UNIVERSITY OF COLOGNE International

Lecturer: Dr. Wulf Reiners / Eva Lynders

Course Nr.: 15304.0122

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

Location: virtual

The course provides an introduction to economic cooperation and its relationship with sustainable development in Europe and beyond. It concentrates on two main components. First, we will analyse the contemporary global architecture for economic cooperation and development and its main characteristics, including relevant actors, international organisations, treaties, and patterns in trade and development economics. Second, we will examine the European Union as an example of regional economic integration, its internal market, the framework for economic coordination and its external economic relations. The course will take up topical economic and political processes such as the United Nation’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development, China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the EU’s trade and economic partnership agreements. In this way, the course seeks to contribute to the understanding how economic cooperation and development are interconnected with environmental and social questions.

Lecturer: Thilo Zimmermann

Course Nr.: 15304.0126

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

Location: virtual

The course provides an introduction into economic theories, which are used to describe, explain and justify European integration. The course presents theories on economic integration and explains how they have applied to the case of the European unification process. Presented theories are for example international trade theories, such as Ricardo’s model of comparative advantage or the Heckscher-Ohlin model, fiscal federalism, public goods, as well as theories of monetary integration, such as monetary theories in general and the optimum currency areas approach. The course will set a special focus on the link between theories of economics and political science. Does economic integration presuppose political integration? To which degree do economic theories deal which questions of sovereignty and institution building?

The course will present economic theories and therefore also its mathematical equations. However, the focus lies on the description and discussion of these theories and how they have been used to explain and justify European integration. It is therefore possible to follow the course without previous knowledge of economic theories and methodology. The course is therefore addressed for an interdisciplinary audience with different backgrounds and might also be of interest for students of economics in order to debate about theories and their political implications.

Lecturer: Dr. Johannes Müller

Course Nr.: 15304.0121

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

Location: virtual

The European Legacy in the History of a Central European City

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 during the 19th Century and ask how the local events and experiences reflect Europe-wide 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 pre-modern city to a regional economic and industrial hub. 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, but all are brewed in the same European kitchen.
Let’s see, what defines the European Identity of Cologne in the 19th century.

Lecturer: Benjamin Naujoks

Course Nr.: 15304.0125

Date/Time: Tue, 14:00h-15:30h

Location: virtual

Can we learn from history?
On the one hand, Susan Neiman postulated in 2019 that one can “learn from the Germans” — with regard to the Erinnerungskultur (culture of remembrance) and Vergangenheitsbewältigung (coping with/working through the past) that is considered to be successful. Many experts share this view. On the other hand, with the onset of the pandemic, those socio-political developments that were already visible before are intensifying: quite a few observers speak of a global shift to the right.
This course therefore aims to provide an insight into various European Erinnerungskulturen and Vergangenheitsbewältigungen (as plurals) since 1945. So, the course follows three leading questions:
1. Basic knowledge: What is Erinnerungskultur? What is Vergangenheitsbewältigung? Which types and forms of both exist? And, what is remembered, especially where, how and when?
2. Practical approach: What concrete historical examples are there? How can these be critically classified, especially with regard to national or nationalistic narratives? In other words: What role can or do these play in forming (collective) identities and memories and do they also have functions of social integration?
3. Theoretical approach: How do both work? What forms are there? Are the forms of
Erinnerungskulturen as well as of Vergangenheitsbewältigungen dynamic or static?
The course aims to answer these and — most important — your questions by working on concrete examples in modern European history. In doing so, emerging competitions of memories will also be discussed in order to show that in most cases this concurrences can lead to relativizations, which are very evident in current developments. Special attention will be paid to the differentiation of written, oral and visual history.

Lecturer: Judith Berns

Course Nr: 15304.0120

Time/Date: Tue, 16:00- 17:30h

Location:             

Credit Points: 3

Today´s world, in both, private as well as professional/academic aspects, is characterized by fast changes, quick means of travel and instant communication. Physical distance has become less and less of an obstacle for interaction between people. COVID-19 was a push for digitalization and intensified digital communication across any kind of distance. Intercultural encounters, whether physical or digital, are very common, but the challenges that come along with that are often underestimated.
Universities are aiming to become more international and intercultural competence is considered a key skill to be expected by university graduates.
This course will not only provide knowledge, but more importantly help students to incorporate means to face intercultural challenges adequately in everyday life. A special focus will be put on academic challegenes.

