GERMAN 45: Crimes Against Humanity (HISTORY 4S)
What is a crime against humanity and how can it be punished? Starting with the Nuremberg Trials, this seminar will consider how the juridical category of crimes against humanity came into existence and has evolved over the past half century. Thinking through core questions posed by Hannah Arendt, we will consider how crimes against humanity are to be understood in the context of modern jurisprudence, who perpetrates such crimes, and what relationship exists between crimes against humanity and modernity. Priority given to history majors and minors.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 5
| UG Reqs: WAY-CE, WAY-SI
Instructors:
Huneke, S. (PI)
GERMAN 88: Germany in 5 Words
This course explores German history, culture and politics by tracing five (largely untranslatable) words and exploring the debates they have engendered in Germany over the past 200 years. This course is intended as preparation for students wishing to spend a quarter at the Bing Overseas Studies campus in Berlin, but is open to everyone. Taught in English.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II, WAY-EDP
GERMAN 113N: Theatre and Politics
The theatre is a public forum where politics is both represented and enacted. In this seminar we will examine four theatrical artists who have wrestled with urgent political questions of their time and ours: William Shakespeare, Georg Büchner, Bertolt Brecht, and Anna Deveare Smith. nnQuestions we will consider include: How does Shakespeare¿s Hamlet raise questions about a sovereign¿s right to rule? What might a play such as Büchner¿s Danton¿s Death¿set during the one of the bloodiest periods of the French Revolution¿suggest about the relationship between terrorism and reason? What does a musical such as Brecht¿s Threepenny Opera demonstrate about strategies of mass manipulation? And how could a performance piece such as Smith¿s Twilight: Los Angeles help us better understand the dynamics of police brutality and urban riot? nnIn this course, we will read seven plays, delve into their cultural contexts, and watch film and live versions of them, including field trips to at area theatres. We will also try our hand at staging some scenes in class, in order to get a better sense of the sorts of choices these plays require. Your assignments will include short papers and regular postings on an online discussion board. All readings and discussions will be in English, and no prior theatrical experience is necessary.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3
Instructors:
Smith, M. (PI)
GERMAN 116: Writing About Germany: New Topics, New Genres
Writing about various topics in German Studies. Topics based on student interests: current politics, economics, European affairs, start-ups in Germany. Intensive focus on writing. Students may write on their experience at Stanford in Berlin or their internship. Fulfills the WIM requirement for German Studies majors.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 3-4
Instructors:
Berman, R. (PI)
;
Kramer, K. (PI)
GERMAN 121: Why So Serious? German Earnestness and its Cultural Origin
The stereotype of Germans having no sense of humor and being overly serious is a very persistent one. This course searches for the origins of this cultural stereotype and explores how this mentality manifests itself in modern German thought, literature, cinema, and popular culture. Do Germans find a particular joy in entertaining serious and depressive thoughts? Can we distinguish between different facets and styles of `genuinely German¿ seriousness? And finally, can we understand German culture better through an understanding of their genuine seriousness? Materials include works by: the brothers Grimm, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Murnau, Benn, Fassbinder, Bernhard, Adorno, Haneke. Taught in German. Prerequisite:
Gerlang 1-3, or equivalent.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
Instructors:
Fischer, A. (PI)
GERMAN 133: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud
We read and discuss selections from works by the key master thinkers who have exerted a lasting influence by debunking long-cherished beliefs. Do these authors uphold or repudiate Enlightenment notions of rationality, autonomy and progress? How do they assess the achievements of civilization? How do their works illuminate the workings of power in social and political contexts? Readings and discussion in German.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 3-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Dornbach, M. (PI)
GERMAN 191: German Capstone Project
Each student participates in a capstone interview and discussion with a panel of the German Studies faculty on topics related to German cultural and literary analysis. In prepration for the interview/discussion, students submit written answers to a set of questions based on several authentic cultural texts in German. The written answers, normally in English, should be well-formed and coherent. Within the interview/discussion, students must demonstrate a further understanding of the topic(s) posed, through cogent argument.
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr
| Units: 1
Instructors:
Starkey, K. (PI)
GERMAN 199: Individual Work
Repeatable for Credit. Instructor Consent Required
Terms: Aut, Win, Spr, Sum
| Units: 1-12
| Repeatable
for credit
GERMAN 222: German Literature 3: Myth and Modernity (COMPLIT 222A, GERMAN 322)
Masters of German 20th- and 21st-Century literature and philosophy as they present aesthetic innovation and confront the challenges of modern technology, social alienation, manmade catastrophes, and imagine the future. Readings include Nietzsche, Freud, Rilke, Musil, Brecht, Kafka, Doeblin, Benjamin, Juenger, Arendt, Musil, Mann, Adorno, Celan, Grass, Bachmann, Bernhardt, Wolf, and Kluge. Taught in English. Undergraduates enroll in 222 for 5 units, graduate students enroll in 322 for 8 units.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 1-5
| UG Reqs: WAY-A-II
Instructors:
Eshel, A. (PI)
;
Barge, L. (TA)
GERMAN 252: F. W. J. Schelling
Schelling is the most enigmatic figure of German idealism, whose works have influenced a host of theoretical paradigms from existentialism through materialism to psychoanalysis. We will read selections from Schelling's early writings on transcendental philosophy, his philosophy of art and his philosophy of nature. Close attention will be paid to the Treatise on the Essence of Human Freedom, the Weltalter fragments and the late Berlin lectures. Readings and discussion in English, though those who can are invited to read the original.
Terms: Spr
| Units: 1-5
Instructors:
Dornbach, M. (PI)
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