Courses at Bryn Mawr
This page displays the schedule of Bryn Mawr courses for this academic year. It also displays descriptions of courses offered by the department during the last four academic years.
For information about courses offered by other Bryn Mawr departments and programs or about courses offered by Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges, please consult the Tri-College Course Guide.
For information about the Academic Calendar, including the dates of first and second quarter courses, please visit the College's master calendar
.Spring 2012
| COURSE | TITLE | SCHEDULE/ UNITS |
MEETING TYPE TIMES/DAYS | LOCATION | INSTRUCTOR(S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GERM B002-001 | Elementary German | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:00 AM-10:00 AM MWF | Dalton Hall 10 | Kenosian,D. |
| Lecture: 8:45 AM- 9:45 AM TTH | Dalton Hall 10 | ||||
| Drill: Date/Time TBA | |||||
| Drill: Date/Time TBA | |||||
| GERM B102-001 | Intermediate German | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 11:00 AM-12:00 PM MWF | Dalton Hall 10 | Meyer,I. |
| GERM B202-001 | Introduction to German Studies | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 9:45 AM-11:15 AM TTH | Taylor Hall, Seminar Room | Meyer,I. |
| GERM B212-001 | Readings in German Intellectual History: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and the Rhetoric of Modernity | Semester / 1 | Lecture: 2:15 PM- 3:45 PM TTH | Taylor Hall, Seminar Room | Seyhan,A. |
| GERM B223-001 | Topics in German Cultural Studies: Kafka's Prague | Semester / 1 | LEC: 2:30 PM- 4:00 PM MW | Thomas Hall 118 | Kenosian,D. |
| GERM B321-001 | Advanced Topics in German Cultural Studies: The Trans Cosmo of Swiss Lit | Semester / 1 | LEC: 1:00 PM- 4:00 PM W | Thomas Hall 104 | Seyhan,A., Werlen,H. |
| GERM B399-001 | Senior Seminar | Semester / 1 | Lecture: Date/Time TBA | Dept. staff, TBA | |
Fall 2012
(Class schedules for this semester will be posted at a later date.)
Spring 2013
(Class schedules for this semester will be posted at a later date.)
Courses at Haverford Fall 2011
COURSE |
TITLE | SCHEDULE/UNITS | MEETING TYPE TIMES/DAYS | LOCATION | INSTRUCTOR(S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H001 | Elementary German | Semester 1/1 | MWF 9:30-10:30: TTh 9-10 |
Henning Wrange | |
| H101 | Intermediate German | Semester 1/1 | MWF 10:30-11:30 |
Imke Brust | |
| H201 | Advanced Training: Language, Text, and Context |
Semester 1/1 | MW 12:30-2:00
|
Imke Brust | |
| H223 | Working Through the Holocaust Past in German Drama & Film | Semester 1/1 |
7:30-10:00 |
Imke Brust | |
| H321 | Literature & Media: From Print Culture to Web 2.0 | Semester 1/1 | M 7:30-10:00pm |
Henning Wrange |
|
| H399 | Senior Conference | Semester2/1 | TBA | Imke Brust |
Courses at Haverford Spring 2012
COURSE |
TITLE | SCHEDULE/UNITS | MEETING TYPE TIMES/DAYS | LOCATION | INSTRUCTOR(S) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Elementary German |
HU + Limit:18 |
MWF 9:30-10:30: TTh 9-10 |
|
Henning Wrage |
|
Intermediate German |
HU |
MWF 10:30-11:30 |
|
Imke Brust |
|
Books & Media for Children: From Enlightenment to Cyberspace |
HU III |
TTh 11:30-1:00 |
|
Henning Wrage |
|
European Film |
HU III |
MW 12:30-2:00 |
|
Imke Brust |
|
East German Media History: Literature--Film--Television |
HU III |
M 7:30-10:00pm |
|
Henning Wrage |
|
Senior Conference |
HU |
HTBA |
|
Imke Brust |
