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.
Examines Jewish experience through the study of literary texts from around the world, mainly from the 20th and 21st centuries. Discusses issues pertaining to secularism and tradition; diasporas and homelands; modernity and questions of identity raised by the intellectual transitions brought about by political and social emancipation; sexualities; enormous changes wrought by population redistributions, world wars and rapid cultural transformations. Same as JWST 2551. Formerly HEBR 2551. 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-).
Reviews special grammatical topics, reading, and conversation. Students have the option of taking the internationally recognized exam Zertifikat Deutsch in GRMN 3010. Department enforced prereq., four semesters of college German or equivalent. Open to freshmen with instructor consent.
Review of Russian grammar coordinated with reading, speaking, writing, and understanding modern Russian. Uses some texts from modern Russian literature. Department enforced prereq., RUSS 2020 (minimum grade C-).
Continuation of Intermediate Swedish 2. Provides advanced language skills for use in a variety of situations. Examines basic language structure and grammatical forms. Exposes students to historical and modern Swedish culture and society. Department enforced prereq., SWED 2020 - DILS (minimum grade C-). Directed independent language study course, requires work outside of class.
Expands and refines skills acquired in GRMN 3010. Students acquire a varied, precise, and idiomatically advanced vocabulary; an understanding of different registers, from the casual to the very formal; and an ability to communicate effectively in spoken and written German in a variety of social situations, including professional life. Department enforced prereq., GRMN 3010 (minimum grade C-).
Develops the type of advanced reading knowledge of the four closely related Scandinavian languages (Swedish, Danish, and the two Norwegian standards) that will prepare students for their senior thesis, and for possible graduate work. Readings will help students see relationships and connections operating across national and linguistic borders within the Nordic region. Department enforced prereqs., NORW/SWED 2120 and NORW/SWED 3900 (all minimum grade C-).
Continuation of Advanced Swedish 1. Provides advanced language skills for use in a variety of situations. Examines basic language structure and grammatical forms. Exposes students to historical and modern Swedish culture and society. Department enforced prereq., SWED 3010 - DILS (minimum grade C-). Directed independent language study course, requires work outside of class.
Introduces students to the language of German business and economic life. Provides insights into everyday business practices and institutions, including Germany's position in the European and world markets. Emphasizes acquiring basic business vocabulary and writing business letters and resumes in German. Prepares students for the exam Deutsch fuer den Beruf, a diploma recognized worldwide by business and industry. Department enforced prereq., GRMN 2020 (minimum grade C-).
Studies general commercial practices, vocabulary, and terminology applied in various business transactions. Emphasizes oral and written communication and correspondence. Department enforced prereq., RUSS 2020 (minimum grade C-).
Enhances heritage student competence and performance in Russian language. The course offers intensive review of Russian grammar and focuses on developing advanced reading, writing and translation skills. Readings are selected from a wide range of contemporary writings that reflect current issues in Russia. Credit not granted for this course and RUSS 4010.
Examines selected literary texts. Emphasizes longer unedited texts as well as critical skills. May be taken either before or after GRMN 3120. Department enforced prereq., GRMN 2020 (minimum grade C-).
Provides insight into cultural adaptations, political struggles and social transformations taking place in the contemporary Nordic world. Subjects treated vary according to current developments in the region, student interest and faculty availability.
Examines selected literary texts of various periods. Emphasizes longer texts and critical skills. May be taken either before or after GRMN 3110. Department enforced prereq., GRMN 2020 (minimum grade C-).
Examines selected interdisciplinary texts from the German literary and philosophical tradition. Topics address issues central to philosophical inquiry, and may include knowledge and its limits, mind and body, determinism and free will, reason and religious belief, and ethical problems. Department enforced prereq., GRMN 2020 or 2030 (minimum grade C-).
Examines issues pervading contemporary German literature, such as concerns of youth, gender, stereotyping as it affects women and men in their relations with one another, loneliness and sexual frustration, work experiences, and other issues. Department enforced restriction: ability to read unedited German and to speak German.
