Fall 2007 Course Guide

• Advising
• Programs in German
• Freshman Seminars
• German Language Courses
• Business German
• Literature and Culture Courses- Taught in German
• Literature and Culture Courses- Taught in English
• Graduate Seminars
• CGS Courses
• Yiddish Courses
• Dutch Courses
• Swedish Courses

 

Programs in German

• Major in German: Choose from a wide variety of courses in language, business German language, culture, literature, and history. You can be confident that you will leave our program fluent in the language and at ease in the cultures and traditions of the German speaking countries
• Major in German Studies: This versatile program offers you fluency in the language, culture, and literature, in addition to enabling you to select five courses related to your German interests in other School of Arts and Science departments. An efficient way to double major and to prepare for graduate school or an international career.
• Double Major in German and Your Major of Choice: You are already in the Wharton School, International Relations, Computer Science, History, or Political Science. If you want to make yourself really competitive, then consider adding German as a double major. This could be just the edge you need.
• Minor in German: You have satisfied your language requirement, but elect to keep up your German with some advanced language courses. To obtain a minor only requires 6 credits beyond GRMN 104 and most of your courses satisfy other college requirements.
• Certificate in German Language Study: Students can receive a Certificate by completing 3 courses taught in German in addition to passing proficiency. Students must receive a minimum of a B+ average in the three courses, and may not take the courses on a pass/fail basis.
• Study abroad programs in Germany: The above mentioned options can readily be combined with Penn’s study abroad programs in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich. Do not forget these programs afford you Penn credit for the courses that you take. You will satisfy courses in your major, double major or minor as you become more fluent in the Germanic language via total immersion in one of three of Europe’s most exciting cities.
• European Studies Minor: European Studies at Penn is an interdisciplinary minor and an ideal addition to the study of many disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. It supplements majors in history, political science, sociology, and art history as well as in French, German, English, Spanish, Italian and Slavic languages. It is designed to give students access to
  • an understanding of Europe as a historical and cultural entity and its world leadership in business, politics, and culture; a great variety of countries, cultures, and languages whose interaction with each other and the United States is an essential part of transatlantic culture; the institutions of a new Europe -- Union, Council on Europe, European Court -- reflecting the largest experiment in building a global system of governance in history. The minor in European Studies is designed to intensify interdisciplinary studies by integrating the humanities and social sciences and prepare students to live and work in Europe .
  • For more information, please visit: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/europeanstudies/
    
  
  

Freshman Seminars

GRMN 001 (CINE 050) Looking for Lola: The Allure of a Cinematic Name
Distribution Course in Arts & Letters - Class of 2009 and prior
All readings and lectures in English.
401 TR 1:30 - 3:00 pm S. Richter
We all know about Eve and Mary, two names that readily designate opposite relations to masculinity and sexuality. But what about Lola? Beginning in the early twentieth century, the name of Lola has gripped the imagination of directors and screenwriters and launched a cinematic tradition. The name is certainly based on Lola Montez, a nineteenth-century British woman of humble origins who used her sexuality and prevaricating charm to rise to worldwide renown as an erotic dancer and the lover of composers (Lizst) and kings (Ludwig of Bavaria), leaving disaster in her wake. Ever since Marlene Dietrich’s seductive role as Lola Lola, the risqué nightclub entertainer in Joseph Sternberg’s scandalous Blue Angel (1930), the name Lola has specified the realm of the quintessential vamp. In this course we will explore the cinematic femininity, sexuality and gender associated with the name Lola (and its close cousins Lulu and Lolita). We will encounter Lolas of ambiguous, precocious, calculating, and irresistible sexuality: a Turkish-German transvestite, a sexual nymph, a schemer during Germany’s economic miracle, and a man-killer eventually slain by Jack the Ripper, and many more. What is remarkable about the films associated with Lola is that each discovers her anew and contributes to a complex nexus of issues involving sexuality, pleasure, knowledge, and power, far more interesting, in the final analysis, than the alternatives of Mary and Eve.

