German Studies (GERST)Arts and Sciences

Showing 35 results.

Course descriptions provided by the Courses of Study 2014-2015.

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - June 22, 2015 4:42PM EDT
  • Course Catalog - June 11, 2015 6:21PM EDT

GERST 1102
FWS: Disorderly Subjects: Building, Breaking, and Remaking Culture

What might be revolutionary about the power of writing to rearrange what society considers 'normal'? How can stories change our view of events?  This course will explore theoretical discussions about modern ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   FWS Session. 

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17376 GERST 1102   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 1109
FWS:From Fairy Tale To Uncanny

How did bawdy tales of peasants using magic to climb the social ladder get transformed into moral lessons for children?  The answer lies in Romanticism and its appropriation of the imagination as a force ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   FWS Session. 

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17379 GERST 1109   SEM 101

  •  
Syllabi: none

  •   FWS Session. 

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17507 GERST 1109   SEM 102

  •  

GERST 1113
FWS: Participatory Culture

The rise of online media in the late twentieth century has led to the formation of alternative public spheres, with new opportunities for active participation open to anyone with internet access and basic ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   FWS Session. 

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17385 GERST 1113   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 1150
FWS: German Lyric Poetry

Friedrich Hölderlin, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Paul Celan are arguably the most influential lyric poets to have written in German.  Although each responded to events of his day (the French Revolution, First ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   FWS Session. 

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17634 GERST 1150   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 1170
FWS: Marx,Nietzsche, Freud

A basic understanding of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud is a prerequisite for participating in critical debates in the humanities and social sciences.  Our seminar will explore key terms in the revolutionary ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   FWS Session. 

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17383 GERST 1170   SEM 101

  •  
Syllabi: none

  •   FWS Session. 

  • 3 Credits Graded

  • 17384 GERST 1170   SEM 102

  •  

GERST 1210
Exploring German Contexts I

Students develop basic abilities in listening, reading, writing, and speaking German in meaningful contexts through interaction in small group activities. Course materials including videos, short articles, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion.

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5575 GERST 1210   LEC 001

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  •  5576 GERST 1210   LEC 002

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  •  5577 GERST 1210   DIS 201

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  •  5578 GERST 1210   DIS 202

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GERST 1220
Exploring German Contexts II

Students build on their basic knowledge of German by engaging in intense and more sustained interaction in the language. Students learn more advanced language structures allowing them to express more complex ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion.

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5570 GERST 1220   LEC 001

  •  

  •  5571 GERST 1220   LEC 002

  •  

  •  5572 GERST 1220   DIS 201

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  •  5573 GERST 1220   DIS 202

  •  

  •  5574 GERST 1220   DIS 203

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GERST 1230
Expanding the German Dossier

Students continue to develop their language skills by discussing a variety of cultural topics and themes in the German-speaking world. The focus of the course is on expanding vocabulary, reviewing major ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5603 GERST 1230   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 2000
Germany: Intercultural Context

Content-based language course on the intermediate level. Students examine important aspects of present-day German culture while expanding and strengthening their reading, writing, and speaking skills in ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5585 GERST 2000   SEM 101

  •  
Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5586 GERST 2000   SEM 102

  •  

GERST 2002
Abroad to Germany

This course prepares students to undertake a one-week research trip to Germany during spring semester. Students will choose and investigate a research topic that will allow them to delve into questions ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 1 Credit Sat/UnSat

  • 18005 GERST 2002   SEM 101

    • TBA

    • Matthias, G

  • Instructor Consent Required (Add)

GERST 2060
German in Business Culture

Learn German and understand German business culture at the same time.  This is a German language course that examines the German economic structure and its major components: industry, trade unions, the ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  7567 GERST 2060   SEM 101

  •  

  • Prerequisite: GERST 2000 or placement by examination. Students without previous knowledge of Business German are welcome. Satisfies Option 1.

GERST 3080
German Life Style Going Digital

In this course, we will encounter German culture of today in and through Web 2.0. No technical knowledge is required since, in the process, a solid base of knowledge concerning the use of media will be ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5564 GERST 3080   SEM 101

  •  

  • Taught in German. Satsfies Option 1. Prerequisite: GERST 2020, GERST 2040, GERST 2060, or equivalent or permission of instructor. This course may be counted towards the requirement for 3000-level language in the major.

GERST 3221
Lyric Poetry

This course will 1) allow students to gain an overview of the epochs of German literary history from Weimar Classicism to the 1950s, and 2) introduce students to methods of interpretation, particularly ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16371 GERST 3221   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 3300
West Germany 1968/1977

The course looks at 1968 and 1977, two historical moments, which, by challenging state authority, raised the questions if the West German political institutions and the public would live up to new democratic ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16359 GERST 3300   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 3530
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century European Thought

Survey of European social theory from Hegel to Foucault (via Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Weber, and the Frankfurt School). view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture. Discussion optional. Combined with: PHIL 2240

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  9029 GERST 3530   LEC 001

  •  

  •  9031 GERST 3530   DIS 201

  • Department Consent Required (Add)

GERST 3550
Political Theory and Cinema

An introduction (without prerequisites) to fundamental problems of current political theory, filmmaking, and film analysis, along with their interrelationship.  Particular emphasis on comparing and contrasting ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: COML 3300, GOVT 3705, PMA 3490

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16360 GERST 3550   SEM 101

  •  

  • Students must attend film screenings on Monday or Wednesday evening from 7:30 - 10:30 in Kaufmann Auditorium in Goldwin Smith Hall.

