syllabi

Fall 2017:

GE 30305 – Introduction to Contemporary Germany: Society, Politics, and Culture
This course provides an introduction to the society, politics, and culture of contemporary Germany. Our main focus is on Germany after 1989, but we will also look back as far as 1945 and draw comparisons to other German-speaking countries, as well as the United States. Topics include social values and the German Basic Law, government and media, as well as issues currently in the news. We will also look at selected literary works, essays, and films in German in order to become familiar with fundamental techniques of interpretation.

GE 30112 – Germany and the Environment
Germany is globally recognized as a leader in the fields of renewable energy, sustainable development, and environmental protection. But how did this come about? In this course, we will examine the roles that culture and history play in shaping human attitudes towards the environment. Our case studies will range over two centuries, from damming projects in the Rhine valley at the start of the nineteenth century to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster at the end of the twentieth. Over the course of the semester, students will develop a richer understanding of German environmentalism that also includes an awareness of its dark sides, such as the role that nature conservancy played within Nazi ideology.

 

Spring 2017:

GE 30305 – Introduction to Contemporary Germany: Society, Politics, and Culture
[as above]

GE 20201 – Intermediate German I
The goal of this class will be to improve the four linguistic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as students’ understanding of German culture.  To accomplish this task, we will create an immersive environment in which we speak exclusively German, and also use an all-German textbook.

 

 Fall 2016:

GE 40106 – Law, Rights, and Justice on the German Stage
Germany and the United States take a strikingly different attitude towards publicly funded theater. One of the reasons for this is that Germans have long regarded the theater, whether in its spoken-word or musical varieties, not as a luxury, but rather as an essential foundation for civic life and national identity. Put in its simplest terms, Germans believe that without theater, there can be no just society. In this class, we will examine the history and contemporary status of this belief, and read some of the greatest German-language plays that deal with questions of civic responsibility, human rights, and the power of the law.

GE 20201 – Intermediate German I
[as above]

 

Spring 2016:

GE 30305 – Introduction to Contemporary Germany: Society, Politics, and Culture
[as above]

GE 20201 – Intermediate German I
[as above]

 

[On Leave 2015]

 

Fall 2014:

Engl 44347 – Imagining Europe: From the Age of Enlightenment to the Age of the Euro
(Taught at Notre Dame’s Study Abroad Campus in London)
In this seminar, we will examine how poets, novelists, and filmmakers have imagined Europe over the course of the last 200 years. How do you give an imaginative shape to something that is too vast to ever be encompassed in its entirety, and too complex to be reduced to any uniform vision? Throughout the semester, we will make use of local resources in London to support our studies.

Engl 44427 – Remembering the Great War in Britain and Germany
(Taught at Notre Dame’s Study Abroad Campus in London)
August 2014 marks the centenary of the Great War, an event that will be commemorated throughout Europe over the course of the following year. The London Undergraduate Program gives Notre Dame students a unique opportunity to observe these commemorations and learn about the various ways in which the war contributed to the formation of modern European identity. Our course will focus on two case studies drawn from opposite sides of the conflict and will investigate the various ways in which poets, artists, historians, and ordinary people have tried to make sense of these cataclysmic events over the course of the last 100 years.

 

Spring 2014:

Lit 73894 – From Philology to World Literature
This course, one of two required classes for every student in the Ph.D. in Literature Program, offers an overview of different models that have been used to justify the comparative study of literature. While the course readings are arranged chronologically and touch on many of the major schools of academic criticism of the last century, the class is not intended as a “theory survey.” Instead, we will try to outline several different ways in which we might conceptualize the relationship between literature and the extra-textual world, and will then ask what role these various models still play in what has sometimes been called our present “post-theoretical” era.

GE 20201 – Intermediate German I
[as above]