GRMN 008 Superstition & Erudition: Daily Life in the Middle Ages
Distribution Course in History & Tradition - Cl of '09 and prior; Cross-Cultural Analysis Course - Cl of '10 and after. All readings and lectures in English. No knowledge of German is required.
301 TR 10:30 am - 12 pm F. Brevart
Individuals in medieval times lived basically the same way we do today: they ate, drank, needed shelter, worked in a variety of ways to earn a living, and planned their lives around religious holidays. They talked about the weather and had sex, they had to deal with cold, hunger, illness, epidemics and natural catastrophes. Those fortunate few who could afford the luxury, went to local monastic schools and learned how to read and write. And fewer still managed to obtain some form of higher education in cathedral schools and nascent universities and became teachers themselves. Those eager to learn about other people and foreign customs traveled to distant places and brought back with them much knowledge and new ideas. The similarities, we will all agree, are striking. But what is of interest to us are the differences, the “alterity” (keyword) of the ways in which they carried out these actions and fulfilled their goals.
This course concentrates on two very broad aspects of daily life in the Middle Ages (12 th – 16 th centuries). The first part, Erudition, focuses on the world in and around the University. Taking Paris and Bologna as our paradigms, we will discuss the evolution of the medieval university from early cathedral schools, the organization, administration, financing, and maintenance of such an institution, the curriculum and degrees offered at the various faculties, and the specific qualifications needed to study or to teach at the university. We will familiarize ourselves with the modes of learning and lecturing, with the production of the instruments of knowledge, i.e. the making of a manuscript; we will explore the regimented daily life of the medieval student, his economic and social condition, his limited, but at times outrageous distractions, and the causes of frequent conflicts between town and gown. Finally, we will investigate the role of the medieval University in European history.
The second part, Superstition, revolves around astrology, medicine and pharmacy. Taking the German Volkskalender, the medieval predecessor of the modern Farmer’s Almanac, as our point of departure, we will gain insights into the ubiquitous role of astrology in the daily life of medieval individuals, for example in activities and decisions concerning farming; slaughtering of animals; personal hygiene; marrying; escaping from jail; conception of a male child; appropriate days to let blood; etc.
Medicine, frequently referred to as astromedicine because of its inextricable dependence on astrology, encompasses a multitude of characteristics. The course will explore the precarious state of medieval medicine and pharmacology, the specific diseases of women (e.g. suffocation of the womb) and their treatments, the use of so-called wonderdrugs by professional physicians and medical charlatans alike produced from exotic plants, precious stones, animal parts, blood or human excrements, and the medieval rationality behind these forms of therapy. Special topics are also planned on the astrological causes and magical treatments of the Black Death; embryology, the seven-chambered uterus and the causes of homosexuality / lesbianism; sex as therapy, etc.

 

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German Language Courses

GRMN 101 (GRMN 501) Elementary German I
001 MTWRF 11 am - 12 pm Staff
002 MTWRF 12 - 1 pm Staff
003 MWF 1 - 2 pm TR 1:30 - 2:30 pm Staff
Designed for the beginning student with no previous knowledge of German. German 101, as the first course in the first-year series, focuses on the development of language competence in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. By the end of the semester, students will be able to engage in simple conversations about familiar things, know greetings and everyday expressions, they will be able to count and tell time, and negate sentences in day-to-day contexts. Furthermore, students will be able to speak about events that happened in the immediate past and express plans for the future. In addition, students will have developed reading strategies that allow them to glean information from simple newspaper and magazine articles and short literary texts. Because cultural knowledge is one of the foci of German 101, students will learn much about practical life in Germany and will explore German-speaking cultures on the Internet.


GRMN 102 (GRMN 502) Elementary German II
001 MTWRF 11 am - 12 pm Staff
002 MTWRF 12 - 1 pm Staff
This course is a continuation of GRMN 101 and is designed to strengthen and expand students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing competence and to deepen an understanding of German-speaking cultures. By the end of the course, students will be able to handle a variety of day-to-day needs in a German-speaking setting and engage in simple conversations about personally significant topics. Students can expect to be able to order food and beverages, purchase things, and to be familiar with the German university system, the Arts, media, and current social topics. Students will begin to be able to talk about the past and the future, make comparisons, describe people and things in increasing detail, make travel plans that include other European countries, and make reservations in hotels and youth hostels. By the end of the course students will be able to talk about their studies and about their dreams for the future. In addition, students will develop reading strategies that should allow them to understand the general meaning of articles, and short literary texts. Furthermore, students will feel more able to understand information when hearing German speakers talking about familiar topics. Cultural knowledge remains among one of the foci of German 102, and students will continue to be exposed to authentic materials.

