Courses
GER 101: Introduction to German Language and Culture I
This course, part of a yearlong sequence, introduces students to the German language and its cultural contexts. By emphasizing communicative skills, students learn to speak, build vocabulary, and develop their listening comprehension, reading, and writing skills. GER 101 is only offered in the fall semester. GER 101 is not open to students who have had two or more years of German in secondary school. Conducted in German.
GER 102: Introduction to German Language and Culture II
This course, a continuation of GER 101, introduces students to the German language and its cultural contexts. By emphasizing communicative skills, students further develop their speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing skills. GER 102 is only offered in the winter semester. GER 102 is not open to students who have had two or more years of German in secondary school. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 101, or permission of the instructor.
GER 105: Germany and the "New Europe:" The Cultures of Central and East-Central Europe after 1989
In this course, students explore the historical and cultural relations between Germany, the most prominent political and economic power in Central Europe, and the countries of East-Central Europe. The coursework focuses on "New Europe," a group of post-communist countries after 1989, investigating how they are viewed in Germany and how they positioned themselves in relation to Germany. By analyzing a wide range of fictional and nonfiction texts, students integrate insights from historical, political, and artistic discourses in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries to develop an understanding of the region’s past, the current dynamics, the narratives that shape mutual perceptions and attitudes, and the ongoing processes of European integration. Conducted in English.
GER 201: Intermediate German Language and Culture I
Offered in the fall, this course is a continuation of GER 101–102. Students further expand their skills through sustained interactive practice in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, as well as their cultural knowledge about the German-speaking countries through wide-ranging, authentic material. Open to first-year students who enter with at least two years of German. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 102, or permission of the instructor.
GER 202: Intermediate German Language and Culture II
This course, offered in the winter semester, is a continuation of GER 201. Students further expand their skills through sustained interactive practice in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, as well as their cultural knowledge about the German-speaking countries through wide-ranging, authentic material. Open to first-year students who enter with at least two years of German. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 201, or permission of the instructor.
GER 220: Narrating War: The “Great War,” Memory, and Remembrance in Europe
The course focuses on how the experience of the First World War (1914-1918) changed established narratives of violence and armed conflict in Europe. It investigates how these new narratives became sites of memory, mourning, and remembrance in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, drawing on examples from the literature and art of Central and Eastern European countries. Conducted in English.
GER 233: Advanced German: Reading, Writing, Analysis
A topical course offered in the fall semester and designed to develop linguistic and cultural competency at the advanced level. The course focuses on analysis and critical thinking applied to a variety of written and audiovisual media from the German-speaking world. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 202, or permission of the instructor.
GER 234: The Long Read: Text and Context
Building on the skills of critical analysis, this topical course centers on the in-depth study of a single, longer text, which serves as a foundation for exploring the nuances of the German language and its cultural landscape. Students work intensively with the selected text, practicing close reading techniques to analyze its literary structure, stylistic choices, and thematic depth. Students also research the historical, social, and artistic contexts that produced and inform the text, along with its reception. Through reading and discussing the text and supplementary materials, engaging with relevant media, presenting in class, and completing writing assignments, students attain greater oral and written proficiency in German while deepening their understanding of German-speaking cultures. Offered in the winter semester only. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 233.
GER 245: Adaptation
Why do some stories get told and retold across time? What gives them their staying power, but also, how do they reflect the interests, values, and desires of new audiences? The course considers both the features that change with adaptation and the conditions under which adaptations occur, paying attention to the dimensions of power and privilege in who gets to tell (sell?) the story, how, and to whom. Students create their own adaptations of an existing German-language text. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 233.
GER 252: Life Writing
What does it mean to "write a life"? The course considers questions about the self-presentation of authors as narrators of their own or their families’ stories, the relationship between disclosure and literary invention, and the contested area between truth and fiction in (auto)biographical forms. They investigate how "life-writing" and "self-writing" can be a literary genre that presents issues such as identity, belonging and Otherness, memory, and trauma. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 233.
GER 253: Contemporary German Cultures
This project-based course engages students in current topics in the German-speaking countries. Topics may include: food, language, social diversity and inclusion, climate change and environmentalism, the legacies of imperialism and authoritarianism, today’s popular and youth cultures, and entertainment. Students work in groups to define current trends and place them in a historical context. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 233.
