University of Cologne International

Lecturer: Dr. Wulf Reiners

Course Nr.: 15304.0151

Date/Time: Mondays 16:00 - 17:30 - NB: First session will be online via Zoom!

Location: S34, Building 102, U1, -1.309

Short description

Investments on digitalisation affect personal, political, societal, environmental and economic processes across the globe and have enormous potential to radically change almost all sectors in the coming decades, from agriculture to industry and finance, from education to health, democracy and human rights. They will also influence the success of the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Digitalisation is understood to constitute one of the most powerful facilitators for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The course is an introduction to digital transformation and its relationship with sustainable development in Europe and other world regions. It provides an overview of the impact, the opportunities, but also the risks of digitalisation in three interdependent thematic fields: the economy, the environment, and the society. A particular focus will be put on the societal and political dimension of digitalisation towards sustainable development, for instance with a view to governance, privacy and security in the digital age, or the effects of social media on democratic practices. The course will take up topical developments related to the UN 2030 agenda for sustainable development, the EU Digital Strategy, the EU General Data Protection Regulation, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, or social scoring systems. In this way, the seminar combines perspectives from Europe with experiences from other world regions.

Suggested readings
German Advisory Council on Global Change, WBGU (2019). Towards our Common Digital Future – Summary. https://www.wbgu.de/fileadmin/user_upload/wbgu/publikationen/hauptgutachten/hg2019/pdf/WBGU_HGD2019_S.pdf.
The World in 2050 (2019): The Digital Revolution and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges. Report prepared by The World in 2050 initiative. International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg
OECD (2021), Development Co-operation Report 2021: Shaping a Just Digital Transformation, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/ce08832f-en
 

Lecturer: Bianca Sola Claudio

Course Nr.: 

Date/Time: Thursdays 14:00 - 15:30

Location: S34, Building 102, U1, -1.309

Although migration flows have been a part of Europe for centuries, the discussion on the issue of the migration crisis began at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015 as migrants primarily from Africa and Syria began to arrive in EU space with heightened frequency. The European border regime has often failed to meet legal, humanitarian and moral obligations to provide safety and assistance to vulnerable people seeking asylum and migrant integration has become a key topic in the European Union and local authorities. Whether it is called a “crisis” or perceived as integrated as a part of European life, migration remains at the core of European politics. 
In this introductory seminar we will explore the contemporary dynamics of migration flows to Europe and the effects of border regimes. Combining different studies from the areas of anthropology, law and social sciences the topics of discussion will tackle routes of asylum seekers to Europe and the humanitarian demands that come with it, integration into and diversity in the European labour market and society, as well as the anti-immigrant narratives of European populist right-wing parties.
 

Lecturer: Dr. Anan Alsneik Haidar

Course Nr.: 15304.0150

Date/Time: Mon, 10:00 - 11:30

Location: S34, Building 102, U1, -1.309

The module is intended to introduce the students to the permanent judicial organ established by the European Convention on Human Rights: the European Court of Human Rights. After providing a historical background on the Council of Europe and the European Convention of Human Rights in relation to the Court, the module focuses on the Court’s structure, jurisdiction, and the conduct of proceedings, providing an understanding of key doctrinal concepts that are adopted by the Court. It also considers a selection of the most important cases the Court has dealt with and which impact positively the development of international human rights law.

Lecturer: Dr. Thilo Zimmermann

Course Nr.: 15304.0136

Date/Time: Thur, 16:00 - 17:30

Location: S34, Building 102, U1, -1.309

What is European integration? When did European integration start? How did people try to modelize and legitimate European integration? Where should Europe, according to these theories, lead to?

This course provides an introduction into theories of European integration. We will analyse the origins and presumptions of the most important theories, such as federalism, neo-functionalism and liberal intergovernmentalism. The course will highlight the historic background on which these theories have been developed. Furthermore, it will be shown how theories of European integration combine theories of polical science and economics. It will be demonstarted that different presumtion of these theories do also lead to different understandings of what is the scope of European integration. Should Europe become a federal super state, or a loose economic confederation?

Troughout the course students will also be invited to compare European integration to other processes of regional integration, such as in Latin America, the Arab world, in Africa (African Union), Asia (e.g. ASEAN) and especially the historical evolution of the United States political system.

