ELEMENTARY GERMAN I

Prerequisites: No prior German.

German 1101 is a communicative language course for beginners, taught in German, in which students develop the four skills -listening, speaking, reading, and writing- and a basic understanding of German-speaking cultures. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills within a cultural context. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to understand, speak, read, and write German at a level enabling them to communicate with native speakers and provide basic information about their background, family, daily activities, student life, work, and living quarters. Completion of daily assignments, which align with class content, and consistent work are necessary in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency. If you have prior German, the placement exam is required.

• TRF 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• MTR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• TR 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Patrick Woodard
  Info
• Instructor: Jutta Schmiers-Heller
  CULPA: 19 Info
• Instructor: Simona C Vaidean
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY YIDDISH I

This course offers an introduction to the language that has been spoken by the Ashkenazi Jews for more than a millennium, and an opportunity to discover a fabulous world of Yiddish literature, language and culture in a fun way. Using games, new media, and music, we will learn how to speak, read, listen and write in a language that is considered one of the richest languages in the world (in some aspects of vocabulary). We will also venture outside the classroom to explore the Yiddish world today: through field trips to Yiddish theater, Yiddish-speaking neighborhoods, Yiddish organizations, such as YIVO or Yiddish farm, and so on. We will also have Yiddish-speaking guests and do a few digital projects. At the end of the two-semester course, you will be able to converse in Yiddish on a variety of everyday topics and read most Yiddish literary and non-literary texts. Welcome to Yiddishland!

• MW 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Noa Tsaushu
  Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY DUTCH II

Fundamentals of grammar, reading, speaking, and comprehension of the spoken language. During the spring term supplementary reading is selected according to students needs.

• TR 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• MW 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Wijnie de Groot
  CULPA: 11 Info
• Instructor: Pieter J Lauwaert
  Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY GERMAN II

Prerequisites: GERM UN1101 or the equivalent. If you have prior German outside of Columbia’s language sequence, the placement exam is required. German 1102 is the continuation of Elementary German I (1101). It is a four-skill language course taught in German, in which students continue to develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in German and an understanding of German-speaking cultures. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context. Students expand their communication skills to include travel, storytelling, personal well- being, basic economics, recent historical events, and working with movie segments. Completion of daily assignments, which align with class content, and consistent work are necessary in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency.

• MWR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• MWR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• MWR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• MTR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• TR 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Julia Perrin
  Info
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY YIDDISH II

This course offers an introduction to the language that has been spoken by the Ashkenazi Jews for more than a millennium, and an opportunity to discover a fabulous world of Yiddish literature, language and culture in a fun way. Using games, new media, and music, we will learn how to speak, read, listen and write in a language that is considered one of the richest languages in the world (in some aspects of vocabulary). We will also venture outside the classroom to explore the Yiddish world today: through field trips to Yiddish theater, Yiddish-speaking neighborhoods, Yiddish organizations, such as YIVO or Yiddish farm, and so on. We will also have Yiddish-speaking guests and do a few digital projects. At the end of the two-semester course, you will be able to converse in Yiddish on a variety of everyday topics and read most Yiddish literary and non-literary texts. Welcome to Yiddishland!

• TR 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Ethan G Fraenkel
  Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE GERMAN I

Prerequisites: GERM UN2101 or the equivalent. If you have prior German outside of Columbia’s language sequence, the placement exam is required.

Intermediate German UN2102 is conducted entirely in German and emphasizes the four basic language skills, cultural awareness, and critical thinking. A wide range of topics (from politics and poetry to art) as well as authentic materials (texts, film, art, etc.) are used to improve the 4 skill. Practice in conversation aims at enlarging the vocabulary necessary for daily communication. Grammar is practiced in the context of the topics. Learning and evaluation are individualized (individual vocabulary lists, essays, oral presentations, final portfolio) and project-based (group work and final group project).

• MTR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• TR 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Iloe M Ariss
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• Instructor: Young Na
  Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE YIDDISH I

Prerequisites: YIDD UN1101-UN1102 or the instructor's permission. This year-long course is a continuation of Elementary Yiddish II. As part of the New Media in Jewish Studies Collaborative, this class will be using new media in order to explore and research the fabulous world of Yiddish literature, language, and culture, and to engage in project-oriented activities that will result in creating lasting multi-media online presentations. In addition to expanding the command of the language that has been spoken by the Ashkenazi Jews for more than a millennium, i.e. focusing on developing speaking, reading, writing and listening skills, and on the acquisition of more advanced grammatical concepts, students will also get some video and film editing training, and tutorials on archival research. The class will continue to read works of Yiddish literature in the original and will venture outside of the classroom to explore the Yiddish world today: through exciting field trips to Yiddish theater, Yiddish-speaking neighborhoods, YIVO, Yiddish Farm, and so on. And we will also have the Yiddish native-speaker guest series. Welcome back to Yiddishland!