GERST 3560
Metropolis: Urban Sites in Literature

An interdisciplinary study of metropolitan life focusing on Berlin and Vienna (1890-1999) and on contemporary global mega-cities as major contexts of artistic modernity and historical change. Topics of ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: COML 3700

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  8944 GERST 3560   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 3581
Imaginative Arts of Migration

What role should imaginative arts play in debates about transnational migration, one of the principal factors re-shaping community and communication today?  Focusing on literature and film from the late ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 16378 GERST 3581   SEM 101

  •  
    • TR Uris Hall 204

    • Adelson, L

      Haenni, S

GERST 4231
Perspectives in Intellectual History: Modernity, Cataclysm and the Jews (1880-1930)

Between the end of the nineteenth century and the second World War, the Jewish intellectual appears as a new figure of European societies, quickly becoming a major actor in public spheres.  During those ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 15780 GERST 4231   LEC 001

  •  

GERST 4260
The Animal

In recent years literary representations and philosophical discussions of the status of the animal vis-à-vis the human have abounded. In this course, we will track the literary phenomenology of animality. In ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: COML 4240, ENGL 4260, GOVT 4279

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16374 GERST 4260   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 4413
Walter Benjamin

This extraordinary figure died in 1941, and his death is emblematic of the intellectual depradations of Nazism. Yet since World War II, his influence, his reputation, and his fascination for scholars in ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 17418 GERST 4413   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 4520
Independent Study

No description available. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 1-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5584 GERST 4520   IND 601

    • TBA

    • Gilgen, P

  • Instructor Consent Required (Add)

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 1-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  9487 GERST 4520   IND 602

    • TBA

    • Staff

  • Department Consent Required (Add)

GERST 4530
Honors Research

No description available. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Multi-Term

  •  7745 GERST 4530   RSC 701

    • TBA

    • Gilgen, P

  • Department Consent Required (Add)

GERST 4540
Honors Thesis

No description available. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Graded

  •  5583 GERST 4540   IND 601

    • TBA

    • Schwarz, A

  • Instructor Consent Required (Add)

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 17179 GERST 4540   IND 602

  •  
    • TBA

    • Siegel, E

GERST 4550
The "European Civil War": Violence, Politics and Culture in Europe (1914-1945)

At the end of the Great War, Europe became the realm of a new relationship among violence, culture, and politics. From 1914-1945, the continent witnessed an extraordinary entanglement of inter-state wars, ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: HIST 4555, ROMS 4550

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 18102 GERST 4550   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 6050
Classicism: Goethe and Schiller

This seminar examines Goethe's and Schiller's literature and thought through the question: What is Classicism? How does it differ in style, principle, content and form from both what came before (e.g. ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16383 GERST 6050   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 6100
Marx and Marxisms

The terms "Marx" and "Marxisms" have meant different things to different people, beginning with Marx himself and continuing in his legacy today.  As obviously, this legacy remains global (Europe, North ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: COML 6631, GOVT 6706, SPAN 6100

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16385 GERST 6100   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 6131
German Philosophical Texts

Reading, translation, and English-language discussion of important texts in the German philosophical tradition. Readings for a given term are chosen in consultation with students. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: PHIL 4003, PHIL 6030

  • 1-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5897 GERST 6131   SEM 101

  •  
    • TBA

    • Kosch, M

GERST 6231
Perspectives in Intellectual History: Modernity, Cataclysm and the Jews (1880-1930)

Between the end of the nineteenth century and the second World War, the Jewish intellectual appears as a new figure of European societies, quickly becoming a major actor in public spheres.  During those ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  • 15784 GERST 6231   LEC 001

  •  

GERST 6241
Topics in German Philosophy

Spring Topic: Kant's 1st Critique. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Combined with: PHIL 6240

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • Topic: Kant's Critique of Pure Reason

  •  8470 GERST 6241   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 6320
Reading Academic German II

Emphasis on development of the specialized vocabulary of student's field of study. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 3 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5565 GERST 6320   SEM 101

  •  

  • Limited to graduate students. Prerequisite: GERST 6310 or equivalent.

GERST 6400
The Modern German Novel

The goal of this seminar is to analyze selected works of modernist fiction in order to assess the stylistic qualities that constitute their specifically modernist character. Concentrating on novels ranging ... view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16394 GERST 6400   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 6413
Walter Benjamin

This extraordinary figure died in 1941, and his death is emblematic of the intellectual depradations of Nazism. Yet since World War II, his influence, his reputation, and his fascination for scholars ... view course details

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  • 17420 GERST 6413   SEM 101

  •  

GERST 7540
Independent Study

No description available. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 1-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5587 GERST 7540   IND 601

    • TBA

    • Fleming, P

  • Instructor Consent Required (Add)

GERST 7541
Colloquium

No description available. view course details

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 1-4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  •  5588 GERST 7541   IND 601

  • Instructor Consent Required (Add)