German and German Studies

GERM 111: Beginning German I

Students begin to learn German through listening, speaking, reading, and writing about situations familiar to them including their personal biographies, families, daily life, studies, travels, and hobbies. Regular writing assignments help students learn vocabulary, check spelling, and form thoughts with German sentence structure. Regular speaking activities aid in acquiring accurate pronunciation and listening skills. Offered annually in the fall semester. Does not count toward German major or concentration.

GERM 112: Beginning German II

Students continue to develop basic language skills with emphasis on expanding vocabulary and on writing assignments that aid in the practical application of grammatical concepts. Communicating in German about familiar personal topics, students acquire vocabulary about sports, food, holidays, school, the environment, and life in German speaking cultures. Offered annually in the spring semester. Does not count toward German major or concentration.
Prerequisite: GERM 111 or by placement test.

GERM 231: Intermediate German I

Students explore life in the German-speaking countries through reading, discussing, and retelling narrative texts. The course emphasizes vocabulary building, a thorough review of German grammar, and the composition of short narratives to develop writing skills for paragraph-length discourse. Taught in German with some grammar explanations in English. Offered annually in the fall semester. May count toward the German major but not the German studies concentration.
Prerequisite: GERM 112 or by placement test.

GERM 232: Intermediate German II

Students continue to explore life in German-speaking countries, using cultural readings, films, and other authentic materials to develop vocabulary and composition skills. Drafting short reports enables students to practice writing skills for paragraph-length discourse. Selected grammar topics are reviewed as needed. Open to first-year students. Taught in German. Offered annually in the spring semester.
Prerequisite: GERM 231 or by placement test.

GERM 251: History and Memory

Students examine the National Socialist period (1933-1945), its embeddedness in German cultural memory, and its implications for contemporary society. Students read, discuss, analyze, and write about a series of literary texts (including films) emerging from or reflecting on what historian Friedrich Meinecke called "the German catastrophe." The course is writing intensive and includes short weekly assignments as well as several longer, multi-step writing projects. Advanced grammar review supports analytical tasks. Taught in German. A one-hour weekly small group discussion section led by a native German speaker is required. Offered annually in the fall semester.
Prerequisite: GERM 232 or by placement test.

GERM 252: German-speaking Societies in Global Context

Students examine current issues in German-speaking societies such as politics, sustainability, social welfare, diversity, and migration. They compare multiple perspectives on, and connections between the issues through sources including documentaries, podcasts, and news articles. Short writing assignments and oral presentations emphasize analysis of texts' strategic organization, argumentative structure, style, and layered voices. Advanced grammar review supports analytical tasks. Taught in German. A weekly small group discussion section led by a native German speaker is required. Offered annually in the spring semester.
Prerequisite: GERM 232 or by placement test.

GERM 272: Turning Points in German History

Students examine a historical period or theme and its impact on the institutional, intellectual, and artistic heritage of German-speaking societies. The course requires close reading and critical analysis of primary sources, with a focus on history as an interpretive reconstruction of the past. Recent topics: the German Democratic Republic, German colonialism and decolonization, and migration. The course emphasizes strategies for writing papers in German. Taught in German. May be repeated if topic is different. Offered periodically in fall semester.
Prerequisite: GERM 251 or GERM 252.

GERM 273: German Media History and Media Literacy

Students develop their media literacy through German-language sources with emphasis on ideological, aesthetic, and ethical perspectives on how media make meaning and shape culture. Students examine issues treated in print and electronic formats across the history of mass communication, from early printing to the internet. To hone their critical media literacy, students compare and contrast how issues are represented in different German- and English-speaking media. The course emphasizes strategies for academic writing. Taught in German. Offered periodically in fall semester. Also counts toward business and management studies concentration.
Prerequisite: GERM 251 or GERM 252.

GERM 276: Green Germany

Students examine Germany's successful sustainability initiatives and their roots in a long history of cultural values and scientific innovation. They study primary and secondary sources including interviews, journalistic articles, literary works, and films; these texts form the basis of students' written and oral analyses. Drawing on diverse disciplinary perspectives, students gain transferable knowledge and skills for addressing complex international environmental concerns. Offered periodically. Also counts toward environmental studies major and environmental studies and business and management studies concentrations.
Prerequisite: GERM 251, GERM 252, or permission of the instructor.

