German and European Studies (Internation

The cultural history of Germany, even when limited to post-WWII, is an overwhelmingly rich and complex subject to learn in a single university course. Therefore, our approach will be to narrow our focus to four of the most important and most interesting instances when German culture of the postwar past has directly shaped Germany’s present. These include the political and cultural impact of immigration, youth & countercultures, gender roles & sexual identities, and culture & national identity. As you can see from our four units, in this course we define “culture” broadly to include not only artistic production like music, painting, theater, or folk customs, but also the shared customs, roles, and understandings that are acted out each day in the German-speaking lands. For each unit we will learn the history of our topic, including how its roles in East and West Germany changed over the last seven decades and how it now affects united Germany’s present. When possible, we will work with historical documents in translation to give you a taste of what it is like to do historical research. The assessments for this course are a series of exercises that contribute to your final essay, as well as leading an in-class discussion of a reading, and in-class participation.