Courses – Spring 2027
GERMAN SCANDVN / SWEDISH YIDDISH
Please note that this webpage will be updated as information becomes available
Find German, Scandinavian, and Yiddish courses to fulfill your GE on our GE course offerings Webpage.
German 2254.02 • Grimms' Fairy Tales and their Afterlives
| 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE Foundation: Literary, Visual & Performing Arts
In the present DL course, we will be trying to understand the meaning and the enduring appeal of one of Germany’s greatest successes in the realm of cultural exportation—a book whose circulation figures are exceeded in Western culture only by those of the Bible: Grimms’ fairy tales. This will mean asking a series of interlocking questions. How did the fairy tales come about? What were the aims of their compilers? How do the tales play to those aims? How do they exceed them? How do the tales tend to work structurally? What have their social and psychological effects been? How have they helped shape—and been reshaped by—popular cultures outside Germany, like popular culture in the U.S. In reckoning with these questions, we will be enlisting the help of a parade of great critics, including Vladimir Propp, Bruno Bettelheim, Erich Auerbach, and Jack Zipes.
All required texts are in English translation; taught in English.
German 3250 • Citizenship in the Age of Technology: Exploring Social Justice through Science Fiction in Germany
Richards | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
Investigating the promises & pitfalls that technologies once confined to the pages of science fiction pose to our relationships, our communities, and our world, with a specific focus on the challenges they will bring to our concept of citizenship. Recent German science fiction will illuminate the debate on the future of democracy as it unfolds in Germany, the USA & in a broader global context.
Taught in English. DL course.
German 3252.02 • The Holocaust in Literature and Film
Richards | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
Why, faced with a historical catastrophe of unimaginable proportions, would we devote a class to film and literature about it, rather than to “the facts”? HOW YOU SAY THINGS MATTERS! Come find out why.
Taught in English.
Prereq: Not open to students with credit for 3252.01 or Yiddish 3399.
German 3434 • Bad Science
Aupiais | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE Theme: Traditions, Cultures, and Transformations
Developments in science and technology raise key political questions and often reveal global fault lines. Recent debates around AI, climate change, pandemics and public health show this.
This course delves into the sometimes-toxic cultural politics of science historically, surveying key case studies (in biology, linguistics, medicine and more) from German history between 1780 and 1940.
-- taught in English!
German 3456 • Global Changemakers
Birkhold | 4 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
[4 credits - High-Impact Practice - Interdisciplinary and Integrated Collaborative Teaching]
This course explores what it means to be a global changemaker, emphasizing critical thinking, truth- telling, and advocacy for change. Students will study the qualities of changemakers through and examine global citizenship, cultural diversity, and social equity. Team-taught with faculty members in South Asian Studies and Slavic.
-- Taught in English!
note: Not open to students with credit for SASIA 3456 or Slavic 3456.
- cross-listed with Slavic and SASIA 3456
Scandinavian 3270 • Revenge
Kaplan | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
Revenge is the engine of the medieval Icelandic sagas, stories of a Viking Age society just beyond the reach of kings, where honor is the main currency, and a pithy verse or a legal stratagem may overmatch even a steel axe. Learn about the workings of blood feud, about a distant society’s concepts of citizenship and justice, and find unexpected parallels in our here and now.
-- Taught in English!
Yiddish 3222• Jewish Humor
Zaritt | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE Theme: Traditions, Cultures, and Transformations
In this course, we will examine the history of Jewish humor, exploring the concept of therapeutic joking, the politics of self-deprecation, and strategies of masking social critique behind a well-timed joke. Rather than reach some essential definition, we investigate literature, stand-up comedy, film, and television of the twentieth and twenty-first century.
German 1101.01 • German I
4 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE World Languages
Introduction to language and culture of the German-speaking world, with emphasis placed on the acquisition of basic communication skills in cultural context. CEFR Level A1.
Text:
German 1102.01 • German II
4 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE World Languages
Text:
Prereq: 1101.01, 1101.02 or 4 sem cr hrs of 1101.51
Continued development of German-language skills and cultural knowledge for effective communication. Emphasis on more advanced language structures, sustained interactions, reading and writing. CEFR Levels A1/A2
German 1103.01 • German III
4 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE World Languages
Development of skills for independent use of German. Discussions, presentations, writing, & listening/viewing activities that address topics of contemporary German-speaking world. CEFR Level A2.
Text:
Prereq: 1102.01, 1102.02 or 4 sem cr hrs of 1102.51
German 1101.02 • 1102.02 • 1103.02
Distance Learning option
GE World Languages
4 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
German On The Ground series
1 credit unit per online course | Spring Semester 2027
GERMAN 1201.01 (online)
Basic Language Skills
1 credit hour; taught in German
Learn basic German language and vocabulary useful for traveling and interacting with locals.
