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Winter Quarter 2010 Course Descriptions

[ Dutch ]. [ German ]. [ Scandinavian ]. [ Swedish ]. [ Yiddish ].

The class number can be found on the Registrar's Class Search

Dutch

There are no Dutch courses offered Winter Quarter.

German

Taught at 9:30 / 10:30 / 11:30 / 12:30
Introduction to German; development of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing skills and cultural knowledge.
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Please note: Students should attend one of the initial orientation sessions. In this program, students work by appointment with the Center's instructors to set goals and to receive assistance with self-managed learning. Students register for and complete from 1 to 5 credit hours during the quarter. Students who complete 5 hours before the end of the quarter may proceed to 102.51. For more information about the program, visit the Individualized Instruction Web site
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Taught at 8:30 / 9:30 / 10:30 / 2:30
Continued development of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing skills and cultural knowledge.
Text—Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Please note:Students should attend one of the initial orientation sessions. In this program, students work by appointment with the Center's instructors to set goals and to receive assistance with self-managed learning. Students register for and complete from 1 to 5 credit hours during the quarter. Students who complete 5 hours before the end of the quarter may proceed to 103.51. For more information about the program, visit the Individualized Instruction Web site
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Taught at 8:30 / 11:30 / 12:30 / 1:30
Continued development of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing skills and cultural knowledge; grammar review.
Text—Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Please note: Students should attend one of the initial orientation sessions. In this program, students work by appointment with the Center's instructors to set goals and to receive assistance with self-managed learning. Students register for and complete from 1 to 5 credit hours during the quarter. Students who complete 5 hours before the end of the quarter may proceed to 104.51. For more information about the program, visit the Individualized Instruction Web site
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Taught MTWRF 10:30 Intensive review of basic structures, vocabulary and skills needed for entry into German 104.
Text - Deutsch: Na klar! 5th edition, Di Donato, et al.
Taught M W F : 9:00—10:18 / 10:30—11:48 / 11:30—12:48 / 12:00—1:18 / 2:30—3:48
Vocabulary building, reading, listening and written practice; cultural knowledge.
Texts: Stationen: Ein Kursbuch für die Mittelstufe, and Langenscheidt Standard German Dictionary
Please note: Students should attend one of the initial orientation sessions. In this program, students work by appointment with the Center's instructors to set goals and to receive assistance with self-managed learning. Students register for and complete from 1 to 5 credit hours during the quarter. For more information about the program, visit the Individualized Instruction Web site
Texts: Blickwechsel, German in Review, and Langenscheidt Standard German Dictionary
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Prof. Taleghani-Nikazm, email: taleghani-nikazm.1@osu.edu
M W F 11:30—12:48
German 201 is a prerequisite for the German major and minor programs and for semester- or year-long study-abroad programs in Germany. To prepare students for either experience, and to encourage continued study of German for all others, the course covers a wide range of important skills and knowledge areas, with attention being paid both to the language and to "content"—information about Germany, German culture, literature, and socio-political developments in German-speaking countries—a required skill for prospective teachers and for all others who wish to use German in their careers.
Prof. Corl, email: corl.1@osu.edu
T R 5:30—7:18 pm
Development of business-related cultural knowledge and spoken and written communication skills in German; introduction to the world of German business through audio, video, internet and print materials.
Required Course Materials:
1. Unternehmen Deutsch: Aufbaukurs Lehrbuch (Braunert, J. and Schlenker, W.) 2007, Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH. ISBN 978-3-12-675745-4
2. Unternehmen Deutsch: Aufbaukurs Arbeitsbuch (Braunert, J. and Schlenker, W.) 2007, Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH. ISBN 978-3-12-675746-1
Recommended:
Unternehmen Deutsch: Aufbaukurs Wörterheft (Braunert, J. and Schlenker, W.) 2007, Ernst Klett Sprachen GmbH. ISBN 978-3-12-675743-0
These materials can be ordered online through International Book Import Service http://www.ibiservice.com/ or call: 1-800-277-IBIS
Prerequisite: German 201 or permission of instructor.
Prof. Byram, email: byram.4@osu.edu
M W 9:30—11:18
