Module description
As the module title suggests, cultural expressions of ‘German-ness’ are many and varied. Lectures and seminars in the module explore how this plurality arises as the product of specific cultural practices. German-ness, in this context, is viewed as the historically dynamic, geographically and culturally complex product of practices of German-language worldmaking. Through a series of key case studies from territories within and beyond Europe, the module explores how historically and geographically specific cultures—German-language ‘worlds’— arise as expressive practices and forms travel and mutate through time and across spatial boundaries. Secondary reading on methods and approaches offers ways of understanding and analysing those practices and forms. Key practices of cultural production studied include writing—with analysis centring for instance on the transition from oracy to literacy, the place in German worldmaking of vernacular print culture, and/or on such modern literary forms as the German novel, and its claim for a place within an emerging world literature from the time of Goethe onward. Performance will be a further object of study, both in the sense of theatrical performance, and the wider meaning it acquires in cultural theory, as way of projecting identity through cultural expression. Adaptation and translation will feature as modes of cultural transfer across artistic and media forms as well as cultural, geographical and historical boundaries. Primary texts may include poems, novels, short stories, plays, films and other media; they will span the historical range from the medieval period to the present day, and will be linked thematically by secondary reading that explores how German-speaking cultures arise through dynamic processes of cultural production and exchange across social groups, geographical territories, and historical periods.
Assessment details
Narrated PowerPoint (15%), 2500-word essay (85%)
Educational aims & objectives
The module aims:
- to introduce students to approaches to German culture as the product of dynamic, dispersed but interconnected practices of cultural production;
- to acquaint students with German-language texts, both historical and contemporary, that exemplify practices of cultural production of the self and the world;
- to provide students with an introduction to the critical analysis of a range of cultural practices in German-speaking contexts;
- to develop students’ ability to express ideas critically, both orally and in writing.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable, and practical skills appropriate to a Level 4 module and, in particular, will be able to
- demonstrate sound understanding of German-speaking culture as a plural and transnational entity;
- demonstrate sound understanding of cultural production as a set of practices of German-language worldmaking;
- understand and use a range of critical vocabularies associated with the study of cultural and artistic practice;
- demonstrate skills in the close reading of a range of cultural materials
- present their views in seminar discussion, through formative and summative presentations, and in written form in response to summative assessment questions.
Teaching pattern
two hours per week
Suggested reading list
TBC