Topic Courses:
German 233 – Language and Culture Studies in Berlin (GE: FOL-G)
- Interim 2017, Professor LaVern Rippley (rippleyl@stolaf.edu)
- An immersion experience in the metropolitan center of Berlin with daily morning language instruction designed to support afternoons in fieldwork assignments. Language classes meet near the Humboldt University while field assignments are plotted to coordinate student interests in diverse city cultures. Students learn how to structure ethnographic observation to frame interviews with Berlin’s indigenous population. Evenings are available to follow interests in music, film, and theatre, while weekends are open for excursions, individual or group travel.
German 249 – German Cinema (GE: ALS-A, HWC; FLAC)
- Interim 2017, Professor Karen Achberger (krach@stolaf.edu)
- Taught in English with German FLAC section
- In this course, we examine 20th century German history through the lens of eight cinematic masterpieces, beginning with the eerie German Expressionist classics of the silent era following World War I, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, 1919) and Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors (Murnau, 1922); the early “talkies” The Blue Angel (von Sternberg, 1930), and M. (Lang, 1931); moving from the “haunted screen” of Weimar cinema to the hauntingly beautiful, “fascinating fascism” of Triumph of the Will (Riefenstahl, 1936); and finally to the post-Holocaust struggles with the collective remembering (and forgetting!) of the Nazi era in The Murderers are Among Us (Staudte, 1946), The Marriage of Maria Braun (Fassbinder, 1979), and The Counterfeiters (Ruzowitzky, 2008).
German 251 – Understanding Narratives (Einführung in die deutsche Erzählliteratur) (GE: FOL-G, WRI, ALS-L)
- Fall 2017
- Prof. Karen Achberger
- Students learn to analyze various types of literary texts according to their formal qualities, cultural and historical contexts, and their film adaptations. Among the narrative genres to be treated are children’s literature, young adult literature and novels by modern German authors (Kästner, Richter, Schlink) and a contemporary filmmaker (Link). Discussion and practice of advanced grammar concepts are integrated into the literary analysis modules. Student work consists of active class participation, short oral presentations, and written essays in various genres that are scaffolded by regular prewriting activities, peer review, instructor feedback, and revision. Students meet once a week in small discussion groups with a native German student. Weekly writing assignments offer practice in narration and extended description, as well as expressing and supporting an opinion about the texts themselves and their interaction with their times. / Wir wollen in diesem Kurs deutsche Erzählungen verstehen: das heißt, Grundmethoden der Literaturanalyse—einschließlich die Einbettung von literarischen Texten in historischen und kulturellen Kontexten—lernen und üben. Zu diesem Zweck lesen wir Texte verschiedener Gattungen und Längen, einschließlich Kinderliteratur, Jugendliteratur, Kurzprosa, Bilderroman, Roman, und Film. Um Deutsch besser schreiben zu lernen, machen wir eine Wiederholung zur fortgeschrittenen Grammatik und behandeln unterschiedliche Schreibgattungen. Zu diesem Zweck haben die Studierenden wöchentliche Schreibaufgaben, sowie einige längere Schreibaufgaben, die dann überprüft und verbessert werden sollen.
German 252 – Exploring Non-Fiction (Deutsche Sachliteratur) (GE: ORC)
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- Spring 2018
- Prof. Amanda Randall
- German 252 focuses on expository texts such as (auto)-biographical writings, journalistic articles, German websites, and critical essays. You will learn to understand the strategic organization of these texts, the information presented in them, and the various layers of critical voices that exist in each one. We will examine four topics: environmental sustainability; German politics, both national and international; immigration and diversity since the end of WW II; and the legacy of East Germany. Within these themes, we will also discuss meta-linguistic themes such as regional dialects, genre register, language and gender, and language ideologies (i.e., beliefs about what constitutes “good” German and the societal implications of these beliefs). Since the course satisfies the ORC requirement, course tasks will focus on developing your ability to speak accurately and confidently in multi-paragraph discourse. /
Das Hauptziel von Deutsch 252 ist effektives Sprechen und Schreiben über aktuelle Themen im heutigen Deutschland. Der Kurs fokussiert sich auf sachliche Texte, wie (Auto)-Biografien, journalistische Artikel, deutsche Webseiten und kritische Essays. Sie lernen die strategische Organisation dieser Texte und der darin enthaltenen Informationen, sowie die verschiedenen Stufen der kritischen Stimmen, welche in den Texten existieren, zu verstehen. Wir behandeln vier Themengebiete: deutsche Politik (national und international); nachhaltiger Umweltschutz; Einwanderung und Diversität nach dem 2.Weltkrieg; das Vermächtnis Ostdeutschlands. Innerhalb dieser Themengebiete werden wir auch meta-linguistische Themen diskutieren, wie regionale Dialekte, Sprachebene (speech register), Sprache und Geschlecht, sowie Sprachideologien (d.h. Ansichten darüber, was „gutes“ Deutsch ausmacht und die gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen dieser Ansichten).
German 263 – German-War-Film (GE: ALS-A)
- Spring 2017, Professor Amanda Randall (randal2@stolaf.edu)
- Taught in English with German FLAC section
- Students explore how a country’s (Germany) history of traumatic events (war) manifest in an artistic medium (film) that is informed by and further influences collective memory of those experiences. We compare mass market films portraying German involvements in World War I, World War II and the Cold War from different national perspectives and time periods. In considering the relationship among history, memory, and representation, our analysis examines the films’ formal cinematic and narrative elements (“art”); their situatedness in artistic movements and the material, political, and social conditions of production (“artist”); and the diversity and evolution of reception from first release to the present (“audience”).
German 271 – German Postwar Literature (Nachkriegsliteratur) (GE: ALS-L)
- Fall 2016, Professor Karen Achberger (krach@stolaf.edu)
German 273 – Contemporary Germany through Media (Deutsche Medien) (GE: WRI)
- Fall 2017
- Prerequisite: German 250-level course or instructor permission
- Prof. Seth Peabody (peabod1@stolaf.edu)
- Counts also Management Studies concentration
- This course is designed to teach media literacy in the German context with emphasis on ideological, cultural, aesthetic, and ethical perspectives. Students examine current issues, events, culture, politics, education, entertainment, advertising, and other non-literary topics as treated in contemporary German print and electronic media, including press, television, film, internet, and radio. Students compare and contrast presentations by different German media and by German versus U.S. media. The course emphasizes strategies for writing papers in German.
German 371 – Topics in German Literature: The Author as Public Intellectual (Schriftsteller als öffentliche Intellektuelle) (GE: ALS-L)
- Spring 2016, Professor Amanda Randall (randal2@stolaf.edu)
German 372 – Transdisciplinary Topics in German Studies: Identities and Boundaries of the German-speaking World
- Spring 2018
- Prerequisite: German 270-level course or instructor permission
- Prof. Seth Peabody (peabod1@stolaf.edu)
- Focusing on the question “What is German?,” this course examines the history and culture of German identities and the concept of a “German nation” through the centuries. The course focuses on a series of issues and questions related to the notion of “Germanness.” Examples include: the role of landscapes and architecture in creating or questioning national identities; the function of borders to both unite and divide; the power of film and literature to create as well as critique national narratives; and the political and social status of Germans abroad and of foreigners in Germany. The course is intended as a capstone to the German major, and students will have a choice in the format and medium in which they demonstrate their learning.