GERM 294: Academic Internship (study abroad)

Students spend four weeks during January Term or summer in an individually selected German or Austrian workplace. Opportunities include work in health care, communications, and manufacturing as well as non-profit organizations, libraries, businesses, laboratories, offices, and churches. Assignment of position varies with availability in host institutions.
Prerequisite: at least one 250-level GERM course.

GERM 298: Independent Study

GERM 371: Topics in German Literature

Students hone their skills of analyzing the forms and contexts of production and reception of German-language literary works of various genres. Coursework includes close reading, discussion, and interpretation of visual and written texts. Recent topics include: author as public intellectual, die Fantasie, Frauenliteratur, and Wissen-Wissenschaft/en-Wissenschaftler:innen. The course emphasizes strategies for academic writing. Taught in German. May be repeated if the topic is different. Offered in alternate years in spring semester.
Prerequisite: at least one 270-level GERM course.

GERM 372: Transdisciplinary Topics in German Studies

Students explore an interdisciplinary topic in language, literature, history, or culture through close reading, discussion, analysis, and interpretation of selected works, including theoretical texts. Recent topics: identities and boundaries of the German-speaking world, Arbeitskulturen. Taught in German. May be repeated if topic is different. Offered alternate years in spring semester.
Prerequisite: at least one 270-level GERM course.

GERM 394: Academic Internship (study abroad)

Students spend four weeks during January Term or summer in the German or Austrian workplace. Opportunities include working in health care, communications, and manufacturing as well as non-profit organizations, libraries, businesses, laboratories, offices, and churches. Assignment of position varies with availability of host institutions.
Prerequisite: at least one 270-level GERM course.

GERM 398: Independent Research

May be counted toward German major or German studies concentration.

GERM 245: Shifting Borders: Mapping Linguistic Landscapes in N Germany (study ab

In this course, students immerse themselves in Hamburg and Flensburg to explore the representations and concept of borders from a linguistic perspective. They inspect the intersecting roles of political, religious, socioeconomic, historical developments on past and current language systems and ideologies. They apply methods such as linguistic landscaping, linguistic historiography, and fieldwork journaling to develop their own research projects on socio-cultural border identities in Northern Germany. Knowledge of German is helpful, but not required. In the German Language Across the Curriculum (LAC) section, students speak in German about class readings and excursion observations and learn topic-specific terminology. Offered alternate years during January term.

GERM 247: Germanic Fairy Tales (Taught in English)

This course provides an introduction to the study of folklore and presents a spectrum of approaches to the interpretation of fairy tales. Students read and discuss writings stemming from oral traditions such as the Nibelungenlied, and chapbooks including Till Eulenspiegel, and Faust; eighteenth-century fables created on models from antiquity; fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm; and Kunstmärchen (literary fairy tales by known writers). Students explore the literary aspects of the works and their historical contexts. Also counts toward the Nordic studies major and concentration and the international relations concentration.

GERM 249: German Cinema (Taught in English)

A survey of German films from Caligari (1919) to The Counterfeiters (2008), this course examines 20th-century German history through the lens of Germany's most renowned films. Students develop analytical and critical skills in "reading" films as cultural products and as cinematic works of art. The course focuses on the increasing social and political importance of mass media for understanding the past. Also counts toward the film and media studies major and concentration and the international relations concentration.

GERM 263: Topics in German Arts (Taught in English)

Students examine the artistic heritage of the German-speaking countries and develop the skill of interpreting and analyzing art works in their cultural context. The specific topic may vary and may be broadly or narrowly defined to include a specific art form, theme, period, artist, or the art of the German-speaking countries. Topics include: the arts in turn-of-the-century Vienna, the Bauhaus, Weimar cinema, and German Expressionism. Taught in English. May be repeated if topic is different. Offered periodically.

