Program Requirements
The Minor Concentration in German Studies provides an introduction to and critical understanding of a variety of aspects of German culture from the eighteenth century to the present day. It is designed to complement other forms of disciplinary and cultural inquiry, such as international studies, the digital humanities, and studies in other languages or geographic areas. Courses include the study of major works of literature, philosophy, film, theory, and visual art that have made a defining impact on German and European culture.
This program may be expanded to a Major Concentration.
Complementary Courses (18 credits)
18 credits of courses in German literature, culture, and film taught in English or German selected from the following list.
A maximum of 6 credits of LLCU courses can be taken, with prior departmental approval.
Beginners’ and Intermediate Language courses may not be applied towards this Minor Concentration.
GERM 325 may be applied towards this Minor Concentration.
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GERM 259 Introduction to German Literature 1 (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Introduction to the major authors, genres, and topics of German literature from the Middle Ages to the Age of Goethe, including the Nibelungenlied, Faust, classical tragedy, and the rise of the novel.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Fall
Given in English
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GERM 260 Introduction to German Literature 2 (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Introduction to the major authors, genres, and topics of German literature from the 19th century to the present.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Winter
Given in English
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GERM 325 German Language - Intensive Advanced (6 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course aims at developing post-intermediate proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, with emphasis on oral and written expression. Special attention is given to word formation and to the proper choice of grammatical structures, vocabulary, and phraseology.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Fall or Winter
6 hours
Prerequisite: GERM 300 or GERM 307D1/D2, or equivalent, or permission of Department.
Required for program students.
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GERM 326 Topics: German Language and Culture (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course aims to both improve students’ speaking and writing skills at the intermediate and advanced levels and to deepen their understanding of German culture through contemporary short texts and films. Topics include migration and national identity, memory and history, gender roles, and intergenerational conflicts. Students develop their transcultural competencies through critical engagement with the course materials. Selected grammatical topics will be reviewed.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 331 Germany after Reunification (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : The events which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany in 1990 and the changing cultural, social, political and economic landscape of the 'New Germany'. Highlighting issues of cultural and social politics, texts discussed include historical, literary and film material.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Winter
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GERM 332 Topics in Eighteenth-Century German Literature and Culture (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Study of specific topics as they relate to eighteenth-century German literature and culture.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 333 What is Enlightenment? (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : An introduction to the debates and values of eighteenth-century German literature and culture.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 335 Science and Literature (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course examines the complex exchanges between science and literature across German literature and culture.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Given in German
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GERM 336 German Language, Media and Culture (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Introduction to German culture through literary and non-literary texts, film, multimedia, commercials, painting and photography. By learning how to read these cultural productions, students will refine their communication skills, expand reading strategies, build vocabulary, and review selective grammatical structures.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 337 Literature and Revolution (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Seminar on the relationship between literature and political, social and aesthetic change.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 340 Romanticism (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course examines one of the pivotal moments of cultural transition in German literary history.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 344 Realism (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : What are the different ways social life has been represented in German literature and culture?
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 348 Nature and Ecopoetics (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course examines how German literature and culture engage with and construct an understanding of nature and the environment
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 350 Modernism and the Avant-Garde (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course will focus on the variety of German modernisms and their schools of thought.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 351 Berlin (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Interdisciplinary study of the quintessential modern centers within Germanic speaking Europe.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Given in German
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GERM 355 Nietzsche and Wagner (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course examines the relationship between the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the composer Richard Wagner. It explores their intellectual kinship, their view of art, music, and philosophy in the context of Nietzsche's critique of modernity and decadence and analyzes the Third Reich's and Hollywood's appropriation of Nietzsche and Wagner.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Winter
Given in English
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GERM 357 German Culture in European Context (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : A comparative examination of selected moments in German literary, artistic and cultural history in relation to broader European movements; focus on influences, exchanges and dialogues across national boundaries.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Fall
Course given in English
Prerequisite: A culture or literature course at the 200 or 300 level
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GERM 358 Franz Kafka (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course will look at the works on Franz Kafka, a "classic" modernist author, in three characteristic genres: the story, the novel, and the short prose piece. A selection of Kafka's letters and diary entries as well as critical approaches to his work will also be studied.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Fall
Given in English
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GERM 360 German Drama (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course will survey the theatrical tradition within German.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 362 20th Century Literature Topics (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Introduction to selected topics and genres in twentieth century literature and culture.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Fall
Given in German
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GERM 364 Gender and Society in German Literature and Culture (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : In connection with notions of identity, nationhood, political change, and cultural difference, this course investigates concepts and issues of gender in contemporary German Society. The readings include critical essays and literary texts by writers, scholars, philosophers, journalists, politicians, and political activists.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 365 Modern Short Fiction (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : A study of short prose forms in German throughout history.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 366 Lyric Poetry (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Introduction to the study of German Poetry from the Middle Ages to the present.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 368 Fin-de-Siècle Vienna (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Interdisciplinary study of one of the formative periods of modern European culture; examination of literature, art, thought, culture and politics in Vienna around 1900.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite: A culture or literature course at the 200 or 300 level
Course given in English
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GERM 369 The German Novel (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Sustained engagement with the major texts of the German novel from Grimmelshausen to the present.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Given in German
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GERM 371 German Cinema (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Survey of German cinema from its inception to the present
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 372 Topics in German Cinema (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course investigates a special topic related to the history of German cinema.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 373 Weimar German Cinema (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Weimar Cinema brought to the screen a world populated by monsters, lunatics, workers, vamps, strangers, and doubles. These figures embodied the tensions and fears of the Weimar period (1919-1933) in a manner that continues to attract audiences today. This course explores the cultural and political history of the Weimar period through Weimar cinema. It aims to introduce the student to the fundamentals of film analysis, especially formal analysis and textual analysis.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 375 German Media Studies (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Introduction to the history of German media studies.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 379 German Visual Culture (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : This course engages with the different strands of German visual culture across media.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Given in German
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GERM 381 Topics in German Thought (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Special topics on German intellectual history and its contributions to major philosophical traditions.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 385 Critical Theory (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Engagement with the history of critique from Kant to Adorno.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 388 Post-Wall Culture (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Upper level seminar exploring topics in German culture after unification.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 390 Topics in 21st Century German Literature and Culture (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Study of pressing contemporary themes within German literature.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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GERM 397 Individual Reading Course 01 (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Given solely at the discretion of the instructor.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Fall
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GERM 401 Advanced Topics in German Literature and Culture (3 credits)
Overview
German (Arts) : Advanced research course on special topic of German literature and culture.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite(s): Two 300-level German Studies Literature, Film, or Culture courses; permission of the Program Advisor.