An individual's identity is influenced strongly by the social groups to which he or she belongs. In this course, we will focus on the German context to investigate the interplay of two categories that have been particularly important over the last three hundred years: gender and nationality. We will consider how changing conceptions of gender and Germanness have manifested themselves in the characters of German literature and films. In addition, we will question how Germany's self-conception has relied on or exploited certain ideas about gender. In both cases, we will analyze how the books and films we read respond to the categories of nation and gender that they depict: do they reinforce these categories? criticize them? re-shape them? Finally, we will question the categories themselves. What is the meaning of gender and nationality in the changing societies and cultures of our globalized world?
Taught in English. GEC course.
Prof. Hammermeister, email: hammermeister.2@osu.edu
T R 11:30—1:18
Readings include Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, Herrigel's Zen and the Art of Archery, and Harrer's Seven Years in Tibet.
Prof. Ribaj, email: ribaj.1@osu.edu
T R 1:30—3:18
Origins and highlights of German culture and life as reflected in literary and poetic works, Germanic mythology, religion, and the arts.
Taught in English. GEC arts and hums lit course.
Prereq: Written permission of chairperson.
Prof. Spencer, email: spencer.4@osu.edu
T R 3:30—5:18 pm GEC course
Culture of the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany in literature, film, the other arts; the roots of fascism and its echoes in postwar Germany.
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Prof. Malkmus, email: malkmus.1@osu.edu
M W F 1:30—2:48
German 301 is the first language and cultural skills course on the advanced level. In addition to printed materials, students will utilize Web-based resources. Students will explore events, accomplishments, shortcomings, trends, and ideas in German culture, science, politics, and society from the Revolution of 1848 to the end of the Third Reich.
Prof. Hens, email: hens.1@osu.edu
M W 12:30—1:48
German-English and English-German translation; texts from diverse areas; emphasis on improvement of German grammar, syntax, idiom, and style; discussion of common translation techniques.
Prof. Ribaj, email: ribaj.1@osu.edu
T R 3:30—5:18
German perspectives on and in 20th-century American culture. Influence of German thought and writings on American culture; German views of American culture.
Prereq: English 110. Taught in English. GEC second writing course.
Prof. Byram, email: byram.4@osu.edu
T R 1:30—3:18
Reading, analysis, and discussion of representative works pertaining to the Holocaust from the perspectives of the German and Ashkenazic traditions.
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Prof. Mergenthaler, email: mergenthaler.4@osu.edu
M W F 3:30—4:48
German 401 is the second language and cultural skills course on the advanced level and builds upon knowledge acquired in German 301. It is meant for students who have begun to master advanced skills in writing, speaking, reading, and listening and are venturing into the complexities and subtleties of the German language. We will review difficult points of German structure, discuss variations in style and regionalisms and work on building vocabulary and using it correctly. Materials used for analysis will include written texts, images as well as music and performance that represent highlights in German culture and history from the early Middle Ages through the beginning of the Second Empire. The comprehensive goal of the course is to enable students to discuss fundamental aspects of early German history in an informed manner and at an advanced level of speaking and writing.
Prof. Fischer, email: fischer.5@osu.edu
T R 9:30—11:18
The course is designed to introduce students to German literature and thought of the 18th and 19th centuries. We will read narrative and essayistic texts and a few poems from the periods of Enlightenment, Classicism, Romanticism, and Realism. All texts are available online or will be provided in a course compendium. Taught in German.
Prof. Taleghani-Nikazm, email: taleghani-nikazm.1@osu.edu
T R 1:30—3:18
Understanding the German language in its historical development and its contemporary manifestations. Prereq: 401 or equiv. Not open to students with credit for 705.
German 572 German for Research I —3 Credit Hours—G
Prof. Fehervary, email: fehervary.1@osu.edu
ARR
No required text. Satisfactory completion of this course (grade of A or B) may be accepted by the student's dept as evidence of a dictionary reading knowledge in fulfillment of PhD language requirement.
German 573 German for Research II —3 Credit Hours—G
Prof. Fehervary, email: fehervary.1@osu.edu
ARR
No required text. Reading of difficult material at a reasonable rate of speed and with only infrequent use of dictionaries. Completion of this course with grade of A or B may be accepted by the student's Dept. as evidence of a thorough reading knowledge of German.
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Prof. Malkmus, email: malkmus.1@osu.edu
M W 6:00—7:48
