Examines literary and theoretical texts in German about the relationship between literature and politics. Topics may include history and revolution, political theater, feminist aesthetics, or terrorism. Readings and discussion in German. Department enforced prereq., GRMN 2020 or GRMN 2030 (minimum grade C-).
Explores contemporary Nordic culture and society with special focus on Iceland. Emphasis is on the relationship between historical, geographic, artistic, and political forces in Iceland and their effects on culture and society. Provides insight into the life and attitudes of contemporary Icelanders and stresses their place in the global culture of today. Taught in English. Recommended prereq., SCAN 2201. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies.
Surveys the mythology and heathen cult practices of the Old Norse world. Students learn to read mythological texts and study the major gods (Odin, Thor, Frey and Freyja, among others), along with other mythological beings. The course examines and evaluates evidence for beliefs and cult practices in texts, art, archeological finds, and other sources. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Examines the Nordic region's influence on social realism, expressionism, and postwar literature, including such themes as women in society, nature and industrialization, and identity and angst. May include works by Ibsen, Strindberg, Dinesen, and Nobel Prize winners Lagerlof, Hamsun, Undset, and Lagerkvist. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Advanced introduction to medieval Icelandic saga with readings in the family, outlaw, skald, and legendary sagas as well as the main scholarly approaches to this unique literature. Topics include honor, blood feud, fate, sexuality/gender, oral composition, and legend. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Introduces the rich tradition of Scandinavian oral narrative. Looks at relationships between the various genres of oral narrative and their historical, social, and cultural contexts. Genres studied may include ballad, fairy tale, rural legend, and urban legend. Explores various interpretive methodologies. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Examines Nordic colonial enterprise and the relationship between the Scandinavian center and colonial peripheries from the Arctic to the Caribbean, Africa, and India. Studies colonial and postcolonial cultures, and postcolonial criticism and theory. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.
Examines the role and status of women and marginalized social classes in the Nordic countries, whose societies have been heralded as egalitarian models since the twentieth century. Texts include a variety of media, from literature to sociological works to artifacts of political and popular culture. Taught in English. Same as WMST 3208. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.
Advanced introduction to contemporary Nordic literature and film. Readings/screenings of recent translated Nordic texts and films, presenting a broad spectrum of contemporary issues, along with current critique and theoretical approaches. Topics: history, culture, translation, gender/sexuality, nationalidentity, minority issues, etc. Taught in English.
Surveys Russian cinema in historical and cultural context from early 20th century to the present. Taught in English. Recommended prereq., RUSS 2221 or FILM 1502. Same as FILM 3211. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Examines forms, genres and social functions of laughter in Slavic cultures (Russian, Polish, Czech, Serbian, and others). Analysis of the carnivalesque, grotesque, and irony in the works of Gogol, Chapek, Hashek, Lem, Kundera, Gombrowicz, Kharms, Zoshchenko, Ilf and Petrov, Kusturica, Kieslewsky, and other authors; also provides an introduction to literature and film of Eastern Europe. Taught in English.
Examines Russo-Soviet fiction literature and film. Within this popular genre, writers conceive and criticize social utopias, thus creating works situated between the poles of utopia and dystopia. Through discussions of Soviet and post-Soviet science fiction, utopian and distopian alike, the course introduces a Russo-Soviet "alternative modernity" and studies its historical developmental. All readings are in English. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Examines the relationship between politics, economics, aesthetics, and the way moral and social issues are treated in noteworthy Russian films of the last 20 years. Taught in English. Same as FILM 3301.
Examines the current rise of National Socialists, white supremacists, ethnic separatists, anti-Islam activists, and social and cultural ultraconservatives in northern Europe. Treats extremist nationalism as a social, cultural, aesthetic, intellectual and political movement. Consults scholarship from sociology, criminology, and political science, as well as music, literature, art and film. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values. Same as IAFS 3630.
Surveys the major works of 20th century central and central east European film and literature. Examines cultural production in the non-imperial countries and non-national languages of the region including Yiddish, Belarusian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Romanian, among others. Traces the rise of nationalism over the course of the century from the age of empires through the "Cold War." Taught in English. Same as JWST 3401.
Provides insight into the German-Jewish identity through essays, autobiographies, fiction, and journalism from the Enlightenment to the post-Holocaust period. Examines the religious and social conflicts that typify the history of Jewish existence in German-speaking lands during the modern epoch. Taught in English. Same as JWST 3501. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.
Features the writings of Germany's major literary figures from 1749 to 1832. Special attention is paid to the formation of literary periods, genres, aesthetic, and socio-historical developments contributing to the birth of modernism in German intellectual history and literature. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
A comparative analysis of key issues in German culture as they are represented in film and other media, e.g., technology, architecture, women, and the Holocaust. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours when topic varies. Taught in English. Same as FILM 3504.
Examines Enlightenment notions of reason, humanity, and social progress. Topics include 18th century views on government, science, education, religion, slavery, and gender roles. Taught in English. Same as HUMN 3505. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.
Examines the many contributions of Scandinavian dramatists to world theater from the 18th century to the present. With emphasis on Holberg, Bjornson, Ibsen, Strindberg, and Bjorneboe, surveys Enlightenment comedy, national romanticism, realism, naturalism, symbolism, expressionism, and Brechtian epic theater. Taught in English. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: literature and the arts.
Introduces issues in German society through film during the Cold War. Focus on East and West Germany, though some other German language films may be included. Emphasis is on reading films in their social, historical, and political contexts. Taught in English. Same as FILM 3513.
Introduces post-1989 German culture through film. The course emphasizes films in their socio-historical contexts and explores developments in German culture during and after the unification. Taught in English. Same as FILM 3514.
Examines topics in the cultures of German-speaking central Europe. Contact the departmental office for specific course offerings. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours when topic varies. Department enforced prereq., GRMN 3020 (minimum grade C-)
Uses transnational lens to explore contemporary debates about Jewish people, places and practices of identity and community; places that Jews have called 'home', and what has made, or continues to make those places 'Jewish'; issues of Jewish homelands and diasporars; gender, sexuality, food and the Jewish body; religious practices in contemporary contexts. Readings drawn primarily from contemporary journalism and scholarship. Same as JWST 3600 and IAFS 3600. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.