• MW 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Mikhl Yashinsky
  Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE DUTCH II

Prerequisites: DTCH UN1101-UN1102 or the equivalent. Continued practice in the four skills (aural comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing); review and refinement of basic grammar; vocabulary building. Readings in Dutch literature.

• TR 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• MW 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
• Instructor: Wijnie de Groot
  CULPA: 11 Info
• Instructor: Pieter J Lauwaert
  Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FINNISH II

Prerequisites: FINN UN1101-UN1102 or the instructors permission. Continued practice in aural comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing; review and refinement of grammatical structures; vocabulary building. Readings include Finnish fiction and nonfiction.

• MW 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Heli Sirvioe
  Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE GERMAN II

Prerequisites: GERM UN2101 or the equivalent.

Intermediate German UN2102 is conducted entirely in German and emphasizes the four basic language skills, cultural awareness, and critical thinking. A wide range of topics (from politics and poetry to art) as well as authentic materials (texts, film, art, etc.) are used to improve the 4 skill. Practice in conversation aims at enlarging the vocabulary necessary for daily communication. Grammar is practiced in the context of the topics. Learning and evaluation are individualized (individual vocabulary lists, essays, oral presentations, final portfolio) and project-based (group work and final group project).

• MWR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• MTR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Romney J Walker Wood
  Info
• Instructor: Simona C Vaidean
  CULPA: 5 Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE SWEDISH II

The goal of this course is to further develop your speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills and broaden your knowledge about the Swedish culture, history and literature. Topics emphasize contemporary Swedish life and cross-cultural awareness. Topics to be covered include Swedens regions, the party and political system, major historical and cultural figures, and the Swedish welfare state. In addition to the main text we will use a selection of short stories, newspaper articles, films and audio resources available on the internet. Class will be conducted almost exclusively in Swedish. To succeed in this course, you must actively participate. You will be expected to attend class regularly, prepare for class daily, and speak as much Swedish as possible. Methodology The class will be taught in a communicative way. It will be conducted primarily in Swedish. In-class activities and homework assignments will focus on improving and developing speaking, reading, writing, listening skills, and deepening the students understanding of Swedish culture through interaction and exposure to a broad range of authentic materials.

• MW 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Heli Sirvioe
  Info
• 4 points

ADVANCED DUTCH II

see department for details

• TR 1:15 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
• Instructor: Wijnie de Groot
  CULPA: 11 Info
• 3 points

ADVANCED YIDDISH

Prerequisites: YIDD UN2101-YIDD UN2102 or the instructor's permission. Reading of contemporary authors. Stress on word usage and idiomatic expression, discussion.

• R 2:30 p.m.-3:45 p.m.
• Instructor: Agnieszka Legutko
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

ADVANCD CONVERSTN & COMPOSTN I

ADV CONVERSTN & COMPOSITION I

Prerequisites: GERM UN2102 or the equivalent. If you have prior German outside of Columbia’s language sequence, the placement exam is required.

Advanced Conversation and Composition is designed for students who have completed Intermediate German II (2102) or the equivalent. It is a content-based, two-point course designed to strengthen both oral and written communication and the ability to engage in critical analysis in German. Students will develop interpretative skills needed for communicating questions, ideas, and opinions; build vocabulary; interact comfortably with various forms of media; and communicate new skills through discussions, various writing assignments, and a presentation.

• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Nathaniel R Wagner
  Info
• 2 points

Unland: Writing Utopias

Unland: Writing Utopias 

The word ‘Utopia’ is a combination of the Greek prefix
ou
—not and
topos—
place. In the aftermath of the Shoah, the poet Paul Celan alludes to this etymology when he writes about ‘Unland,’ referring to the desiccated status of Europe, the ‘not-yet’ of nascent political or communal formations, and the ‘no-place’ of poetry; a non-territorial laboratory for understanding and reconfiguring the world. 

This course will look at a variety of writers who generate ‘non-places’—vacuums, alternatives, blueprints—that shed new light on our lived realities. Alluring or depleted (or both), these often unreachable realms instigate critical reflection about the tragic absurdities of our own present. We will pay particular attention to how writers conceive of text as a ‘third space’ that hovers between reality and fantasy. Looking at a range of authors from early modernity to the present, this course will challenge the genre boundaries between science-fiction and canonical literature. Readings will include works by Shakespeare, Georg Büchner, Franz Kafka, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Stanisław Lem, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Samuel R. Delany.

No prerequisite courses are required. Course Readings and discussion will be in English. Required Texts.