Lecturer: Judith Rauscher

Course Nr: 14569.3504

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Mon, 16:00- 17:30h

Location:  virtual        

Credit Points:

Conventionally, gothic literature is associated not only with tragic plots of terror and death, but also with crumbling castles, medieval cemeteries, abandoned churches, haunted mansions, cruel aristocrats, and depraved monks. Although the United States can offer none of these settings and characters, the tradition of American literature “is almost essentially a gothic one,” according to Leslie Fiedler’s classical study on 'Love and Death in the American Novel' (1960). If the Gothic is a genre that focuses on “the past and immoderate, ungovernable passions” as well as on “culturally specific anxieties and tabooed desires,” as Jeffrey Weinstock suggests, what are the pasts and passions, the anxieties and desires that the American Gothic addresses?

In this course we will examine the Gothic in American literature and culture from the 17th to the 21st century. We will discuss (proto-)gothic elements in texts from the colonial period, the Frontier Gothic of Romantic literature and the Northern Gothic of Realist literature, examples of Southern Gothic of the modernist era as well as examples of Ecogothic and Urban Gothic in selected works from the postmodern and contemporary period. We will analyze short stories, poems, films, paintings, and other cultural artefacts, paying attention to the ways in which issues of class, race, gender, and sexuality play into gothic narratives and representations. We will also explore how the Gothic relates to other genres such as Romance, Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Course work (Studienleistungen) will consist of active participation (i.e. regular attendance, preparation of the assigned course materials, regular contributions to classroom/ group discussions) and occasional small homework assignments (f. ex. the submission of a short written response, a research tasks, or a thesis statement).

In this course, you will learn how to read literary and cultural texts in their respective historical, cultural, and genre context. You will learn how to perform close readings of texts and visual materials, how to identify prominent topics and cultural narratives, and how to analyze primary materials by using critical and theoretical concepts. You will also practice how to work with secondary materials (theoretical texts and scholarly analyses), how to develop a scholarly argument, and, finally, how to come up with an interesting thesis statement of your own.

Lecturer: Judith Rauscher

Course Nr: 14569.3602

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Tue, 12:00- 13:30h

Location:  virtual        

Credit Points:

When Alexis de Tocqueville came to the United States in 1831 to see firsthand the democratic system that had been established there roughly 50 years prior, he was impressed by the “equality of conditions” and the extent of political and civil liberty he found in the former colonies. At the same time, he criticized the “omnipotence of the majority” in the United States, warning that democracy as it was practiced in America had no built-in fail-safe to prevent the oppression of minorities. While Tocqueville’s 'Democracy in America' (1835/40) has thus often been read as one of the key texts in establishing the idea that the U.S. is a (relatively) classless society, 'Democracy' also betrayed a certain suspicion of the rule of the masses. 70 years after Tocqueville, the socialist magazine 'The Masses' (1911-1917) addressed itself precisely to these ‘masses’—here understood in positive terms as the working classes—in an effort to promote collective political action against the rule of a capitalist elite as described by Marxist analysis. Each in their own way, then, both 'Democracy' and 'The Masses' reveal the conflicting views that exist in American culture about what the U.S. Constitution really means when it begins by evoking “We, the people…”

In this course, we will discuss representations of masses, classes, crowds, and collectives in U.S.-American literature and culture. Drawing from theorizations of mass society, class relations/conflict, crowd psychology, and collectivity in political philosophy, sociology, and cultural studies, we will analyze how republican (the political theory, not the party), libertarian, socialist, and anarchist ideas about the ideal relationship between the individual, the people, and the state come into play in non-fiction, literary texts, film, and TV. We will examine the different versions/visions of democratic life that these primary materials depict and the role that gender, race, sexuality, and other markers of social difference play in these political imaginaries.

This is an advanced seminar. Students will be expected to be familiar with the basics of literary and cultural analysis. Students also need to be willing to engage with theoretical and philosophical texts.

In this course you will learn to work productively with theoretical materials and to engage critically with primary materials within their respective historical and cultural contexts. You will have an opportunity to hone both your analysis and critical thinking skills and you will practice formulating research questions and developing scholarly arguments.

Lecturer: Dr. Paul Silva

Course Nr: 14213.0212

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Tue, 12:00- 13:30h

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 3

Lecturer: Prof. Frank Schulz-Nieswandt

Course Nr: 14344.0003

Course Type: Lecture

Time/Date: Wed,12:00-13.30

Location: virtual

Credit Points: 3

The “Comparison of Health Care Systems” module sets out to compare health care systems on the basis of theories and typologies. The aim is for students to familiarise themselves with and be able to assess the whole gamut of health policy arrangements and identify examples of best practice.

The module takes an interdisciplinary approach, comprising various perspectives (including comparative welfare state research as well as social policy concepts that include economic factors).