GER 262: Rebels, Radicals, and Realists: Social Change in German Cinema
This course examines the dynamic relationship between German cinema and social transformation from the early 20th century to the present. Focusing on key movements and filmmakers who have explored the intersecting spheres of art, politics, and social life, the course investigates how German films have both reflected and driven societal transformation. Students will study the radical innovations of Expressionist filmmakers in the Weimar era (1919-1933), the works of independent filmmakers of the New German Cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, the often-overlooked films of East-German cinema produced under the DEFA studio system, and the diverse voices of post-reunification Germany. The course highlights how cinema has responded to and influenced political shifts and social reforms. Conducted in English.
GER 271: Black Germans: Literature and Film
This course dives into evocative literature and film on Black Germans, featuring works by Black creators and others who bring these stories to life. Through novels, memoirs, poetry, essays, and films, students will grapple with nuanced themes of identity, race, and belonging within German cultural landscapes. Spotlighting artistic innovation and narrative craft, the course reveals how these works use storytelling, aesthetics, and creative expression to challenge, disrupt, and redefine mainstream visions of Black German worlds. Students will have the opportunity to take part in live virtual conversations with several of the authors and filmmakers featured in this course.
GER 319: Imperial Imaginary: German Colonialism Revisited
German imperialism extended across continents and timelines, linking late-19th-century overseas colonies in Africa and the Pacific with continental expansion in Europe. This course examines the complex history of German colonialism, focusing dually on overseas holdings (Africa, Pacific Islands, Qingdao) and the colonization of East-Central and Eastern Europe. Students explore how these distinct expansions operated through interconnected mechanisms and analyze how national identity, science, and culture justified colonial conquest. The course traces the legitimization of empire through literature and visual culture while examining local resistance. By engaging with literary works, historical documents, and film, the course investigates how colonial fantasies persist today and how artists and scholars engage in decolonial advocacy and contemporary debates on restitution. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 233 and one other 200-level course in German.
GER 341: Landscapes and Cityscapes in German-Language Media
This course examines the construction of space in various historical and contemporary German-language media, answering questions such as: What landscapes and cityscapes contribute to a collective identity and how? How do geographical location, cultural particularity, and historical context contribute to (sometimes contested) discourses on these spaces? How is the construction of these spaces impacted by the historical diversity of cultures in Central Europe, as well as by modern migration to the area? And how have German speakers conceptualized and colonized spaces in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas? Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 233 and one other 200-level course in German.
GER 350: Margins and Migrations
What is German literature? The course examines this question through the lens of writers who are difficult to incorporate into a national narrative. The first part of the course focuses on texts produced in the context of the German and Austrian empires in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, while the second part studies the effects of postwar labor migrations and globalization on contemporary German-language literatures. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 233 and one other 200-level course in German.
GER 358: Literature and Film of the German Democratic Republic
This course explores the ways in which literature and film reflect and refract the social and political experiments of the GDR (1949-1990). Topics may include coming to terms with the past, the emergence and problematization of new gender models, youth culture and generational tensions, the role of the individual in socialist society, censorship and artistic experimentation, conformity and resistance, popular culture and the artistic underground, international solidarity and notions of race, and industrialization and environmental concerns. Attention is given to the sociohistorical contexts of the examined works and the means and ends of literary and cinematic creations of (alternate) realities. Conducted in German. Prerequisite(s): GER 233 and one other 200-level course in German.
GER 360: Independent Study
Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program, a course proposal, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester.
GER 457: Senior Thesis
A capstone project, which may take the form of a written research paper, community-engaged project, translation project, or digital portfolio, is designed in consultation with the faculty advisor. Students register for GER 457 in the fall semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both GER 457 and 458.
GER 458: Senior Thesis
A capstone project, which may take the form of a written research paper, community-engaged project, translation project, or digital portfolio, is designed in consultation with the faculty advisor. Students register for GER 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both GER 457 and 458.
GER S33: Central European Theater and Film
A study of Hungarian and German history, politics, theater, and film since about 1945. Our focus is on the impact on theater and film of the cataclysmic social and political changes in Central Europe since the post-WW2 division of Germany and the Hungarian uprisings of 1956. Other seminal events bearing on this study are the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989, the reunification of Germany, and the subsequent rebuilding of politics and culture in the region up until today. In conjunction with our study of history, politics, drama, and film, students read an array of secondary sources on the social and cultural history of post-war Central Europe. Classes will be conducted as discussions, led by the Bates instructors and Hungarian, German, and other Central European artists and scholars. Students maintain a journal describing and analyzing the plays, readings, films, and other academic materials studied. Recommended background: one course in European studies, theater, politics, or German studies.
GER S50: Independent Study
Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course proposal, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term.