Finally, the course will give an outlook on current topics in European integration (such as Brexit or the consequences of the Corona pandemic), how do the different theories analyse these challanges?

Lecturer: Dr. Johannes Müller

Course Nr.: 15304.0152

Date/Time: Wed, 16:00-17:30h

Location: S34, Building 102, U1, -1.309

Historiography tends to focus its objects like through an optical device: From bird’s eye view World History and panoramic European History, to macroscopic National History, to microscopic Local History. However, these levels are, of course, interconnected and overlapping. 
In this course we will look at the historical trajectory of Cologne from the rise of National Socialism and Adolf Hitler to the End of the Millennium within the troublesome History of Europe from the Second World War throughout the Cold War period until the elusive “end of history” at the turn of the millennia. We will ask how the local events and experiences reflect Europe-wide or even global historical processes, in which ways they are interconnected with overarching transnational trends, and if and how they are comparable or contrasting to contemporary developments in urban centers elsewhere in Europe. In doing so, we will recreate the history of Cologne from a Prussian Centre in Weimar Germany’s “far West” to the Federal Republic’s fourth biggest City and Rhineland metropolis in reunified Germany. But at the same time, we will identify the European legacy within this development and outline the specific “Rhenish” variant of the European Identity in Cologne. 
As we will try to argue during this course: European Identity – as any identity in historical perspective – is polymorphic and a result of local, regional, national and transnational experiences. But it relates to a core of common historical references, common developments and trends, of which the particular local historical mix is one possible combination. Some European Identities are more spicy than others, some are less contoured than others. 
Let’s see, what defines the European Identity of Cologne during the 20th century, or as Eric Hobsbawm put it, during the “Age of Extremes”.

Reading Recommendations:
Eric J. Hobsbawm: The Age of Empire (1975-1914), London (1962/1975), London 1988
Konrad Jarausch: Out of Ashes. A new History of Europe in the Twentieth Century, Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 2015
Carl Dietmar/Werner Jung: Köln. Die große Stadtgeschichte, Essen, 2015
Horst Matzerath: Köln in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus.  Geschichte der Stadt Köln Bd. 12, Greven, Köln, 2009
Werner Schäfke: Köln nach 1945. Die Geschichte unserer Gegenwart, Regionalia, Köln, 2017
 

Lecturer: Dr. Paula Vosse

Course Nr.: 15304.0154

Date/Time: Tues, 16:00-17:30h

Location: S34, Building 102, U1, -1.309

The international view of Germany is constituted by the media. The same media, text or image, sometimes carry different meanings domestically. In the seminar we will deal with texts and&nbsp images that have helped shape the identity of this country from the inside and outside. By approaching different perspectives, we work on a critical approach to media production and impact. We also engage critically and theoretically with the concept of "identity" to examine how its structure changes in relation to individuals or a country. We start with the year 1900 and end in the present. Each session examining a text and an image that can contrast or complement each other. The aim of the seminar is to acquire a multi-perspective view of the power of text and images.

All core courses listed under Basic Module 1 may be chosen as an elective course as well (granted that three BM1 courses have been selected as BM1 core courses).

The offers of the Department for German as a Foreign Language may be counted towards the Elective Module, if the requirements for the Basic Module 2 have been fulfilled already. 

Semester German course (9CP)

Complementary German courses (3CP, depending upon availability)

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Susanne Gruß

Course Nr: 14569.3102

Time/Date: Mon,14:00- 15:30

Location:  105, Hörsaal C

Credit Points: tbc

With populist, politicised uses of terms like ‘gender(ed) language’, ‘identity politics’ or ‘cancel culture’, feminism, gender and queer studies are once again back in the public eye. In this lecture, we will look at this complex field and its diverse branches and ‘isms’ from a historicising perspective informed by cultural studies. The lecture will provide a historical overview of the origins of (Western) feminism (e.g. in Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792), the different ‘waves’ of the feminist movement (with a strong focus on the second wave and the ways in which it has been criticised as ‘white’ feminism), and the formation of gender and queer studies in the UK and the US. It will then take into account Black feminism, postcolonial feminism, masculinity studies, ecofeminism, and other current discussions such as intersectionalism or the transgender debate. Each session will provide close readings of formative texts and their cultural and ideological contexts.

