GERMAN 322 A: Introduction To German Cultural Studies

This course offers an introduction to German cultural studies. It provides a solid foundation for upper-division courses in German literature as well as in culture.

What is German culture? How has it been defined and contested?  How (and why) do we study it?  These are some of the questions that we will explore in this course, which examines key concepts in cultural studies (i.e., representation, history, identity, difference, popular culture, media, memory, etc.). Each unit of the course focuses on one of these concepts by asking a series of study questions that are listed in the course schedule. What we do both inside and outside of the classroom will be based on these questions.  Students use them as guideposts not only to the course, but also to the larger field of cultural studies in which we participate.