Lecturer: Victoria Herche

Course Nr: 14569.3503

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Tue, 10:00-11:30h

Location: virtual

Credit Points: 3

This seminar considers the tremendous adaptability and rich afterlives of Mary Shelley’s iconic novel, Frankenstein, in such fields and disciplines as film, theatre, dance, comic books, and performance art as well as Frankenstein’s global impact for the twenty-first century across a myriad of cultures and nations, from Japan, Mexico, and Turkey, to Britain, Iraq, Europe, and North America. Thereby this seminar interrogates its sustained relevance over two centuries during which it has engaged with such issues as mortality, global capitalism, gender, race, embodiment, neoliberalism, disability, technology, and the role of science.

Please read in preparation for the seminar: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: or 'The Modern Prometheus': The 1818 Text (preferably Oxford World's Classics Edition).

This course is designed to practice oral and written academic skills. Students will learn how to describe, analyze and compare literary and cultural texts in their respective historical, cultural, and genre context and discuss them with respect to issues of race and ethnicity, class and gender on an advanced level. Students will practice how to perform close readings of narrative texts and cinematic material, practice how to work with secondary sources, how to analyze primary materials by using critical and theoretical concepts, and, finally, in preparation for the end-of-module exams, how to come up with an interesting argument and thesis statement of your own.

Lecturer: Prof. Wilfried Hinsch

Course Nr: 14213.0004

Course Type: Lecture

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

Location: virtual

Credit Points: 3

Lecturer: Dr. Maria das Dores Girão da Cruz,

Course Nr: 14501.1205

Course Type: Seminar

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

Location: virtual

Credit Points: 3

This seminar uses a historical-anthropology approach to explore the cultural encounters, clashes, dilemmas and negotiations, as well as representations of colonialism and post-coloniality in sub-Saharan Africa. It aims to address comparative colonialism and topics include: colonial representations, racism and the “civilizing mission”; the scramble for Africa and its consequences; African nationalism, resistance and independence movements; colonial and post-colonial experiences of violence; colonial ideologies and neo-colonialism; post-colonial politics and land; construction of memory and pre-colonials and post-colonial heritage; and contemporary dilemmas of modernities, globalization, and development.

Lecturer: Prof. Christiane Bongartz

Course Nr: 14569.2101

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Wed, 17:45- 19:15

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 3

This lecture class investigates models and ideologies as they inform multilingual education. Invited speakers will present on various contexts in which they provide instruction or conduct research studies. In our class discussions, we will explore to what extent monolingualism or alternative notions such as translanguaging inform language instruction in the examples chosen by our presenters.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Birgit Hellwig, Tobias-Alexander Herrmann

Course Nr: 14578.0026

Course Type: Lecture

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

Location: virtual

Credit Points: 3

The lecture series will be held digitally via Zoom.

The CCLS Lecture Series offers a forum to linguists from many different areas to present findings from current research. In this way, students will have access to up-to-date work done locally at the University of Cologne, as well as to work done internationally. Topics will cover a variety of languages, methodological approaches, and theoretical perspectives. Individual class sessions will be divided up in a lecture part and a question and answer session. Open to all interested.

Soon, you can find the full program on ILIAS and here: http://ccls.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/ccls-lecture-series.html

Students receive credit points (please check departmental regulations and study programs) if they provide the following “Studienleistungen”:

2 CPs: 3 summaries of lectures
3 CPs: 5 summaries of lectures

All students have to provide a short bibliography (at least 10 titles) referring to one of the summaries about the topic of the lecture.

You can send your summaries at any time during the semester. I strongly recommend that you don’t submit your summaries close to the deadline. However, you are required to submit (all of) your summaries by 11 February 2022, 11.59 p.m. Please send your summaries as a PDF document to ccls-info@uni-koeln.de.

Lecturer: David Kern

Course Nr: 14569.3304

Course Type: Seminar

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

Location: virtual        

Credit Points: 3

In this course we are going to explore the intellectual and imaginative pull of Science Fiction (SciFi), a vast literary and artisitc genre spanning across a wide array of forms: the (graphic) novel, the novella, short fiction, film and TV serialization. We are going to look at some of the the classics in the field to then move beyond them in order to think about SciFi as a vast archive of ideas, their history and transformations. We are going to trace how traditional tropes of/in SciFi writing (space exploration, technology, alien encounters, technological advance...) keep transforming to account for and speak to ever-changing social, cultural and political issues, concerns and anxieties. The majority of theoretical texts, short stories and digital formats will be made available to you in ILIAS. However, you should purchase (and read) your own copies of:

- Margaret Atwood: Oryx and Crake, 2013, Virago (Other editions and/or eBook are fine)