GERM B001 Elementary German Fall 2011 Meets five hours a week with the individual class instructor, two hours with student drill instructors. Strong emphasis on communicative competence both in spoken and written German in a larger cultural context. (Kenosian,D. -- Language Level 1) GERM B002 Elementary German Spring 2012 Meets five hours a week with the individual class instructor, two hours with student drill instructors. Strong emphasis on communicative competence both in spoken and written German in a larger cultural context. (Kenosian,D. -- Language Level 1) GERM B101 Intermediate German Fall 2011 Thorough review of grammar, exercises in composition and conversation. Enforcement of correct grammatical patterns and idiomatic use of language. Study of selected literary and cultural texts and films from German-speaking countries. Two semesters. (Kenosian,D. -- Language Level 2) GERM B102 Intermediate German Spring 2012 Thorough review of grammar, exercises in composition and conversation. Enforcement of correct grammatical patterns and idiomatic use of language. Study of selected literary and cultural texts and films from German-speaking countries. Two semesters. (Meyer,I., Kenosian,D. -- Language Level 2) GERM B202 Introduction to German Studies Spring 2012 Interdisciplinary and historical approaches to the study of German language and culture. Selected texts for study are drawn from autobiography, Märchen, satire, philosophical essays and fables, art and film criticism, discourses of gender, travel writing, cultural productions of minority groups, and scientific and journalistic writings. Emphasis is on a critical understanding of issues such as linguistic imperialism and exclusion, language and power, gender and language, and ideology and language. (Meyer,I. -- Division I or Division III) GERM B209 Introduction to Literary Analysis: Philosophical Approaches to Criticism Not offered 2011-12 Designated theory course. An introduction to various methods of reading the literary text from the perspective of critical methods informed by philosophical ideas. In their quest for self-understanding and knowledge, literature and philosophy share similar forms of inquiry and imaginative modeling. Selected literary texts and critical essays focus on questions of language, translation, understanding, and identity in their relation to history, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics. One of the main objectives of the course is to provide students with the critical tools necessary for an informed reading of texts. (Seyhan,A. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as COML B209 Cross-listed as PHIL B209 GERM B212 Readings in German Intellectual History: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, and the Rhetoric of Modernity Spring 2012 Study of selected texts of German intellectual history, introducing representative works of Theodor W. Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Sigmund Freud, Jürgen Habermas, Georg W. F. Hegel, Martin Heidegger, Werner Heisenberg, Immanuel Kant, G. E. Lessing, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Friedrich Schiller, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. The course aims to introduce students to an advanced cultural reading range and the languages and terminology of humanistic disciplines in German-speaking countries, and seeks to develop their critical and interpretive skills. (Seyhan,A. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as PHIL B204 GERM B213 Theory in Practice: Critical Discourses in the Humanities Fall 2011 This seminar provides exposure to influential 20th-century French thinkers. It will examine three major currents: Postcolonial Theory; Feminist Theory; Post-Structuralist Theory. The primary goal here is to introduce students to exciting and difficult critical thought that will prove useful to their future studies and will begin to develop necessary critical skills. While the materials covered are primarily grounded in French intellectual history, the course will also spend time situating these intellectual currents in broader transnational and transdisciplinary contexts. This is a required course for the French major. Course taught in English and serving the humanities. (Dostal,R. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as PHIL B253 Cross-listed as COML B213 Cross-listed as ENGL B213 Cross-listed as FREN B213 GERM B223 Topics in German Cultural Studies
Section 001 (Spring 2012): Kafka's Prague Spring 2012 This is a topics course. Course content varies.