GRMN 103 (GRMN 503) Intermediate German I
001 MTRF 11 am - 12 pm G. Skwara
002 MTRF 12 - 1 pm D. James
003 MF 10 - 11 am, TR 10:30 - 11:30 am C. Lynn
This course is designed to improve students’ writing and speaking competence, to increase vocabulary, to deepen grammar usage, and to help develop effective reading and listening strategies in German across literary genres and media as students interpret and analyze cultural, political, and historical moments in German-speaking countries and compare them with their own cultural practices. This course is organized around content- based modules and prepares students well for GRMN 104 and a minor or major in German.

GRMN 104 (GRMN 504) Intermediate German II
001 MTRF 11 am - 12 pm M. Wetli
002 MTRF 12 - 1 pm C. Lynn
Expands students’ writing and speaking competence in German, increases vocabulary, and helps students practice effective reading and listening strategies. Our in-class discussions are based on weekly readings of literary and non-literary texts to facilitate exchange of information, ideas, reactions, and opinions. In addition, the readings provide cultural and historical background information. The review of grammar will not be the primary focus of the course. Students will, however, expand and deepen their knowledge of grammar through specific grammar exercises. Students will conclude the basic-language program at PENN by reading an authentic literary text: Thomas Brussig Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee offering the opportunity to practice and deepen reading knowledge and to sensitize cultural and historical awareness of German-speaking countries.

GRMN 106 Accelerated Elementary German
001 MWF 10 - 11 am, TR 10:30 am - 12 pm S. Schlichting-Artur
This course is intensive and is intended for dedicated, highly self-motivated students who will take responsibility for their learning and creation of meaning with their peers.
An intensive two credit course in which two semesters of elementary German (GRMN 101 & 102) are completed in one.  Introduction to the basic elements of spoken and written German, with emphasis placed on the acquisition of communication skills.  Readings and discussions focus on cultural differences. Expression and comprehension are then expanded through the study of literature and social themes .

GRMN 180 German in Residence
001 TBA Staff
The German House is a half-credit course with concentrations in German conversation, film, and culture. Though many students enroll for credit, others often come to select events. All interested parties are invited, and you do not have to actually live in the house to enroll for credit. Students from all different levels of language proficiency are welcome. Beginners learn from more advanced students, and all enjoy a relaxed environment for maintaining or improving their German language skills.

GRMN 215 Conversation and Composition
Prerequisite(s): GRMN 104 or the equivalent.
001 MWF 10 - 11 am C. Frei
Required for the major, also carries credit for the minor in German. Offers students the opportunity to improve significantly written and spoken discourse strategies and to raise language competence to an academic register. Students work across literary genres and media as they interpret and analyze cultural, political, and historical moments in German-speaking countries. Special attention is given to the development of an academic discourse style during in-class discussions and in written compositions. The course concludes with an in-class presentation of the collaborative creative project and the final paper.


GRMN 221 Advanced Grammar & Stylistics
001 TR 1:30 - 3 pm F. Brevart
This course is designed to help the student develop a more sophisticated writing style in German. This is achieved by means of the study and discussion of the fine points of German syntax (e.g. correct usage of tenses, punctuation, experimentation with word order, etc.), by a variety of exercises in finding synonyms, similes, analogies, and rhetorical strategies, and by exposure to numerous idioms. Emphasis is also placed on determining the appropriate usage of language in a specific situation. The ultimate objective of this course is therefore to encourage an active and imaginative use of the German language. Students should be prepared to undertake an active role in critiquing one another's writing.

 Business German

GRMN 219 German Business World
Distribution Course in Society - Cl of '09 and prior.
Foreign Languages Across Curriculum (FLAC)
Prerequisite(s): GRMN 215 or equivalent. No previous knowledge of economics or business required. Course taught in German.
001 MWF 1 - 2 pm D. James
This course offers you insights into the dynamics of Business German, while taking a macro approach.  Examples of various course topics include: economic geography and its diversity, the changing role of the European Union, and the economic importance of national transportation and tourism.  In addition, the course emphasizes the development of students’ discourse competencies, Business German vocabulary and grammar.  Course assignments include oral presentations on current events, class discussions, role-play, and collaborative group work.  Class time will be utilized to practice speaking, answering questions, reviewing exercises and holding group discussions on various topics.  Class participation is a key component of this course.