This course will explore the history, variety and results of ecological thinking and the diverse concepts of nature in the German speaking world, focusing on the following aspects; (1) ethics; (2) current affairs; (3) literature and films. We will cover topics such as Romantic nature writing, writings about explorations, exotism (in German art), critiques of modern materialism, the "green tradition" in German politics, ethics of environmentalism. We will also discuss the relevance of these issues for the North-American context.
Taught in German.
Prereq: Signature of undergraduate advisor or Graduate Studies Committee chair as applicable.
Prereq: Written permission of department chairperson.
Prof. Hammermeister, email: hammermeister.2@osu.edu
M W 1:30—3:18
Primary current methodological and theoretical approaches to German literary study and brief consideration of their history: positivism, hermeneutics, formalism, Marxism, structuralism, post-structuralism.
Prereq: Grad standing or permission of instructor.
Prof. Fehervary, email: fehervary.1@osu.edu
T R 1:30—3:18
German 753 offers varying topics in the study of works chosen to present prominent themes and problems in the period 1850-present. The course will provide an historical overview of the dominant literary movements and trends in the years 1910-1990. Readings will focus on texts by German and Austrian women authors that are representative of major cultural contexts, literary periods, and developments in form and style. These authors include the great writers of the early and mid-twentieth century Ricarda Huch, Anna Seghers, Ingeborg Bachmann, Christa Wolf; the film author and director Margarete von Trotta; and recent recipients of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Müller. Our discussions of their works will address some of the crucial issues—e.g. recurring political and social upheavals, exile, responses to the Holocaust, forms of "Vergangenheitsbewältigung"—that bear on our understanding of this era.
Readings (most available for purchase at SBX):
Ricarda Huch, Der letzte Sommer (on reserve)
Irmgard Keun, Gilgi
Anna Seghers, Der Ausflug der toten Mädchen/Post ins gelobte Land
Poetry by E. Lasker-Schüler, G. Kolmar, N. Sachs, I. Bachmann (xeroxed hand-outs)
Christa Wolf, Nachdenken über Christa T.
Margarete von Trotta, Die bleierne Zeit (film)
Ingeborg Bachmann, Simultan
Elfriede Jelinek, Die Klavierspielerin (excerpts)
Herta Müller, Niederungen
Requirements:
Take-home midterm and final exam
Prof. Grotans, email: grotans.1@osu.edu
W 3:30—6:18
Basic concepts of historical linguistics; the major factors of change in the history of German from Proto-Germanic to the present.
Prereq: 801.
Prof. Malkmus, email: malkmus.1@osu.edu
T 3:30—6:18
This course investigates the role of money in German cultural imagination in general and in German literature in particular. The three main aims are:
(1) exploration of the theme of money in German literature,
(2) analysis of aesthetics and economics of exchange,
(3) discussion of literature as 'cultural capital'.
We will be discussing philosophical and sociological approaches to this topic (Lessing, Hegel, Nietzsche, Simmel, Freud) as well as some economic theory (Adam Müller, Marx, physiocracy). The focus, however, will be placed on the investigation of literary works ranging from Goethe to Timm, from the Bildungsroman to musicals. This course allows us to perceive German literature of the last 200 years through a thematic lens and thus explore the interconnectedness of aesthetics and economy.
German 893 Individual Studies -- 2-5 Credit Hours
Prereq: Permission of chair of Graduate Studies Committee.
Prof. Fischer, email: fischer.5@osu.edu
R 3:30—6:18
The course takes its cues from recent theoretical developments in evolutionary anthropology, the social sciences, and the humanities; in particular:
a) post-postmodernist attempts to talk philosophically about the meaning and quality of life (e.g. Terry Eagleton 2007);
b) interdisciplinary research on happiness and quality of life questions that bring together various disciplines such as cognitive science, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and economics;
c) the current boom in self-help books and practical guides in search of happiness and a meaningful life; d) classical foundations in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Seneca's De Vita Beata.
We will discuss a small selection from two hundred years of literary (and a few philoso-phical) narrations about the search for meaning and quality of life: from the Enlighten-ment to the present.
Most texts are available online or will be provided in a course compendium. I ordered three novels that are not yet available online: Peter Schneider, Lenz; Christoph Hein, Der fremde Freund/Drachenblut; and Ingo Schulze, 33 Augenblicke des Glücks. In addition to the regular class meetings, we will watch a handful of movies.
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Prereq: Signature of Graduate Studies Committee chair.
Research for master's thesis.
Research for dissertation purposes only.
Information in this course description bulletin is subject to change.