Current topic description: Topic for Spring 2011: Kafka's Prague. German and European Writing from the Czech Metropolis. Prague of the late 19th century became for some European writers an icon of modernizing Europe. In this course, we will explore the representations of the spaces of Prague from 1890 until 1920 to trace how German-speaking Jewish and gentile artists and thinkers attempted to negotiate the cultural, linguistic and political contradictions of a city undergoing rapid transformations. (Kenosian,D. -- Division I or Division III) Cross-listed as CITY B247 Cross-listed as COML B223 GERM B227 Topics in Modern Planning Not offered 2011-12 (Hein,C. -- Division I: Social Science) Cross-listed as CITY B227 Cross-listed as FREN B227 Cross-listed as HART B227 GERM B231 Cultural Profiles in Modern Exile Not offered 2011-12 This course investigates the anthropological, philosophical, psychological, cultural, and literary aspects of modern exile. It studies exile as experience and metaphor in the context of modernity, and examines the structure of the relationship between imagined/remembered homelands and transnational identities, and the dialectics of language loss and bi- and multi-lingualism. Particular attention is given to the psychocultural dimensions of linguistic exclusion and loss. Readings of works by Julia Alvarez, Anita Desai, Sigmund Freud, Milan Kundera, Friedrich Nietzsche, Salman Rushdie, and others. (Seyhan,A. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as ANTH B231 Cross-listed as COML B231 GERM B245 Interdisciplinary Approaches to German Literature and Culture
Section 001 (Fall 2011): Sexualities and Gender in Literature and Film Fall 2011 This is a topics course. Course content varies. (Meyer,I. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as COML B245 GERM B262 Film and the German Literary Imagination Not offered 2011-12 Course content varies. Topic for Fall 2010: "Austrian Cinema: From the Silent Era to the Present." This course offers an overview of Austrian cinema from the silent era to the present. We will trace the ways in which Austrian film grapples with the fall of the Habsburg Empire, World War I and its aftermath, Austro-Fascism, the Annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, World War II, Austria's relation to the Holocaust, shifting notions of national identity after 1945, and Austria's entrance into the European Union. Previous topics include: Travel in Post-War German and Austrian Film; Global Masculinities: The Male Body in Contemporary Cinema. (Meyer,I. -- Division III: Humanities) GERM B299 Cultural Diversity and Its Representations Not offered 2011-12 This is a topics course. It will focus on representations of "foreignness" and "others" in selected German works since the 18th century, including works of art, social texts, and film, and on the cultural productions of non-German writers and artists living in Germany today. Topics vary. (Seyhan,A. -- Division I or Division III) Cross-listed as CITY B299 Cross-listed as COML B299 GERM B303 Modern German Prose Not offered 2011-12 (Meyer,I. -- Division III: Humanities) GERM B305 Modern German Drama Not offered 2011-12 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Taught in German. (Meyer,I. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as COML B305 GERM B310 Topics in German Literature Not offered 2011-12 This is a topics course. Course content varies. One additional hour of target language instruction TBA. (Meyer,I., Kenosian,D. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as HEBR B310 GERM B320 Topics in German Literature and Culture
Section 001 (Fall 2011): Education in German Literature and Culture Fall 2011 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Previous topics include: Romantic Literary Theory and Literary Modernity; Configurations of Femininity in German Literature; Nietzsche and Modern Cultural Criticism; Contemporary German Fiction. The topic for 2011-12 is "No Child Left Behind: Education in German Literature and Culture."
Current topic description: What conceptualizations of education emerged in the German Enlightenment and during the 19th and 20th centuries in German-speaking countries? Does education support specific goals shared across a nation, support the status quo, or question dominant paradigms? How are notions of religion, gender, sexuality, class, race, and national identity reflected in education? And how do adult and children's literature, as well as film, grapple with these issues? Language of instruction: English. (Meyer,I. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as EDUC B320 GERM B321 Advanced Topics in German Cultural Studies
Section 001 (Spring 2011): Last Days of Habsburg: Vienna 1900 & End of Empire
Section 001 (Spring 2012): The Trans Cosmo of Swiss Lit Spring 2012 This is a topics course. Course content varies. Topic for 2011-12 is The Transnational Cosmopolitanism of Swiss Literature. (Seyhan,A., Werlen,H., Hertel,C., Meyer,I. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as CITY B319 Cross-listed as COML B321 Cross-listed as HART B348 GERM B329 Wittgenstein Fall 2011 Wittgenstein is notable for developing two philosophical systems. In the first, he attempted to show that there is a single common structure underlying all language, thought and being. In the second, he denied the idea of such a structure and claimed that the job of philosophy was to free philosophers from bewitchments due to misunderstandings of ordinary concepts in language. The course begins by sketching the first system. We then turn to his rejection of the earlier ideas as outlined in Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty. We also examine contemporary interpretations of Wittgenstein's later work. (Koggel,C. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as PHIL B329 GERM B380 Topics in Contemporary Art
Section 001 (Spring 2011): Visual Culture & the Holocaust Not offered 2011-12 This is a topic course. Course content varies. (Saltzman,L. -- Division III: Humanities) Cross-listed as HART B380 GERM B399 Senior Seminar (Kenosian,D.) GERM B403 Supervised Work GERM B421 German for Reading Knowledge This course will provide graduate and undergraduate students with the skills to read and translate challenging academic texts from German into English. We will quickly cover the essentials of German grammar and focus on vocabulary and constructions that one can encounter in scholarly writing from a variety of disciplines. Does not fulfill the Language Requirement. (Seyhan,A.)
