he Department of German draws upon the expertise of the German faculty at both Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges to offer a broadly conceived German Studies program, incorporating a variety of courses and major options. The purpose of the major in German is to lay the foundation for a critical understanding of German culture in its contemporary national and international context and its larger political, social, and intellectual history. Toward this end, we encourage a thorough and comparative study of the German language through its linguistic and literary history. Likewise, we focus on the systems of thought, institutions, political configurations, and arts and sciences that have shaped German culture as a whole.

The German program aims, by means of various methodological approaches to the study of another language, to foster critical thinking, expository writing skills, understanding the diversity of culture(s), and the ability to respond creatively to the challenges posed by cultural difference in an increasingly multicultural world. Course offerings are intended to serve both students with particular interests in German literature and literary criticism, as well as students interested in studying German and German-speaking cultures from the perspective of communication arts, film, history, history of ideas, history of art and architecture, history of religions, institutions, mass media, philosophy, politics, urban anthropology, and folklore. On an extra-curricular level, the German Department offers a bi-weekly Kaffeestunde, a film series, and talks and presentations by writers and teacher-scholars in the field of German Studies.

A thorough knowledge of German is a goal for both major concentrations. The objective of our language instruction is to teach students communicative skills that would enable them to function effectively in authentic conditions of language use and to speak and write in idiomatic German. A major component of all German courses is the examination of issues that underline the cosmopolitanism as well as the specificity and complexity of contemporary German culture. German majors can and are encouraged to take courses in interdisciplinary areas, such as comparative literature, feminist and gender studies, growth and structure of cities, history, history of art, music, philosophy and political science, where they read works of criticism in these areas in the original German. Courses relating to any aspect of German culture, history, and politics given in other departments can count toward requirements for the major or minor

Major Requirements

The German and German studies major consists of 10 units. All courses at the 200 or 300 level count toward the major requirements, either in a literature concentration or in a German Studies concentration. A literature concentration normally follows the sequence 201 and/or 202; 205 or 206, or 214, 215; plus additional courses to complete the 10 units, two of them at the 300 level) in subjects central to aspects of German culture, history or politics; and one semester of German 321 (Advanced topics in German Cultural Studies). Within each concentration, course s need to be selected so as to achieve a reasonable breadth, but also a degree of disciplinary coherence. Within departmental offerings, German 201 and 202 (Advanced Training) strongly emphasize the development of conversational, writing, and interpretive skills. German majors are encouraged, when possible, to take work in at least one foreign language other than German.

Minor Requirements

A minor in German and German Studies consists of seven units of work. To earn a minor, students are normally required to take German 201 or 202, and four additional units covering a reasonable range of study topics, of which at least one unit is at the 300 level. Additional upper-level courses in the broader area of German Studies may be counted toward the seven units with the approval of the department.

Honors

Any student whose grade point average in the major at the end of the senior year is 3.8 or higher qualifies by grade point average alone for departmental honors. Students whose major grade point average at the end of the senior year is 3.6 or higher, but not 3.8, are eligible to be discussed as candidates for departmental honors. A student in this range of eligibility must be sponsored by at least one faculty member with whom she has done coursework, and at least one other faculty member must read some of the student's advanced work and agree on the excellence of the work in order for departmental honors to be awarded. If there is a sharp difference of opinion, additional readers will serve as needed.

Study Abroad

Students majoring in German are encouraged to spend some time in German-speaking countries in the course of their undergraduate studies. Various possibilities are available: summer work programs, DAAD (German Academic Exchange) scholarships for summer courses at German universities, and selected junior year abroad programs.

Students of German are also encouraged to take advantage of the many opportunities on both campuses for immersion programs in German language and culture: residence in Haffner hall foreign language apartments; the German film Series; the German Lecture Series; the weekly Stammtisch; and more informal conversational groups attended by faculty.

Useful Links

Haverford College Department of German
Swarthmore College Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
International Education of Students
German Academic Exchange Service
Goethe Institute
American Association of Teachers of German
German Literary and Cultural Studies Resource Site
LEO English-German-Dictionary
Projekt Gutenberg-DE
Perlentaucher
The Modern Austrian Literature and Cultural Association

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