Develops intermediate reading, writing, speaking, and verbal comprehension skills. Uses the Directed Independent Language Study (DILS) model that combines in-class exercises and lectures with independent study. Reviews and continues content of SWED 2010. Directed independent language study course requires work outside of class. Department enforced prereq., SWED 2010 (min. grade C-).
Covers the same material as GRMN 2010 and GRMN 2020 in one semester. Offers review and continuation of basic skills begun in the first year: reading, writing, speaking and oral comprehensive. Department enforced prereq., GRMN 1020 or GRMN 1030 (minimum grade C-). Credit not granted for this course and GRMN 2010 and GRMN 2020. Meets MAPS requirement for foreign language. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: foreign language.
Department enforced prereq., NORW 1020 (minimum grade C-). Fulfills the arts and sciences language requirement for the BA and BFA degrees. Approved for GT-AH4. Meets MAPS requirement for foreign language.
Continuation of NORW 2110, with focus on Norwegian culture and society. Small group work and class discussions. Department enforced prereq., NORW 2110 (minimum grade C-).
Provides a comprehensive introduction to modern Nordic culture and society. Surveys the history of Nordic countries and examines their culture using art, architecture, literature, and film. Studies social issues, environmental concerns, and political patterns. In profiling aspects of culture and society unique to Nordic countries, students arrive at a conception of a collective Nordic identity. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies.
Examines the social, cultural, technological, and artistic backgrounds of the Viking experience, charting the history of the period both within the Nordic region and Europe as well as North America. Additionally, looks at some of the lasting influences of the Vikings on Western civilization. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: historical context.
Provides a chronological overview of civilization in the area now known as Russia, from its beginnings to the end of the Romanov dynasty, paying particular attention to the geographic, social, artistic, economic, and political forces that have combined to give the Russian people and their culture their unique characteristics. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: historical context.
Introduces students to major trends in Russian culture from the 1890's to the present, through the study of literature, art, architecture, music, journalism and film in an historical context. Addresses such questions as: how have past events affected Russian society? How can we use knowledge about Russia's past to understand social and cultural forces today? Taught in English. Students may not receive credit for both RUSS 2221 and LIBB 2100. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: historical context.
Explores the multiple connections between sports and international politics during the Cold War in the Post-War period. Examines how the issues of class, nation, ethnicity, and gender intersect with sports and international politics by studying cases from various sport events since 1945. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: historical context.
Provides a general introduction to fairy tales including various theoretical approaches to classifying and interpreting them; introduces students to a wide selection of Russian folk and fairy tales. Examines the cultural, social and political values they reflect, as well as the continuing influence of fairy tales and folk beliefs in Russian literature, music, folk art, and film, as well as in the political propaganda of the 20th century. Taught in English. Approved for GT-AH2. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Introduces students to the folkloric and historic origins of the vampire of contemporary culture. Students will read extensively from both Russian and Western literary works, analyzing the image of the vampire as represented in folk narrative, popular fiction, and film. Students learn and apply critical approaches to understanding the vampire metaphorically, symbolically, and as a demonized "other". Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Examines social culture and everyday life in Nazi Germany. Topics include the role of propaganda in the media and entertainment industries, anti-Semitism and suppression of ethnic, social and religious minorities, the role of education and youth organizations, as well as the role of women, the churches, and the effects of a controlled economy before and during World War II. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: historical context.
Explores the development and expressions of Jewish cultures across the chronological and geographical map of the Jewish people,k with an emphasis on the variety of Jewish ethnicities and their cultural productions, cultural syncretism, and changes, including such issues as sexuality and foodways. Sets the discussion in relevant contexts, and looks at cultural representations that include literary, religious, and visual texts. Same as JWST 2350. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.
Explores the changing role and cultural images of women as reflected in Russian folklore, documents, costumes, icons, paintings, and literature from medieval times to 19th c. Introduces female characters such as princesses and tsarinas, rebellious wives and pious Christians, Amazons and terrorists. Focuses on the way women have transgressed boundaries of patriarchy and secured powerful positions. Taught in English. Approved for GT-AH2. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: historical context.
Short stories by Thomas Mann, Kafka, Boell, and Grass, such as Death in Venice, Metamorphosis, and Cat and Mouse. Emphasizes literary themes, their traditions, and their cultural significance. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Introduces students to post-communist Russia, its values and ideologies. It is equally wrong to interpret post-Soviet society through the prism of the Cold War as through the models of contemporary post-industrial capitalism. Neither totalitarian nor liberal, contemporary Russia raises numerous questions about such ideological and cultural constructions as neo-liberalism and capitalism, nationalism, globalization, state power, and popular vs. high cultures. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies.
Examines how the memory of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany is increasingly determined by the means of its representation, e.g., film, autobiography, poetry, architecture. Taught in English. Same as JWST 2502. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.
Explores the origins, cultural significance, stylistic and thematic features of the German fairy tale, with emphasis on the Brothers Grimm; on artistic fairy tales by Goethe, Tieck, Brentano, and others; and, on modern retellings in literature and popular culture. Taught in English. Approved for GT-AH2. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Study the work of Jewish writers in English and English translation. Looks at a broad spectrum of texts which show the various ways Jewish authors and poets across time and space have understood the world. Themes will include questions of secularity and tradition, diaspora, exile and citizenship, and the changes of modernity (social and political emancipation, world-wide wars, cultural transformation, new homelands). HEBR 2551 and JWST 2551 are identical courses. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Exposes the students to a wide selection of Kafka's literary output and aims to define the meaning of the Kafkaesque, by looking not only for traces of Kafka's influence in the verbal and visual arts, but also for traces left in Kafka's own work by his precursors in the literary tradition. Taught in English. Same as HUMN 2601. Approved for GT-AH2. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Examines the moral dilemmas that arise when opportunities afforded by basic freedoms or advances in technology clash with the ethical imperatives that issue from the Enlightenment and the social contract. Guiding questions include: When does the quest for knowledge legitimate transgression of prevailing morality? By what standard do we adjudicate the ambitions of the individual when they compete with the interests of the state? Taught in English. Approved for art and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.
Enables students to speak and understand contemporary Russian. Discussion topics and source materials vary. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Department enforced prereq., RUSS 2010 (minimum grade C-).