EDUC 346: Who is My Neighbor? Ethics of Refugee and Immigrant Education

This course addresses the reception of migrants in relationship to education and ethics. Students interrogate laws, policies, practices, and foundational belief systems involved in immigration while learning about normative perspectives in ethics. They interrogate best practices for teaching and interacting with refugees, immigrants and immigrant communities that reflect moral responsibility. Required for ESL licensure, and highly relevant for all educators and those interested in immigration. 10-hour service component working with migrants in the community. Open to juniors and seniors. Offered periodically.

HIST 191: Colonialism & Europe: 1492-Present

This course surveys European history and culture since the Reformation. Topics include the impact of Protestantism, the development of nation-states, the Enlightenment, revolutionary ideas and experiences, the Napoleonic era, imperialism, mass political movements, and global warfare. Through original texts, historical studies, and literature, students explore relations among religions, states and societies and understandings of liberty and reason, natural environments, family life, and gender roles. Offered annually. Also counts toward gender and sexuality studies major and concentration.

HIST 224: Ethics of Revolution: The Making of Modern Germany

Students explore modern German history from the Enlightenment through the establishment of a modern German nation-state (1871), two World Wars and their aftermath, up to the late Cold War period when the question of how to frame Germany's modern history became a matter of public debate. By examining primary sources in English translation, critical historiography, and ethical perspectives, students learn not just the major turns in modern German history, but consider the ethical implications of revolutionary and revolutionizing movements and the ethics of history-writing itself. Students hone skills of interpretation and argumentation in writing and speaking. No prerequisites. Offered periodically. Counts toward German major, History major, German Studies concentration, International Relations concentration.

LNGST 301: Germanic Multiethnolects-A Story of Birth

"Multiethnolects" is a collective term for urban contact languages that develop in multiethnic neighborhoods. Students learn to analyze the language structure of multiethnolects, the role of language in social groups, and how people express their identities through language. They also investigate perspectives on multiethnolects from outside the speech community, e.g., how attitudes towards "non-standard" languages influence public debates, and how those debates on language are used as a battleground for resistance against societal change. Offered periodically in the spring semester. Also counts toward the German and Norwegian majors. Also counts toward the German studies and Nordic studies concentrations.
Prerequisite: LNGST 250 or equivalent.

MUSIC 241: History and Literature of Music I

Students encounter the history and development of Western European music from the Middle Ages to ca. 1750 and study the genres and styles of music from monophonic chant to concerted music of the Baroque. Offered periodically in the fall semester.
Prerequisite: MUSIC 114.

MUSIC 242: History And Literature of Music II

Continuing the study begun in MUSIC 241, students encounter the history and development of Western European music from ca. 1750 to the present and study the major forms, styles and representative literature of the Classic and Romantic eras and the 20th and 21st centuries. Offered periodically in the spring semester.
Prerequisite: MUSIC 114.

NORW 260: Introduction to Germanic Linguistics (Taught in English)

This course explores linguistic and social processes that underlie language change with a focus on the Germanic language family. Students learn the fundamental methods of comparative historical linguistics to analyze the development of modern Germanic languages (e.g., English, German, Norwegian, etc.) from a common ancestor. These processes concern how language operates as a cognitive system, as well as core social factors that impact language practices. Students also learn to critically engage with linguistic scholarship and develop their research and writing skills through a project on a topic of their choosing. Offered periodically. Also counts toward German major; and applied linguistics, Nordic studies, and German studies concentrations.
Prerequisites: LNGST 250 or NORW 231 or GERM 231 or permission of the instructor.

NURS 260: Comparative Health and Wellness - Germany & Switzerland (study abroad)

In the United States "health" constitutes seeing doctors, taking medicines, and getting in 5000 daily steps. In Germany, wellness is fundamental to lifestyle. While traveling in Germany and Switzerland, students compare health practices to examine the factors that contribute to health promotion. How do place, time, money, power, luck and compassion contribute to health in Germany and the U.S.? What personal health practices can we sustain to promote our own wellbeing? Does not count toward the nursing major.