 

• MW 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Evan Parks
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

READINGS IN JEWISH LITERATURE

Through an analysis of far-flung examples of comic Jewish literature created by Jews over three centuries and three continents, this course will attempt to answer two questions. First, are there continuities in Jewish literary style and rhetorical strategy, and if so, what are they? And second, can Jewish literature help us to understand the tensions between universality and particularity inherent in comic literature more generally? Works and authors read will include the Book of Esther, Yiddish folktales, Jewish jokes, Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Franz Kafka, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, Woody Allen, and selections from American television and film.

• T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Agnieszka Legutko
  CULPA: 1 Info
• 3 points

SURVEY OF YIDDISH LIT (ENG)

For the better part of a thousand years Yiddish was the primary language of European Jewry – and the language of its most exciting and vibrant literary and cultural achievement. This class hopes to trace the history of that literature – which is at its heart a history of much of the Jewish people as it lived traditionally faced modernity and suffered catastrophe. Stories poems plays – by authors ranging from Nobel prize winners like Isaac Bashevis Singer to seventeenth century women like Gluckel of Hameln – are not only great works of art in their own right but they open a window into a largely vanished world.

• R 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Jeremy Dauber
  CULPA: 21 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

Sexuality, Modernity & German Film

Sexuality, Modernity Germ

This course explores the modern historical development of sexuality and gender through a close engagement with German cinema of the 20th and early 21st centuries. We will trace two forces closely associated with “modernity”: the art and technology of cinema as an international medium and sexuality as a socially significant aspect of individual personhood, collective politics and public concern. We will consider both film and sexuality as intertwined vectors of social and cultural change, as well as aesthetic and artistic practice, and we will apply our film-analytical framework to develop a better understanding of German culture over the last century. Our course will draw from feminist and queer film studies, cultural studies, critical theory, and histories of gender and sexuality to build our methodology. Through our shared film viewings and class discussions, we will exercise practical forms of critical understanding and communication about modern German cinema and culture.

• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Hazel L Rhodes
  Info
• 3 points

CRIME&CRIMINALITY (IN ENGLISH)

This seminar will explore narrative representations of criminality from the late 18th century to the present, drawing on German, French, and American literature with occasional forays into criminology and film. Specific attention will be paid to textual strategies of constructing authenticity, "true crime" fiction, and interrelations of literature, criminology, and law. Discussions and readings will be in English. Texts and films by: Schiller, Kleist, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Poe, Zola, Lombroso, Alfred Döblin, Th. Lessing, Fritz Lang, Capote, and others.

• W 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Stefan Andriopoulos
  CULPA: 6 Wikipedia h-index: 12 Info
• 3 points

Advanced Topics in German Literature

Adv Topics in German Lite

"Advanced Topics in German Literature” is open to seniors and other advanced undergraduate students who have taken Intro to German Literature (GERM 3333) or an equivalent class. The seminar provides students the opportunity to closely examine a topic from a variety of perspectives and theoretical approaches. Readings and discussion in German. The course is repeatable for credit.

• M 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Mark M Anderson
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

AESTHETC THRY-FRANKFURT SCHOOL

AESTHETC THRY-FRANKFUST SCHOOL

Critical theory was the central practice of the Frankfurt School. Founded in Frankfurt in 1923 and later based at Columbia University, this interdisciplinary institute influenced fields like sociology, political science, film, cultural studies, media theory, and comparative literature. The course begins by examining the genealogy of the Frankfurt School in Marxism and its critique of fascism and traces its afterlife in aesthetic theory, deconstruction, and gender studies, as well as the specter of “Cultural Marxism” recently floating around right-wing circles. We read texts by key figures of the Frankfurt School such as Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse and Jürgen Habermas as well as works by adjacent figures like Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, and Siegfried Kracauer.

• T 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Claudia Breger
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

JEWS IN GERMAN CULTURE (ENG)

DIVIDED SELVES: JEWS IN GERM

This course will offer an introduction to the history of Jews in modern German culture from the Enlightenment to the late twentieth century with a focus on literary representations.  Texts by Lessing, Heine, Franzos, Kafka, Freud, Celan and Sebald.  All readings and discussions in English.

• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Mark M Anderson
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

Berliner Topographien / Berlin Topograph

Berlin Topographies

The development of Berlin's urban space goes hand in hand with the emergence of an urban perception in literature.  The seminar traces these interactions--and tensions--between real and imaginary spaces from the early 19th century to today, with particular attention to the diversity of the city, which always has been shaped by immigration. Combining methodologies of the spatial turn with those of affect studies, we will study affective topographies that take place (or make place) in literature and unfold the dialogical, polyphonic character of metropolitan life, from E.T.A. Hoffmann, Walter Benjamin, and Alfred Döblin, to Aras Ören and contemporary voices including Fatma Aydemir and Tomer Gardi.

Course readings and discussion will be in German. 

 

 

 

• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Anne Fleig
  Info
• 3 points