Due to limited number of participants, it is mandatory to show up at the first session in order to secure your spot.

Lecturer: Jun.Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher

Course Nr: 14569.3101

Time/Date: Tues,14:00- 15:30

Location:  105, Hörsaal C

Credit Points: tbc

This lecture will take place at the university in the designated room. On selected dates, the lecture will take place in a hybrid format or via Zoom.

„Prediction is the business of prophets, clairvoyants, and futurologists. It is not the business of novelists. A novelist`s business is lying. Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive.” (Ursula K. Le Guin)

In the above quotation from the introduction to the ten-year anniversary edition of her sf classic The `Left Hand of Darkness` (1969), Ursula K. Le Guin famously insists that science fiction neither describes what will be, nor what is. Rather, she suggests, it sets up “a thought experiment” that not only asks the crucial question of who we are—whether as individuals, society, or humanity in general—but also who we could be, who we want to be, and how our answers to these questions matter. One reasons why thought experiments of the kind speculative fiction encourages matter, then, is because the questions they raise and the answers they provide are the same questions that shape our everyday actions and decisions along with our understanding of who we are in the world. It is with this view of literary speculations as technologies of the self and as technologies of the social that this lecture will examine North American speculative fictions across different centuries and genres.

This lecture provides an overview over the history, politics, and poetics of North American speculative fiction from the 19th to the 21st century. Starting with an overview of the many origins of what would later be called science fiction or speculative fiction, it will examine the works of authors such as Jerome Holgate, Mary Griffith, Edgar Allan Poe, Annie Denton Cridge, Martin Delany, Pauline Hopkins, Sutton Griggs, Mary E. Bradley Lane, Edward Bellamy, Jack London, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Judith Merril, Theodore Sturgeon, Lois McMaster Bujold, Ursula Le Guin, Joanna Russ, Gerald Vizenor, Samuel R. Delany, Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, Joan Sloncewski, Stephen Graham Jones, Karen Tei Yamashita, Louise Erdrich, Kim Stanley, Robinson, Lan Samantha Chang, Cherie Dimaline and others within their respective historical and cultural contexts and in relation to the literary and political movements of their time (i.e. Gothic literature, abolition, utopian literature, first wave feminism, Realism, socialist literature, the Golden Age of SF, New Wave SF, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, Second Wave Feminism, Postmodernism, the Environmental Movement, Afrofuturism, Indigenous Futurisms etc.).

Please note: Participants are required to confirm their spot in the course by completing an ILIAS survey by the end of the first week of classes.

Lecturer: Dr. Keith Wilder

Course Nr: 13980.1009

Time/Date: Thur,14:00- 15:30

Location:  105, Hörsaal A2

Credit Points: tbc

Die Vorlesung „ Introduction to US Law and Terminology “ hat sich die Untersuchung historischer, theoretischer und praktischer Unterschiede zwischen dem US-Amerikanischen Common Law System und dem deutschen Rechtssystem zum Ziel gesetzt.

Der Kurs lässt sich in drei wesentliche Stränge unterteilen. Zu Beginn werden mittels anregender Diskussionen ausführliche Erkenntnisse über die natürliche Struktur des Common Law Systems, die historische Entwicklung in Großbritannien und seinen prägenden Einfluss auf das US-Amerikanische Rechtssystem erarbeitet. Hierbei wird stets auf die Vermittlung eines grundlegenden Vokabulars in Englisch als internationale Rechtssprache geachtet.
Im Anschluss an die Einführung in die Strukturen des Common Law Systems liegt der Fokus der Vorlesung dann auf der Vermittlung von Grundkenntnissen in speziellen US-Amerikanischen Rechtsgebieten – wie beispielsweise Deliktrecht, Strafrecht, Vertragsrecht, Familienrecht und Eigentumsrecht. Schließlich konzentriert sich die Vorlesung auf die Verfassung der Vereinigten Staaten und die einzigartige Rolle des Bundesgerichtshofs. In Verbindung damit werden Themen wie Presse- und Meinungsfreiheit, die Trennung von Staat und Kirche, das Recht auf Privatsphäre, die Rechtsstaatlichkeit, grausame und unübliche Bestrafungen und die Todesstrafe vorgestellt und diskutiert.

