German Studies Program (GERMAN)

Associate Professor Rasmussen, Chair (116 Old Chemistry); Associate Professor Donahue, Director of Graduate Studies (116 Old Chemistry); Professors Berger (divinity), Gillespie (political science), Gilliam (music), Hillerbrand (religion), Jameson (literature), Kitschelt (political science), Koonz (history), Pfau (English), Steinmetz (divinity), Surin (literature), and Todd (music), and Van Miegroet (art and art history); Associate Professors Campt (women's studies), Coles (political science), Donahue (German), Hacohen (history), Morton (German), Rasmussen (German), Robisheaux (history), and Stiles (art and art history); Assistant Professor McIsaac (German); Associate Professor of the Practice Walther (German); Adjunct Associate Professor Ward (philosophy)

The Graduate Program in German Studies is an interdisciplinary doctoral program. Students develop two distinct areas of expertise, one in a traditional area of German literary and cultural history and one in a discipline such as German social history, religious studies, political science, music history, literary theory, philosophy, film studies, or art history. A total of 16 classes are required. For their courses students work with core faculty in the German Department and with faculty in allied departments and programs.

At the end of their third year, students take their preliminary exam. The preliminary exam has both an oral and a written component. It is based on two equally weighted lists, one of which covers a literary period (broadly defined) or a genre across several periods. The other list concentrates on an area such as art history, music, religious history, theory/philosophy, political science, or history in relation to German culture. For the preliminary exam students select a committee of three faculty, including their faculty advisor. At least one committee member must be selected from the German studies core faculty, while the other two may be selected from among faculty associated with German studies.

The dissertation's topic, methodology, and scope are developed in close consultation with the student's advisor. At the end of their fourth year, students prepare their dissertation chapter review. The chapter review is a substantial piece of writing (approx. 45 pp.), usually a chapter and bibliography for their dissertation. The dissertation chapter review committee consists of the student's faculty advisor and three other faculty members selected by the student.

201. German for Academic Research I. Introduction to German for the purpose of developing reading and translation skills necessary for pursuing academic research. Assumes no prior knowledge of German. Foundations of German grammar and syntax; emphasis on vocabulary and translations. Selected readings in theory of translation and techniques. Not open for credit to undergraduate students who have taken Intermediate German (65, 66, 69, or equivalent). Does not count toward the major or minor, or toward the fulfillment of the Foreign Language Requirement. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

202. German for Academic Research II. Development and refinement of skills needed to read and translate intermediate to advanced academic German. Texts selected by instructor, with regular opportunities to work on materials related to individual fields/research topics. Selected readings in theory of translation and techniques. Prerequisite: German 201. Not open for credit to undergraduate students who have taken Intermediate German (65, 66, 69, or equivalent). Does not count toward the major or minor, or toward the fulfillment of the Foreign Language Requirement. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

204S. German Business / Global Contexts. Current German economic and business debates and events. Germany's position in the global marketplace and on ensuing intercultural business encounters. Topics include state of Germany's industry and energy resources, monetary policies and banking systems, environmental concerns, foreign trade, taxes, and the social safety net. Attention to Germany's self-understanding as a "social market economy" and the compatibility of that model with current trends in globalization. Instructor: Fricker. 3 units.

209S. Introduction to Medieval German: The Language of the German Middle Ages and Its Literature. Basic reading skills in the medieval German language (Middle High German) developed by working with literary texts in their original idiom. Canonical texts such as courtly love poetry (Walther von der Vogelweide), Arthurian romance (Hartmann von Aue, Wolfram), and heroic epic (Nibelungenlied). Understanding manuscript culture, philological inquiry, medieval intellectual practices, relationship between learned Latin culture and educated vernacular cultures. Research paper required. Readings and discussion in German. Instructor: Rasmussen. 3 units. C-L: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 201S

210S. Sex, Gender, and Love in Medieval German Literature. Historical contexts for emergence of courtly love and the role of desire and interpretation in Gottfried von Strassburg's Tristan und Isolde, courtly love lyric, 'maere.' Instructor: Rasmussen. 3 units. C-L: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 203S

216S. The Grand Gesture: German Literature of the Seventeenth Century. The poetry of excess, of performance, of the public posture; rhetoric; the prose of the rogue, adventurer, and the Ne'er-do-well; comedy, farce, and the clown in the German literature of the Baroque era. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

225S. Introduction to Goethe. Major works of lyric, narrative, drama, and theory, throughout Goethe's career. Readings and discussions in German. Instructor: Morton. 3 units.

226S. Goethe's Faust. Goethe's masterpiece and life's work, conceived as a summation of Western literature and mythology for the modern age. Readings and discussions in German. Instructor: Morton. 3 units.

245S. German Literature and Culture 1900-1945. Radical social shifts and their disruption of German culture and literary conventions during the first half of the 20th century. From the poetry, film, manifestos, and revolutionary theater of Expressionism, to the high modernism of Rilke, Kafka, Hesse, and Mann, to the didactic literary program of Brecht and his circle, including Kurt Weill and Marieluise Fleisser, to the internationalist goals of the Frankfurt School of Social Research. Emphasis on relations between text and history, from WWI to Weimar to the persecutions and systematic destructions of the Nazi era. Instructor: Donahue or Rolleston. 3 units.

