GER 3651 is also offered in Fall 2023
GER 3651 is also offered in Summer 2022
Fall 2020 | GER 3651 Section 001: Thinking Environment: Green Culture, German Literature and Global Debates (17590)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Discussion
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- Completely Online
- Class Attributes:
UMNTC Liberal Education Requirement
Online Course
- Meets With:
GER 5651 Section 001
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
Mon,
Wed 11:15AM - 12:30PM
Off Campus
UMN REMOTE
- Enrollment Status:
Open (36 of 55 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- How environmental thinking became social-political force through German literature/culture, with comparisons to global or U.S. developments. Authors include Goethe, Christa Wolf, Enzensberger.
- Class Notes:
- http://classinfo.umn.edu/?ether040+GER3651+Fall2020 This course is completely online in a synchronous format. The course will meet online at the scheduled times.
- Class Description:
- Known as the country of poets and thinkers, Germany today leads in environmental innovation. This course (taught in English, with assignments in German for students who know the language) looks at how sustainability became mainstream. We will explore how literary and non-fiction writing, film, and the arts shaped German environmental thinking. Public concern about environmental issues drives social, political, and cultural change in German-speaking countries now, but trends like Green party successes, renewable energy initiatives, and cradle-to-cradle design have deep historical roots. Sustainability concepts developed in early forestry practices, Romantic writers found inspiration in nature, and German scientists pioneered principles of ecology. After 1945 (due National Socialist glorification of nature), however, environmental activism was suspect. This course explores how the involvement of writers and other public intellectuals changed those attitudes. Frequent comparisons will be made with global developments (like the current migration crisis) and the U.S. Our starting point will be Faust (by Goethe) and a contemporary novel by Daniel Kehlmann about the early scientist Alexander von Humboldt. We will analyze a novella about the Chernobyl, a comic book, and other media. Course work will include an extended simulation project related to renewable energy. Graduate students will be asked to engage in more extensive assignments.
- Who Should Take This Class?:
- This course is open to graduate students and undergraduates using 5610 to satisfy the capstone/major project requirement in GSD. Capstone students will be asked either to produce an extended, research-based paper (approximately 15 pages in either English or German). Contact the instructor for further information. For fuller explanation about the course content, see GER 3651.
- Grading:
- 15% in-class presentation, 15% class participation, 15% mid-term exam, 30% papers, 25% final project
- Exam Format:
- Midterm exam: short-answer format
- Class Format:
- 40% Lecture
20% Film/Video
15% Discussion
15% Small Group Activities
- Workload:
- 30-75 Pages Reading Per Week
1 Exam
2 Papers
1 Presentation
1 Special Project
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/17590/1209
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 29 March 2020
ClassInfo Links - Fall 2020 German Classes