GERMAN 1201.02 (online)
Navigating German-speaking Europe
1 credit hour; taught in English
Learn information about the cultures in the countries of German-speaking Europe, and
how to navigate a variety of contexts and to interact with the German speakers.
GERMAN 1201.03 (online)
Navigating the professional world in German-speaking Europe
1 credit hour; taught in English
Learn information about professional cultures in the countries of German-speaking Europe, and
navigate a variety of professional life and contexts and to interact with German-speaking colleagues.
German 2101 • Texts and Contexts I: Contemporary German Language, Culture and Society
Beringer | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
Development of communication skills and knowledge about recent social, cultural, and political developments in German speaking countries through texts, media and film; CEFR level A2/B1. Closed to native speakers of this language.
Prereq: 1103.01, 1103.02, or 4 sem cr hrs of 1103.51, or equiv, or permission of instructor. No audit.
German 2102 • Texts and Contexts II: 20th-Century German Language, History and Culture
Byram | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
Continued development of communication skills; gain an understanding of major social and cultural developments in 20th century German history through texts, media, film. CEFR level B1/B2.
Closed to native speakers of this language.
Prereq: 2101 or equiv, or permission of instructor. FL Admis Cond course.
German 3101 • Texts and Contexts III: Historical Perspectives
Taleghani-Nikazm | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
Development of intermediate/advanced communication skills; broadening of cultural and historical knowledge through interaction with literary and non-literary materials informed by historical perspective; CEFR level B2. Closed to to native speakers of this language.
Prereq: 2102 or equiv, or permission of instructor.
German 3102 • News & Views
Mergenthaler | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
This course aims to improve your German reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills through an engagement with current affairs in the German-speaking world. The course will hone your ability to interpret, paraphrase, summarize, and critically analyze German-language media content in different communicative contexts.
Prereq: 2102 or equiv, or permission of instructor.
German 3300 • Rivers, Mountains, Forests - Topics in German Culture Studies, Social and Intellectual History
Birkhold | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
Course description forthcoming
The class will be conducted in German. We will discuss and practice advanced topics in grammar and language, and the course will be structured to help students improve reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills.
Prereq: 2102 or equiv, or permission of instructor.
German 4604• From the German: Translation in the 21st Century - ALI
Aupiais | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
ALI seminar on translation for students of German using project-based learning to cultivate advanced strategic communication and intercultural skills for the contemporary world. Develops student A.I. competencies, rhetorical skills, and media literacies (including legacy and social media) across modules on literary, marketing, and legal translation, as well as trans-medial content adaptation.
Scandinavian 3270 • Revenge
Kaplan | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE Theme: Citizenship for a Diverse & Just World
Revenge is the engine of the medieval Icelandic sagas, stories of a Viking Age society just beyond the reach of kings, where honor is the main currency, and a pithy verse or a legal stratagem may overmatch even a steel axe. Learn about the workings of blood feud, about a distant society’s concepts of citizenship and justice, and find unexpected parallels in our here and now.
-- Taught in English!
note: Swedish language courses are offered online via BTAA CourseShare.
Yiddish 3222• Jewish Humor
Zaritt | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
GE Theme: Traditions, Cultures, and Transformations
In this course, we will examine the history of Jewish humor, exploring the concept of therapeutic joking, the politics of self-deprecation, and strategies of masking social critique behind a well-timed joke. Rather than reach some essential definition, we investigate literature, stand-up comedy, film, and television of the twentieth and twenty-first century.
German 6601 • Teaching Practicum
Uskokovic | 1 credit unit | Spring Semester 2027
This course is for GTAs who are teaching a 1000-level German language class. The course provides graduate students with instruction and practice in designing and implementing instructional materials for their undergraduate classes. It offers best practices in creating tests, developing speaking portfolios, designing culture components, and becoming reflective practitioners.
Prereq: Grad standing, and permission of instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 10 cr hrs. This course is graded S/U.
German 6200 • Literary & Cultural History (1850-1914)
Byram | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
German 8400 • Photography in Germany: Theory, Practice, and Critical Engagement
Davidson | 3 credit units | Spring Semester 2027
This seminar description is forthcoming!
German 8500 • Doctoral Colloquium
Birkhold | 1 credit unit | Spring Semester 2027
Regular student-driven discussions of ongoing dissertations, current topics in the professional field, and new research approaches to Germanic Studies.
Prereq: Successful completion of Ph.D. candidacy exams or permission from Director of Graduate Studies and instructor. Repeatable to a maximum of 9 cr hrs. This course is graded S/U. Admis Cond course.