Summer in Berlin 2024

Berlin
Germany
Next Offered
Summer 2024

City of the Past and Future: Film, Media and Diversity

 

No German required   

The Department of German Studies' Summer in Berlin provides students with an immersive way to experience the German language and culture in the diverse and exciting metropolis Berlin. Utilizing the city as our classroom, we will explore the culture, politics and history of Berlin from WWI to the present day. Students will receive a broad overview of Berlin's socio-historical landscape, develop critical thinking abilities, deepen their cultural knowledge of Germany and improve their German language skills. Students will also gain insight into issues of diversity and the influences of migration on the city from the past to the present day. A unit on start ups in Berlin and their impact on diversity will connect students to cutting edge businesses and help them to network for future internships or career opportunities. Berlin is a repository of cultural and historical memory and an essential destination for students interested in Germany. In Book of Clouds , Chloe Aridjis observes of this city: "Everything here is shifting and shifting but you can't forget it all forms part of one long continuum" (Aridjis 97), and she references sites that still "...creaked under the burden of their past" (125). This time spent in Germany's capital will give students first-hand access to the complexity of Berlin's past. Through group and individual projects and interactive visits to places such as the Wannsee House, the Holocaust Memorial, the Museum Insel and the Reichstag, students can examine how issues of the past still manifest themselves in the present and explore how to use their understanding of history to shape the future.

 

Program Status
Active