247S. Contested Memories in German Culture since 1945. Major German literary, filmic, and cultural works since 1945. Topics vary: representations of National Socialism and the Holocaust in German culture; "Vergangenheitsbewältigung" (dealing with the past) in German literature and culture; history, memory, and national identity in German, Austrian, and Swiss literature. Instructor: Donahue. 3 units.

260. History of the German Language. Phonology, morphology, and syntax of German from the beginnings to the present. Instructor: Keul or Rasmussen. 3 units. C-L: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 260B, Linguistics 260

261S. Second Language Acquisition Theory and Practice. Overview of current research in the fields of second language acquisition and foreign language pedagogy, and its implications for the teaching of the German language, literature, and culture at all levels. Readings and discussions on competing theories of language acquisition and learning, issues of cultural identity and difference, learner styles, and the teaching of language as culture; training in contemporary teaching techniques and approaches. Instructor: Walther. 3 units. C-L: Linguistics 261S

264S. Research without Borders:Building Expertise in Japanese, European, Latin American, or Slavic Studies. 3 units. C-L: see Latin American Studies 202S; also C-L: Asian and African Languages and Literature 207S, Russian 203S, Romance Studies 202S

270. Consciousness and Modern Society. The German tradition of political theory conceptualizing social transformation through consciousness both of alienation and of ethical ideals; the ongoing debate between activist and radically critical perspectives. Marx, Nietzsche, Lukacs, Freud, Benjamin, Adorno, Marcuse, and Habermas. Taught in English. Instructor: Rolleston. 3 units. C-L: Literature 270

275S. Hegel's Political Philosophy (C-N). Within context of Hegel's total philosophy, an examination of his understanding of phenomenology and the phenomenological basis of political institutions and his understanding of Greek and Christian political life. Selections from Phenomenology, Philosophy of History, and Philosophy of Right. Research paper required. Instructor: Gillespie. 3 units. C-L: Political Science 236S, Philosophy 236S

285S. Science and Technology in Nineteenth-Century German Culture. Literature and science writing by literary figures (such as Goethe, Novalis, Kleist, Stifter, Musil), the social history of technology, the history of science (especially physics, anthropology, and biology), and philosophy (such as Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, Weber). The German historical context as seen from contemporary American and German understandings. Taught in English, with an optional German section for those reading in the original. Instructor: Staff. 3 units. C-L: Biology 257S

286S. Inventing the Museum: Collecting and Cultural Discourses of the Nineteenth Century. Examines the rise of the German public museum in its European cultural contexts in the nineteenth century. Uses history and theories of collecting and exhibiting to explore intersecting discourses of architecture, art history, cultural history, literature, and politics that constitute the museum and delineate its privileged place in nineteenth-century German and European culture. Introduces methods for using primary sources in cultural studies research and the study of literature in terms of collecting and exhibiting. Taught in English. Instructor: Staff. 3 units. C-L: Art History 256S, History 286AS, Romance Studies 286S

299S. Seminar in German Studies. Review of current debates and historical perspectives in the German cultural field, structured through contributing disciplines: social and economic history, political theory and history, literature, fine arts, music, philosophy, and religion. Team-taught, involving a wide range of faculty in the German Studies Program. Taught in English. Instructor: Donahue, Rolleston, and staff. 3 units. C-L: International Comparative Studies 280ES

300S. The Discipline of Germanistik: A Historical Survey. A study of trends in scholarly criticism within the context of German culture and politics beginning in the 1810s with the origins of Germanistik as a university discipline. Topics may include: the invention of philology and the romantic enterprise; positivism and Geistesgeschichte; the politics of Germanistik, 1933-45; Germanistik in Europe and the United States after 1945. Instructor: Borchardt or Rasmussen. 3 units.

301. German Studies: Theory and Practice. German studies at the intersection of various discourses (such as feminism, psychoanalysis, new historicism), questioning traditional concepts such as national identity, history, and language. Interdisciplinary issues may include: the relationship of literature, the unconscious and technology; the cinematic representation of Nazi history; architecture, monuments, and ''German'' space. Texts might include works by Kafka, Freud, Marx, Spengler, and Schinkel as well as texts by individuals whose work has been excluded from more traditional ''Germanistik'' courses. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

302. Topics in Literary Theory. Literary theories and methods in their history and philosophical contexts. Issues include canonicity, German identity debates, and the claims of aesthetic language. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

303. Topics in Literary History. Relations between an established German literature and its competing cultural centers; classical and popular cultures, literary conventions, and nonliterary discourses (religious, national, scientific), the construction of Austrian and Swiss traditions. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

304. Topics in Genre Theory. The construction of German literature through generic frameworks: Minnesang, epic, baroque lyric and drama, classical ballad, folksong, Bildungsroman, expressionist film, others. Instructor: Staff. 3 units.

2008-09 Bulletin of the Duke University Graduate School

2008-09 Bulletin of the
Duke University Graduate School