Fall 2011 Course Descriptions at Haverford College
GERMH 001/002 Elementary German (Wrange)
GERMH 101/102 Intermediate German (Schönherr); MWF 10:30-11:30
GERMH 201 Advanced Training: Languag, Tet and Context (Brust)
This course is intended for students who wish to refine their speaking, writing, and reading skills beyond the intermediate level. Designed as a comprehensive introduction to modern German culture, we will discuss a variety of literary, political, and philosophical texts, including feature films and video materials. In addition, students have the opportunity to enrich the curriculum, by giving class reports on current events of their choice. Weekly grammar reviews will complement these activities.
GERMH 223 Working Through the Holocaust Past in German Drama & Film (Brust)
This course will provide a historical overview of the Holocaust, its origins, process, and outcomes, and how it has served as a mental map for the construction of contemporary German national identity. In this context, we will explore such topics as notions of memory, collective guilt, trauma, and mourning. In addition, the course will critically engage issues of portrayal and representation of historical memory within the context of Holocaust commemoration by discussing several different plays and films that can be contextualized within the German Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung (working through the past). Lastly, this course will also explore the tragedy and remembrance of the Holocaust as a transnational phenomenon in the contemporary world. The course is taught in English with an extra session in German.
GERMH 321 Literature & Media: From Print Culture to Web 2.0 (Brust)
“Whatever we know about our society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media” – Niklas Luhmann's famous quote reminds us of the enormous importance that books and newspapers, movies, TV shows and the Internet have for our perception of the world. On the other hand we know enough about media that we do not trust them as objective sources. We know that they are not just mirroring the world but rather select very specific events to become news and that they are subject to political and cultural influences.
Our course will deal with a number of major media theories (Luhmann, McLuhan, Baudrillard, Elsaesser et.al.), that will help us to understand what media are and how they work. Starting with the book as the first and most important storage system of the modern world, we will reconstruct main thresholds where "old" and "new" media compete with each other. We will investigate the synergies and functional differentiations between literature and film and between film and television. Last not least we will take a closer look at some of the latest developments in media history: today’s “digitization” and “hybridization” of culture – from hypertext literature to social networks.
Readings will include texts and films by C.M. Wieland, O. Welles, A. Asquith, F. Lang, B. Brecht, A. Pakula, D. Cronenberg, and G. Ryman.
GERMH 399 Senior Conference (Brust)
Spring 2012 Course Descriptions at Haverford College
GERMH 002 Elementary German (Wrage)
GERMH 102 Intermediate German (Brust)
GERMH224B01 Books & Media for Children: From Enlightenment to Cyberspace (Wrage)
The course offers a comprehensive reconstruction of literature from the Renaissance period to the present, by focusing on a) the changing relationship between literature and religion, b) the construction of identities (class, gender, race), c) the representation of history, and d) models of literary self-referentiality. In addition, the class will introduce a variety of literary and cultural theories necessary for the analysis of (non)fictional texts.
GERMH 262B01 European Film (Brust)
GERMH 321 East German Media History: Literature--Film--Television (Wrage)
GERMH399B01 Senior Seminar (Brust)