Graduate Courses at the 32nd Annual Deutsche Sommerschule am Atlantik at the University of Rhode Island
www.uri.edu/iep/dssa
Session I: June 25 – July 13, 2012
GER 585 German Studies Seminar (3 credits)
Topic: The Pulse of Modern Germany: Science in Contemporary Culture
Germany isn’t particularly known for space research, so what has German astronaut Thomas Reite been doing up there lately? And to bring things more down to earth: Why should a German climate researcher spend nine months on an ice-floe in the Arctic Ocean? Going back to dry land: What prompted conductor Daniel Barenboim to set up a kindergarten for music? What is the science behind “one musical instrument to every child“? And why does the prestigious Alfred Wegener Institute bother to cooperate with German high schools?
These and other contemporary issues will be discussed in this cultural seminar. Through movies, texts and podcasts we will explore the current scientific climate in Germany, while at the same time not neglecting its numerous cultural aspects. We will look at newsworthy projects pairing scientific research with schools and universities, from eco-villages and eco-architecture to attempts to create a nation of musicians. Let’s take the pulse of contemporary Germany! All courses at the Sommerschule are taught in German.
Instructor: Ruth Nentzel (Berlin). Ruth has been teaching at the Sommerschule since 2000. She previously was a long-time faculty member at the Technische Universität Braunschweig.
Session II: July 15 – August 3, 2012
GER 586 German Studies Seminar (3 credits)
Topic: German Short Fiction from Goethe to the Present
In this course, we will read and analyze some of the most acclaimed German short fiction (Erzählungen) of the last 200 years, beginning with Goethe up to the present. Compiled by Germany's best known literary critic, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, the anthology "Die besten deutschen Erzählungen" (Insel Taschenbuch), the reader for this course, covers a wide spectrum of short fiction by some of German literature's most famous writers, including Rainer Maria Rilke, Alfred Döblin, Franz Kafka, Elias Canetti, Max Frisch, Heinrich Böll, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Bert Brecht, Siegfried Lenz, Peter Handke, Günter Kunert and Peter Bichsel.
In addition to reading, discussing and interpreting each story, we will analyze the historical and cultural underpinnings of the period through a variety of supplementary readings and documentary as well as feature films. All courses at the Sommerschule are taught in German.
Instructor: Monika (Moni) Hahn, is a veteran teacher of foreign languages at the Leibnitz Gymnasium in Wiesbaden. This is her first teaching assignment at the Sommerschule.
For further information, please contact Norbert Hedderich, Director, University of Rhode Island German Summer School, 401-874-4710, hedderich@uri.edu.
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Norbert Hedderich, Ph.D.
Professor of German
Chair, Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures
112 Swan Hall
Director, German Summer School
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881
Tel. 401-874-4710
Fax: 401-874-4694