1 - 10 of 12 results for: OSPBER ; Currently searching winter courses. You can expand your search to include all quarters

20th-century German culture through film. The silent era, Weimar, and the instrumentalization of film in the Third Reich. The postwar era: ideological and aesthetic codes of DEFA, new German cinema, and post-Wende filmmaking including: Run Lola Run and Goodbye Lenin. Aesthetic aspects of the films including image composition, camera and editing techniques, and relation between sound and image.

It is an obvious point but one that bears repeating: our era is the most murderous in human history. Scholars today debate the meaning of "genocide" ? a term first coined in 1944 ? but even by the strictest definition the last century has witnessed at least half a dozen. It has also seen "ethnic cleansing" (another recent coinage), the systematic use of rape as a political weapon, a burgeoning international slave trade, a steady erosion of the distinction between combatants and non-combatants, and any number of other grievous crimes. We live in an age of atrocity. Yet our era has also seen the development of new modalities for identifying, combatting, and redressing the effects of such crimes. So accustomed have we become to war crimes tribunals, truth and reconciliation commissions, national and institutional apologies, reparations program, and the creation of atrocity museums and memorials that it is easy to forget how novel such things are. To be sure, this emerging international reparative regime has rarely, if ever, fulfilled the ambitions of its architects, but it has ensured a measure of justice for at least some perpetrators of great crimes and a modicum of redress for at least some of their victims. Equally important, it has created an array of precedents and institutional forms for societies seeking to come to terms with gross historical injustice and its legacies. This seminar will survey the emerging field of "retrospective justice" through a series of topical readings and case studies. Topics include: the invention of "genocide"; war crimes tribunals; truth commissions; the politics of official apologies; monetary reparations programs; and the art, architecture, and politics of public memorials. Specific cases range from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission to the ongoing efforts of American universities to come to terms with their historical sins, but in keeping with our location we will spend the lion's share of our time looking at the German case. focusing not simply on the Holocaust but also on the Nuremberg Tribunal that followed, the "forgotten" extermination of Herero and Nama people in German South-West Africa in the years between 1904-07, and the strange career of Hitler's architect, Albert Speer.

Weimar Culture The recommended textbook for this independent study is Weimar Republic Sourcebook, ed. Anton Kaes (Berkeley: U of California P, 1994), an excellent collection of contemporaneous texts that is still in print and available as a reasonably priced paperback. Topics for particular study could include "expressionism," "phenomenology," "Neue Sachlichkeit," the Bauhaus, "epic theater," proletarian art, and early German cinema, more or less following the organization of the Sourcebook. The syllabus will be tailored to any relevant cultural events in Berlin and neighboring cities planned for the quarter in question. Students will be encouraged to base their written projects on these events and on research at local archives, such as the Deutsche Kinemathek and the Bauhaus-Museum. Trips to institutions in other cities (Dessau, Weimar, etc.) could also be considered. Primarily in English, but some topics might require German. The Symphony Material covered in this independent study could be adjusted to the student's interest and knowledge, depending on his/her level of musical literacy. He/she could focus on cultural history or on more technical, analytical issues. The aim will be to trace the history of the genre from its roots in the early 18th century to the present day using mainly works from the established repertory as examples. Visits to live performances in Berlin may also be included. Beethoven in German Culture Following last year's elections in Germany, the draft coalition contract included the following statement: "The 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven in 2020 offers excellent opportunities for profiling German culture at home and abroad. Preparing for this important anniversary is thus of national concern." How and why did Beethoven become so crucially important in German culture? In trying to answer this question, the course will begin with a survey of Beethoven's life and works, and then focus on his legacy via key moments in reception history. Primarily in English, but some topics might require German.

This course will explore the politics of memorializing World War II specifically in the city of Berlin, as the city offers numerous examples of how the past is rendered present. Students will consider debates surrounding the Holocaust Memorial established once the Wall came down. They will engage the ethical conundrums of memorializing perpetrators along with victims, and the political issues of memorializing the resistance. Finally, memorializing mass murder and genocide also raises a number of aesthetic conundrums. All these issues will be engaged by visiting a variety of memorials in Berlin, along with an introduction to the relevant literature and documentation.

German culture through film. Sensitivity for film structure through creative writing tutorials and screening workshops. Composition and narrative structure (storyline, suspense, character development). Screen-writing exercises.

German culture past and present through the lens of sports. Intellectual, societal, and historical-political contexts. Comparisons to Britain, France, and the U.S. The concepts of <i>Körperkultur, Leistung, Show, Verein,</i> and <i>Haltung</i>. Fair play, the relation of team and individual, production and deconstruction of sports heroes and heroines, and sports nationalism. Sources include sports narrations and images, attendance at sports events, and English and German texts. Will be taught in German if there are enough students with sufficient knowledge of German.

In 2022 Germans elected a new coalition government that promised to transform the country. Less than 100 days later, the Russian invasion in Ukraine forced their hand. This course explores the different dimensions of Germany's transformation after Chancellor Scholz called this a "Turning Point" (Zeitenwende). Starting from an overview of past policies and seeming "givens," we will analyze why there is a need for transformation, what has changed or should be, how the war in Ukraine affected the reform agenda and what conflicts have arisen between the Old and the New Normal. We will consider changes in their domestic and global dimensions, as well as challenges that stem from membership in the European Union. We will address the role of public opinion, the German and EU policies of governance based on various case studies. Through a combination of theoretical perspectives and current events analysis, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of Germany's political dynamics in the contemporary European and global arena.

Main channels of globalization¿movement of capital, goods, people and ideas¿and their history. Arguments in favor and against economic integration and relationship between globalization and domestic political processes. Key industries of the German export economy; how globalization relates to current debates on migration and social policy. Germany's position in the European Union, as well as the world economy; Germany and its role in future globalization

Empowering Women in STEM Fields, Origins of Modern Science, or Impact of Migrants and Refugees on German Society