PHIL 233: Kierkegaard and Existentialism

An introduction to Kierkegaard's work and to existentialism, this course emphasizes the aesthetic, ethical, and religious "stages on life's way." Existential questions concerning the meaning of human existence, passion and faith, freedom and choice, despair, and the absurd are examined. Offered annually. Also counts toward Nordic studies major and concentration.

PHIL 236: History of Modern Philosophy

This course examines the development of Western philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries, with a focus on the emergence of a distinctively modern sense of self. We look at the liberating, creative forces in this productive period through such thinkers as Descartes, Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia, Pascal, Spinoza, Leibniz, Lady Masham, Rousseau, and Kant. And we ask: What epistemological and metaphysical commitments about the self and its world have we inherited? What are some of the problematic outcomes of modernity? Offered annually.
Prerequisite: one course in philosophy or permission of instructor.

PHIL 241: Philosophical Theology

This course is a philosophical inquiry into the core commitments of Christian theism in the context of other world religions and naturalism. Central themes include beliefs about the existence and nature of God, the doctrines of the trinity and incarnation, redemption and ritual, human free will and responsibility, revelation and reason, religious experience, the problem of evil, different views of life after death, miracles and historical inquiry, and religious pluralism. Offered annually.

PSCI 113: Introduction to Political Theory

This course is an introduction to some of the central, interrelated concepts and questions of political theory. Some of the readings will be drawn from recognized classics in the field while others will arise from contemporary debates about political issues and cultural diversity within the U.S. The course pays considerable attention to historical shifts in political thought but is not designed to provide a chronology of the great Western political thinkers. Instead, this course aims to provoke and sustain a semester-long exploration of what it means to be a political actor -- that is, a citizen -- and what it means to think about politics. Offered annually.

PSCI 285: International Law

Once the purview of diplomats and generals, international law has broken those narrow confines and is becoming a part of traditional practice in areas of business, environment, human rights, and criminal law. This course introduces students to this vast and changing subject from a liberal arts perspective, including its history, theory, and practice. Also counts toward international relations concentration.

QUEST 218: Critics, Dreamers, Radicals

In this course, students consider the modern age in light of their Enduring Questions experience. Topics include artists and authors from the twentieth century to the present, such as Freud, Picasso, Woolf, Arendt, and Borges, addressing topics such as the rise of nationalism, rejections of colonialism, globalization, migration, and race and racism. Students identify and evaluate their own ethical views in relation to ethical theories, like consequentialism and virtue ethics, encountered throughout the Enduring Questions program. Offered annually in the spring semester.
Prerequisites: QUEST 217.

REL 213: Lutheran Heritage

Analyzing continuity and change within the Lutheran tradition, students consider Luther's theology and proposals for the reform of Catholicism and evaluate major reappraisals of Lutheran beliefs and practices that developed in response to new issues and social situations. Topics include Orthodoxy and Pietism, conservative and liberal responses to the Enlightenment, modern European Lutheranism and issues of particular importance to Lutheranism in Scandinavia, America, and developing countries. Offered periodically during January Term. Also counts toward German studies concentration.

REL 214: Reformation Theology

Students analyze 16th-century reform movements in light of their theological and historical contexts and their significance for contemporary theology. The course focuses on contributions and lives of the major figures in the Protestant Reformations (e.g., Luther, Calvin, Zwingli) and the Roman Catholic Reform. Offered periodically. Also counts toward German studies concentration.

REL 303: History of Christian Thought II

This course provides a critical analysis of the development of Christian thought in the Middle Ages and Reformation, 11th through 16th centuries. Particular attention is paid to the great theological systems of the Middle Ages and to the theological aims of the 16th-century reforming movements, drawing upon readings from Anselm, Aquinas, Bonaventure, Luther, Calvin, and others. Offered periodically. Also counts toward medieval studies major.

REL 304: History of Christian Thought III

This course offers a critical analysis of the development of Christian thought in the modern period, 17th century to 1970. Students pay special attention to the rise of modern historical and philosophical outlooks that challenge traditional Christian claims and to the appropriation and criticism of these outlooks in modern theology. Students read from Edwards, Schleiermacher, Barth, Bultmann, and others. Offered periodically.