German Studies

Students majoring in the Department of German and Italian acquire the linguistic ability, cultural competency, research skills, and contextual knowledge to open up transnational perspectives and pursue their own personal lines of inquiry.

The specific learning goals of the major fall into three interrelated categories:

1. Language, Semantics and Rhetoric.

Our majors achieve proficiency in German or Italian (at the B2 level or higher).
Are able to function independently in German or Italian -speaking social and academic environments. Can identify how language is used and shaped for a variety of purposes and develop a critical relationship with media, including literature, film, the arts, scholarly writing, Internet resources and the press.

2. Transcultural CompetenceOu

Our majors develop and further “transcultural competence," that is, the ability to reflect critically on the world and oneself through the lens of another language and culture. To enable students to establish relevant, critical connections between German or Italian culture, their own culture and other academic fields, within the framework of contemporary intercultural society. To make them reflect on the processes and the challenges faced by any act of translation between languages. To make use of scholarly sources to inform and strengthen their own perspective.

3. Global Citizenship

Through study abroad and internships in Germany or in Italy, our majors  learn how to become global citizens and help build cosmopolitan communities. They learn to value and creatively include diversity in spite of the challenges it represents to community building. They are  equipped with the competence required to live in our increasingly more transnational 21st-century world, and to recognize their own transnational positionality.

 

Advisers: Joel Westerdale

Students who plan to major in German Studies or who wish to spend the junior year in Hamburg should take German in the first two years. Students enrolled in 250 (220), 300 (222) or higher-level courses should consider taking the Zertifikat Deutsch examination administered by the Goethe Institute and offered each spring on campus. The Zertifikat Deutsch is highly regarded by private and public sector employers in all German-speaking countries as proof of well-developed communicative skills in basic German. Students are also recommended to take courses in other departments that treat a German topic.

Students who enter with previous preparation in German will be assigned to appropriate courses on the basis of a placement examination. Students who receive a score of 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement test may not apply that credit toward the degree if they complete for credit 110Y, 144 (115), 200 or 250 /260). Students are also recommended to take courses in other departments that treat a German topic.

Requirements

Ten courses or 40 credits beyond the basis of GER 200

Required Courses:

• GER 161: The Cultures of German-Speaking Europe
• GER 250: Advanced Intermediate German: Environmental Culture
• GER 260: Advanced Intermediate German: German All Over Campus
• GER 300: Topics in German Culture and Society (topics vary)
• GER 350: Seminar: Language and the German Media
• GER 360: Advanced Topics in German Studies (topics vary)

Electives

Five further courses, of which at least two must be in German*

• FYS 156: Beyond the Hitler Channel
• GER 211: America and the Germans
• GER 241: Jews in German Culture
• GER 330: Literary Forms
• GER 230: Topics in German Cinema
• GER 231: Weimar Film
• GER 233: Nazi Cinema
• GER 339/340: Topics in Media Studies
• GER 291: Topics in the Culture of Science and Technology
• GER 299: Exhibiting the Visual Arts of Interwar Germany 1925-1940
• CLT 214: Literary Anti-Semitism
• CLT 296: Enlightenment

*Any cross-listed course may also count toward the major with the approval of the Department of German Studies.

Period Requirements

Students must take at least one course representing each of the following periods: before 1832, 1832-1933, 1933-present.

A 10-page paper may serve as fulfillment of the period requirement for any of the three periods. If the course is outside of the department, the paper must deal with a specifically German topic.

Courses outside the Department of German Studies may be counted toward the major, with prior departmental approval.

Advisers: Joel Westerdale

Basis: German 200

Requirements

Six courses (or 24 credits) beyond the basis (GER 200) of which no more than two may be in English.

Courses other than those in the Smith catalog taken during the Study Abroad Program in Hamburg will be numbered differently and considered equivalent to (and upon occasion may be substituted for) required courses offered on the Smith campus, subject to the approval of the department.

Courses outside the Department of German Studies may be counted toward the minor, with prior departmental approval.

Director: Joel Westerdale

GER 430: Thesis
8 credits
Full-year course; offered each year

Requirements

The requirements for Latin honors are the same as for the major, with the addition of a thesis, to be written over the course of two semesters, and an oral examination in the general area of the thesis. The topic of specialization should be chosen in consultation with the director of honors during the junior year or at the beginning of the senior year.

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