Scandinavian


Scandinavian 513 The Icelandic Saga—5 credit hours (GEC course)
Prof. Kaplan, email: kaplan.103@osu.edu
T R 3:30—5:18 pm
Taught in English. GEC arts and hums lit course.
This course introduces students to the classical literature of Northern Europe: the Icelandic Sagas. The sagas have inspired Richard Wagner, Henrik Ibsen, and a long line of poets including William Morris, H. W. Longfellow, W. H. Auden, and Seamus Heaney. We will explore when, how, and why this literature was constructed as 'classical'—and why, despite this, we don't read sagas in high school. We will also learn about medieval Iceland, a society with a system of representative government unique in medieval Europe and a legal system closely related to our own. Students will find out why blood feud gets a bad rap and how women can dictate the fortunes of men without ever lifting a sword. Students will learn to analyze and interpret sagas both as literary works and ethnographic sources. Most importantly, students will learn how to read and enjoy saga prose, wherein can be found much action, intrigue, revenge, questionable legal tactics, pithy dialogue, and some of the noblest heroes and most imperious and powerful women ever to grace the page.
This course complements Scandinavian 222: Nordic Mythology and Medieval Culture. It may be of particular interest to students of Swedish language, Old English, medieval literature, and the history of law.
There are no prerequisites.
Required text: The Sagas of Icelanders. Penguin. isbn: 0141000031
Scandinavian 520 Films of Ingmar Bergman—5 credit hours (GEC course)
Prof. Blackwell, email: blackwell.4@osu.edu
M W 1:30—3:18 pm
taught in English! GEC course.
Scandinavian 520 has a dual function: to introduce students to the practice of close-reading/viewing of films and to teach them to view these and all other films as products of cultural ideology. To that end, the students are introduced to the critical vocabulary necessary for film analysis - camera angles, shot duration, shot range (close-up, medium, and long shots), image composition including line and lighting, editing techniques including point-of-view, montage, and sound technique including synchronous and non-synchronous sound, voiceover and extra-diagetic sound. But equally important is the emphasis the course places on film in general and Bergman's films in particular as cultural artifacts that both embody and challenge certain prevalent cultural notions. Specifically, the students are encouraged critically to assess film from a post-modernist and feminist theoretical standpoint, to consider the ways in which dominant culture defines not only how we view films but also how we perceive of human identity, human values, human language and discourse, human relations, and, quite simply, human reality in its widest parameters.
Text: photocopy packet.
Investigation of problems in the various fields of Scandinavian literature and philology.
Prereq: Permission of chairperson.
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Swedish

Prof. Blackwell, email: blackwell.4@osu.edu
M W F 10:30—11:48 Text: Althén, Anette. Mål 1 Lärobok (textbook with CD); Althén, Anette. Mål Övningsbok (workbook). Both Stockholm: Natur och Kultur (2007 edition).
Swedish 293 Individual Studies -- 2-5 Credit Hours
Prereq: 104 or equiv or permission of instructor. Taught in Swedish.
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Yiddish

Yiddish is the language of the largest country in Europe; a key to the last thousand years of Jewish life; the language of a great national culture; and the secret of what makes today's Jews the way they are.
Yiddish 101-104 provides a comprehensive foundation in speaking, reading, writing, and comprehending the national language of Ashkenazic Jewry. Yiddish language courses are applicable toward satisfaction of the foreign language requirement.
Prereq: Written permission of instructor.
Yiddish 371 Yiddish Literature in Translation—5 Credit Hours (GEC course)
Prof. Prof. Miller, email: miller.3@osu.edu
MTWRF 12:30~
Taught in English . . . GEC course
Reading, analysis, and discussion of representative works and of the development of major movements and genres in Yiddish literature.
Prereq: Written permission of instructor.
Prereq: Written permission of dept. chairperson.
Yiddish 783H Honors Research—3-5 Credit Hours
ARR
Prof. Prof. Miller, email: miller.3@osu.edu
A program of research for each student which includes individual conferences and which culminates in an honors thesis or oral defense.
Prereq: Approved candidacy for graduation with distinction, which includes faculty adviser and ASC Honors Committee approval of project, a minimum 3.50 pt-hr ratio in the field of distinction, sr standing, and CPHR in the commensurate with honors program membership. This course is graded S/U.
Research for thesis purposes only. Prereq: Permission of instructor.
Information in this course description bulletin is subject to change.

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