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Literature and Culture Courses Taught in English

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Literature and Culture Courses Taught in German

GRMN 269 Introduction to German Culture
Distribution Course in Arts & Letters - Class of 2009 and prior; Cross-Cultural Analysis - Class of 2010 and after.
Foreign Languages Across Curriculum (FLAC)
Prerequisite(s): GRMN 104 or equivalent. All readings and lectures in German.
001 TR 12 - 1:30 pm E. Jarosinski
In this course, we examine and explore over a thousand years of cultural history of the German-speaking lands with an eye toward clarifying the key cultural knowledge shared by German speakers. From the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, we examine what makes the German nations -- and peoples -- what they are today. We will pay attention both to mainstream tendencies as well as oppositional political and cultural movements. Special emphasis will be placed on cultural achievements such as literature, music, and architecture as well as on a basic understanding of the politics, economics and cultural formations of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the 20th century. The language of instruction, readings, and discussion is – with few exceptions – German.

GRMN 356 Dark Deeds
Distribution Course in Arts & Letters - Class of 2009 and prior.
Prerequisite(s): GRMN 215 or equivalent. All readings and lectures in German.
001 MW 2 - 3:30 pm C. Frei
Dark Deeds are coming to light as this course uncovers popular beliefs that-- apart from a few literary mysteries –Germany cannot claim a tradition of mystery novels, that National Socialism did not allow the publication of crime novels and that American and English mysteries were not translated into German until after 1945.
All untrue!
Let’s search for the truth together as we find out who has done what to whom, when and how. We will time travel in search of early action novels from the mid-ninteenth century to the still popular TV-series Tatort. You will not believe your eyes as we shed light on the breath-taking illustrations covering many paperback editions of mystery novels, and you will shake with anticipation in finding the next clue to solve the great mystery of German crime fiction. Who knows what awaits you around the next corner!


GRMN 378 Foreign in Germany - Foreigners and Foreigner Policies in Germany
Distribution Course in Society - Class of 2009 and prior.
Prerequisite(s): GRMN 215 or equivalent. All readings and lectures in German.
001 TR 10:30 am - 12 pm S. Shields
Foreign minority groups are elements of German society today. These groups are comprised of the post World War II guestworkers, asylum seekers, German resettlers and immigrants from Eastern Europe. As these groups have increased in number, Germany has struggled with racial, ethnic and religious diversity. This course will provide an overview of the history of foreigners in Germany and their political, social and economic significance. Content-rich reading materials will show Germany as a country that is rapidly developing into a multinational, multiracial and multicultural society. Focusing on the various attitudes of Germans held towards foreigners and the foreigners' attitudes towards life in Germany, the text selection will provide the basis for in-depth study of the subject, including the development of German policy on foreigners. Accompanying activities will facilitate communication and grammar accuracy through small group discussions, role playing, conversations and debate.

GRMN 399 Independent Study
000 TBA Staff
See department for section numbers. Permission needed from department.


GRMN 399 Independent Study
000 TBA Staff
See department for section numbers. Permission needed from department.

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Graduate Seminars

GRMN 532 German Literature 18th Century to Present
001 TR 10:30 am - 12 pm S. Richter
This course introduces advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate students to major works of German literary history in their cultural context from 1750 to the present. Each week a single work or author that has commanded recent scholarly attention and been the focus of wide debate will be read and discussed in detail in its own right and against the background of other contemporaneous works.

GRMN 534 (COML 501 / ENGL 571 / ROML 512 / CLST 511 / SLAV 500) History of Literary Theory
Undergraduates need permission from instructor.
401 W 9 am - 12 pm W. Steiner
This course will traverse the history of aesthetics in order to understand the complexities of contemporary literary theory. In a sense, our subject is the fall-out of a paradox, virtuality, in its endless collisions with ideology. The syllabus will include such canonic figures as Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Augustine, Sidney, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Saussure, Benjamin, Foucault, Baudrillard, Derrida, Said, Irigaray, and Butler (in general, authors found on the Comparative Literature examination list in theory). Course requirements: three short papers (7 pages), and a class presentation.


GRMN 551 (PHIL 465) Kant's First Critique
401 TR 1:30 - 3 pm P. Guyer


GRMN 554 (RELS 500) Theories of Religion
401 W 2 - 5 pm S. Dunning
A study of the various ways of interpreting religion as a phenomenon in human life. Analysis of the presuppositions involved in psychological, sociological, and phenomenological approaches. Authors include James, Weber, Freud, Otto, Eliade, and contemporary writers.