Die Vorlesung wird ausschließlich auf Englisch gehalten. Trotz ständiger Bemühungen seitens des Lehrstuhls, möglichst alle vorlesungsrelevanten Materialien für nicht Muttersprachler auch in deutscher Sprache bereitzustellen, ist ein fundiertes Verständnis der englischen Sprache unabdingbar.

Der erfolgreiche Besuch der Vorlesung mit bestandener Abschlussprüfung wird als Fremdsprachenkompetenznachweis gemäß §3 Abs. 4 StudPrO anerkannt.

For more information on the Certificate of United States' Law (CUSL) see here:
https://us-recht.jura.uni-koeln.de/us-recht-certificate-in-us-law

For information on the final course assessment see here: https://us-recht.jura.uni-koeln.de/us-recht-certificate-in-us-law/pruefungen/pruefungstermine

Lecturer: Katarina Schneider-Bertan

Course Nr: 14387.0018

Time/Date: Thur,12:00- 13:30

Location:  214, Seminarraum

Credit Points: tbc

In this course we will look at the American approach of Critical Pedagogy, which is closely related to the discourses of Cultural Studies & Postcolonial Studies. Thus, among other things, we will engage with the idea of pedagogy as cultural politics as well as explore the possibilities of a pedagogy of radical democracy. A certain affinity for theory and willingness to read is helpful.

The seminar is open to international students and will therefore be possibly held in English.

Due to limited number of participants, it is mandatory to show up at the first session in order to secure your spot.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Christiane Bongartz

Course Nr: 14569.2103

Time/Date: Thur,12:00- 13:30

Location:  100, Aula 2

Credit Points: tbc

In this lecture class, our focus will be on multilingualism and practices of language entanglement, variously known as 'translanguaging,' 'code switching,' or 'code mixing.' We will compare and contrast such notions and discuss communities and practices that do not presuppose/require or rely on the separation of languages.
Students will provide a detailed summary of one to the class sessions for credit.

Lecturer: Dr. Andreas Konietzko

Course Nr: 14569.2102

Time/Date: Tues,14:00- 15:30

Location:  100, Hörsall XII

Credit Points: tbc

In this lecture, we will cover the most prominent morphological theories. We will look at different phenomena in the domains of inflexion and word formation and discuss how different morphological theories account for them.

Please note: If you miss the first session without a valid excuse you will loose your spot.

Lecturer: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Paul Silva

Course Nr: 14213.0212

Time/Date: Wed,12:00- 13:30

Location:  100, Seminarraum 4.06

Credit Points: tbc

In the first part of this course our main interest will be in philosophical questions about the nature of time, the identity of persons across time, and the conditions for free will. In the second part of this course our main interest will be in questions about the nature of human knowledge: what is knowledge, what are our sources of knowledge, and how–if at all–we can show that we have knowledge and deal with the problem of skepticism. Throughout the course there will be various introductory lectures on inductive and deductive logic.

Lecturer: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Paul Silva

Course Nr: 14213.0242

Time/Date: Thur,12:00- 13:30

Location:  105, Hörsaal D

Credit Points: tbc

We will examine a range of topics/ problems/ issues in contemporary epistemology. These will include the puzzling nature of human knowledge, the lottery paradox, the preface paradox, the problem of epistemic circularity, the nature of belief and its relation to credences, faith, and pragmatic encroachment.

Lecturer: Dr. Angelika Mietzner

Course Nr: 14501.2010

Time/Date: Mon,14:00- 15:30

Location:  103, Seminarraum S54

Credit Points: tbc

This course provides an introduction to language in its sociocultural context. More specifically, it addresses the links between language, culture, and cognition as reflected in the lexicon, grammar, and discourse structure of different languages. Topics to be discussed include the linguistic categorisation of colour, number, sensory experience, and spatial orientation across languages. We will also learn about cross-cultural variation in verbal and nonverbal communicative practices by considering ritualized speech behaviour, (im)politeness strategies, and conversational styles in different parts of the world.