as a basis for classroom discussion and to compose short written assignments. Yearlong courses cannot be divided at midyear with credit for the first semester.
GER 200Intermediate German: The German Environment4
An exploration of contemporary German culture through literary and journalistic texts, with regular practice in written and oral expression. A review of basic grammatical concepts and the study of new ones, with emphasis on vocabulary building. Prerequisite: GER 110Y or equivalent, or by placement. Enrollment limited to 20. {F}
During the brief period between the fall of the Kaiser and the rise of the Nazis, Germany was a hotbed of artistic and intellectual innovation, giving rise to an internationally celebrated film industry. With an eye to industrial, political, and cultural forces, this course explores the aesthetic experience of modernity and modernization through formal, narrative, and stylistic analyses of feature films from the "Golden Age" of German cinema. Films by Wiene, Lange, Murnau, Pabst, Ruttmann, Sternberg, Sagan and Riefenstahl. Restrictions: GER 231 may be repeated once with a different topic. Conducted in English. {A}{H}
GER 250Advanced Intermediate German: Environmental Culture4
Discussion of modern German culture, society and technology, with an emphasis on environmental issues. Introduction and practice of more advanced elements of grammar, work on expanding vocabulary specific for academic fields, and weekly writing and oral assignments. Students who successfully complete GER 250 are eligible for the year-long Study Abroad Program in Hamburg. Prerequisite: GER 200 or equivalent, or by placement. {F}
This course emphasizes a "hands on" approach to language acquisition. It is conducted at various academic locations around campus in collaboration with colleagues of the respective departments and facilities. (Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Biology, Studio Art, Landscape studies, Museum, etc.). Students engage in experiments and other activities at these various locations through which they learn to express themselves in written and oral German in a variety of disciplines and situations. The practical activities are accompanied by new grammar topics appropriate for an advanced intermediate course as well as literary and journalistic texts that complement the topics. Prerequisite: GER 200 or placement. Enrollment limited to 18. {F}
GER 269TRColloquium: Topics in Transnational German Studies-Transatlantic Romantic4
This course explores cultural exchange between Germany and the US in the nineteenth century. The class reads Margaret Fuller on Bettina von Arnim, explores the under-examined influence of Emerson on Nietzsche, follows in the footsteps of Thoreau and Goethe. Discussions are driven by student readings and research projects. As the class follows the Romantics’ explorations of nature, the environment, identity, death, gender and the unconscious, students delve into what it means to be human in the modern age and discover why the Romantic moment is still their own. In English, with readings in German available for students of German. Enrollment limited to 18. {H}{L}
GER 300AATopics in German Culture and Society-Anders als die Anderen4
What does it mean to be “different” in the Germans-peaking countries of Europe? What does it mean to “be” German, Austrian, or Swiss? The course considers the reciprocal relationship between those two positions and examines how marginalized groups have played and continue to play key roles in shaping and (re)defining social norms in central Europe. The course asks how the gay rights movement beginning in the late 19th century influenced definitions of “difference” and traces the intersections of queer identities, Jewish and Black communities, the history of the German Turkish population, and contemporary immigration more broadly. The course focuses on primary sources in German ranging including literature, journalistic texts, visual works, podcasts, interviews, and talks. The course develops reading, comprehension, speaking, and writing skills. Prerequisite: GER 250. (E) {F}{L}
GER 300DGTopics in German Culture and Society-Deutsche Geschichte(n): History and Literature in 20th Century Germany4
Concurrently with the crises and catastrophes of the twentieth century (devastating wars, the rise and fall of empires and regimes, rampant fascism, and more) Germans experienced the inspiration of new ways of thinking, of art, architecture, literature, and film. They wrote stories, novels, poetry, and essays; they sketched, painted, and sculpted; they discovered new frontiers of social and natural sciences; they explored topics from language to existence to annihilation and everything in between. This course looks at how human emotion and creativity accompanied, processed, and survived the events of the interwar and postwar periods. Prerequisite: GER 250 or GER 260, or equivalent. {F}
This course explores the history and culture of protest in Germany from 1945 to the present. The course examines how political protest has changed in response to major social, political, and cultural developments in East Germany, West Germany, and reunified Germany. The course approaches protest broadly. In addition to political demonstrations, students discuss strikes, protest songs, squatting, youth and subcultures, nightlife, environmental activism, civil disobedience, and digital activism. The course pays particular attention to the relationship between protest and public space, media, music, performance, and political communication. Prerequisite: GER 250. {F}{L}
GER 300SETopics in German Culture and Society-Growing Up German-Speaking in Europe4
This is an upper-level language course conducted within a cultural-historical framework. Objective: Develop students' ability to express thoughts on more abstract topics in German language by probing the discourse on the role of children and young people in German, Austrian and Swiss culture from the 18th century to the present. Vital component: Acquisition of suitable vocabulary and advances grammatical structures. Discussion: The rhetoric of education and family politics, pedagogical ideas and concepts put forth by famous writers like Kästner, Thoma, Janosch, Ende. {F}
GER 300SHTopics in German Culture and Society-German Songs, Language and History4
Music has always been an integral part of German culture, most famously in operas and symphonies. But songs are the most original and common expression of the time in which they were written and performed. This is an upper-level language course that looks at songs within a cultural historical framework. The objective is to develop students' ability to express thoughts on more abstract and complex topics in German language by probing the symbiosis of music and text in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present. The students learn, analyze, and perform a wide variety of songs. Prerequisites: GER 250 or GER 260 or equivalent. {A}{F}{L}
GER 300STTopics in German Culture and Society-Streik!4
This course asks what it means to be a worker in a capitalist society and what modes of resistance are available in this context. Students read excerpts from key texts by the most prolific German-speaking writers on class and labor (Marx, Luxemburg, Weber), acquiring a toolkit for social, political, and economic analysis. Literary texts further illustrate class relations and resistance movements during burgeoning capitalism, while also familiarizing course participants with the main literary epochs of the 19th century and early 20th century. The second half of the course builds on this foundation as as the class reads (predominately) literary works depicting individual refusal as well as collective strike actions in response to patriarchal structures and capitalist exploitation in the 20th and 21st century. Prerequisite: GER 250 or GER 260, or by placement. (E) {F}{L}
GER 300VKTopics in German Culture and Society-Vom Krieg Zum Konsens: German Film Since 19454
This course investigates German film culture since the fall of the Third Reich. Included are works by Fatih Akin, Michael Haneke, Werner Herzog, Margarethe von Trotta and Wolfgang Staudte. Students learn to analyze film and conduct basic research in German. Discussion addresses aesthetic and technical issues; portrayals of race, gender, class and migration; divided Germany and its reunification; and filmic interventions into the legacy of Nazism. Conducted in German. Prerequisite: GER 250 or equivalent. {A}{F}
A study of language, culture and politics in the German-language media; supplemental materials reflecting the interests and academic disciplines of students in the seminar. Practice of written and spoken German through compositions, linguistic exercises and oral reports. Conducted in German. Prerequisite: GER 300 or equivalent. Restrictions: Juniors and seniors only. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {F}