GRMN 579 (ARTH 584 / COML 579) Winckelmann
All readings and lectures in English.
401 M 1 - 3 pm C. MacLeod
Celebrity-scholar, literary stylist, cultural monument, pagan hero, self-made man, homosexual codeword, murder victim: despite his humble origins in Prussia, Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-68) enjoyed a meteoric career as an archaeologist and art historian in Rome and came to define a century. His developmental view of culture and his celebration of Greek art challenged prevailing ideas and established new paradigms. The seminar will pay careful attention to Winckelmann’s most important writings, including “Reflections on the Imitation of the Painting and Sculpture of the Greeks” (1755), the “History of Ancient Art” (1764), and his famous descriptions of statues such as the Belvedere Apollo and Laocoon group, while keeping in mind the context of mid eighteenth century Rome. The lasting impact of Winckelmann’s Greek subject matter, his aesthetic theory, and his literary style will be traced, with readings ranging from Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Walter Pater, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Thomas Mann, to the troubling reincarnation of Winckelmann’s statues in Leni Riefenstahl’s Fascist Olympic films. Finally, Winckelmann’s central role in the field of queer studies will be explored, via a consideration of his representations of the male body beautiful and of his own status as a codeword for homosexual desire.


GRMN 580 (COML 582 / PHIL 480) Topics Aesthetics
401 W 3 - 6 pm P. Guyer


GRMN 669 New German Fiction
301 T 3 - 5 pm L. Weissberg

GRMN 990 Masters Thesis
000 TBA Staff
See department for section numbers. Permission needed from department.

GRMN 995 Dissertation
000 TBA Staff
See department for section numbers. Permission needed from department.

GRMN 999 Independent Study
000 TBA Staff
See department for section numbers. Permission needed from department.

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CGS Courses

GRMN 101 (GRMN 501) Elementary German I
Non-CGS students need permission from CGS.
601 MW 6:30 - 8:45 pm E. Dixon
Introduction to the basic elements of spoken and written German, with emphasis placed on the acquisition of communication skills. Readings and discussion focus on cultural differences.

GRMN 103 (GRMN 503) Intermediate German I
601 MW 6:30 - 8:15 pm Staff
Modern German texts of moderate difficulty and an integrated grammar review advance the student's command of the language.

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Yiddish Courses

YDSH 101 (JWST 031 / YDSH 501) Beginning Yiddish I
Four Semesters Fulfills the Language Requirement.
401 TR 12 - 1:30 pm A. Botwinik
Yiddish, a 1000-year-old language, with a rich heritage. This course introduces the skills of reading, writing, and speaking Yiddish through the study of grammar, enriched by cultural materials such as song, literature, folklore, and film. This course assumes no previous knowledge of Yiddish.


YDSH 103 (JWST 033 / YDSH 503) Intermediate Yiddish I
Four Semesters Fulfills the Language Requirement. Prerequisite: YDSH 102 / JWST 032 or permission of the instructor.
401 TR 1:30 - 3 pm A. Botwinik
A continuation of YDSH 102 / JWST 032, Beginning Yiddish II, this course develops the skills of reading, writing, and speaking Yiddish on the intermediate level through the study of grammar and cultural materials, such as literature, newspapers, films, songs, radio programs.

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Dutch Courses & Studies

DTCH 101 (DTCH 501) Elementary Dutch I
401 TR 4:30 - 6 pm R. Naborn
A first semester language course covering the core Dutch grammar and vocabulary with the goal of providing the corner stone for developing overall linguistic proficiency in Dutch.

DTCH 399 Independent Study
000 TBA R. Naborn
See department for section numbers. Permission needed from department.


DTCH 999 Independent Study
000 TBA R. Naborn
See department for section numbers. Permission needed from department.

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Swedish Courses

SCND 101 (SCND 501) Elementary Swedish I
401 MWF 11 am - 12 pm K. Williams
This is a two-semester course designed to teach beginning skills in Swedish reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, listening comprehension, writing, and conversation. Swedish social development will also be examined in relation to its cultural milieu. A trip to Gloria Dei Old Swedes Church in Philadelphia for their Luciafest will be included on a December weekend, a visit to a Swedish film during the Philadelphia Film festival will take place in late April, and other events as announced.


SCND 399 Independent Study
000 TBA K. Williams
See department for section numbers. Permission needed from department.