Introduction to German Studies: A Multi-Cultural Approach

Modern research universities like the University of Washington are a 19th-century German invention. We think of the university’s divisions into areas of knowledge (natural sciences, social sciences, humanities) and departments (e.g., physics, psychology, history) as naturally reflecting the world, but in fact these categories artificially shape and determine what counts as knowledge in the first place. In this course we will explore the ways that German thinkers have worked alternately to construct the fields of academic knowledge, to promote cross-fertilization among those fields, and to challenge disciplinary boundaries. The course provides both an introduction to the modern university and an exploration of the relationship between knowledge and power. To that end, readings will include thinkers whose marginal status—whether as women, Jews, or people of color—produced instructive alternatives to the dominant culture.