Lecturer: David Kern

Course Nr: 14569.3401

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Tue, 10:00- 11:30h

Location: virtual        

Credit Points: 3

Young Adult Fiction narratives by Indigenous writers powerfully "speak truth to power" and creatively tackle challenges and unresolved tensions, the "unfinished business" of colonialism in allegedly post-colonial settler states like Australia and Canada. In this course we are going to analyze the social and political criticism and activism of Indigenous Young Adult Fiction from Australia and Canada. We are going to explore how Indigenous writers transform the "YA" genre to craft powerful narratives of resistance to colonial power, and how Indigenous YA narratives critically contribute to ongoing debates about "decolonization". How do Indigenous YA narratives engender new debates about - and new responses to - the challenge to envision and imagine "decolonized" futures through writing? In this way, this course also functions as an introduction to post-colonial literary studies and theory.

A wide array of different material such as theoretical texts, short stories and digital content will be made available through you via ILIAS. However, you are asked to purchase your own copy (and of course read):

- Cherie Dimaline: The Marrow Thieves (2019 [2017]). All print editions and of course also eBooks are fine

Lecturer: Prof. Christiane Bongartz

Course Nr: 14569.2603

Course Type: Seminar

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

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 3

In this advanced seminar, we will discuss scenarios in which ALL education is based on the multilingual turn: what might happen in classrooms when language separation and monolingualism lose their ideological privilege? What changes and which problems can be anticipated?

Students will devise their own projects and provide detailed ideas for implementation of a scenario of their choice.

Class meetings will take place via ZOOM due to corona restrictions.

**Completion of a first assignment will guarantee your placement in this class.**

All further information will be available from the course syllabus in ILIAS at the beginning of the semester.

This class will be reading- and writing-intensive.

Lecturer: Prof. Silke Hackenesch

Course Nr: 14595.0402

Course Type: Lecture

Time/Date: Wed, 10:00- 11:30h

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 3

This introductory lecture consists of a lecture series and a tutorial which is mandatory for students in North American Studies wishing to complete their master module. The lecture will provide an overview of North American history, focusing on social and cultural history. Excerpts from primary sources and visuals will be discussed during the lecture. In the tutorial, students will discuss and analyze primary sources as well as scholarly texts with a specific question in mind, giving them a deeper understanding of major historical developments in North American history.

Lecturer: Prof. Silke Hackenesch

Course Nr: 14595.0403

Course Type: Lecture

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

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 3

This introductory lecture consists of a lecture series and a tutorial which is compulsory for students in Northern American Studies wishing to complete their master module. The lecture will address the sources of colonial knowledge in Europe and the United States since the Enlightenment and will highlight key thinkers in Postcolonial Studies as well as major concepts. The tutorial will focus on questions of research and writing.

Lecturer: Nina Dumrukcic

Course Nr: 14569.2202

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Thu, 12:00- 13:30h

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 3

This course will introduce you to the study of language and the core subdisciplines of English Linguistics (i.e. Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics ).
You are advised to prepare the weekly sessions by reading and revise the materials through exercises provided on ILIAS.
In order to obtain credit for this course you need to actively contribute to the formative assessments that you will submit in form of online exercises throughout term.

Lecturer: Dr. Paul Silva

Course Nr: 14213.0237

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Thu, 12:00- 13:30h

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 3

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: Prof.' Dr.' Alice Mitchell

Course Nr: 14501.1010

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Tue, 14:00- 15:30h

Location: virtual     

Credit Points:

Pre-requisites: Students must have basic knowledge in linguistics.

Language ecology explores languages in their individual, societal, cultural, and historical frameworks. In this class we will look at linguistic, social, and political practices within wider sociolinguistic contexts in Africa and beyond. Topics include language contact and language change, language and colonial power, language and sexuality, language of protest and resistance.

On a meta-disciplinary level, we will also discuss critical question on linguistic data collection and research methods.

Requirements for active participation:

1. Careful and thorough reading of the obligatory weekly texts.

2. Participate in Question Chain: Each student develops one question and answers another question on the obligatory text for each online session.

3. Design a Personal Linguistic History: Each student describes the language(s) and dialect(s) spoken in their family or home and interviews one relative.

Every student is required to carry out an individual 5 min videocall with the lecturer during the first week of the term.

Lecturer: Katarina Schneider-Bertan

Course Nr: 14387.1006

Course Type: Seminar

Time/Date: Thu, 12:00- 13:30h

Location: virtual     

Credit Points:

Pre-requisites: Students must be studying a major which is related to educational science

Critical Pedagogy is an interdisciplinary approach from North America, which is fed by various discourses, among which the British Cultural Studies in particular were pioneering. One of the main representatives is Henry Giroux, whose work we are mainly interested in. According to him, pedagogy is political and, in addition to critical emancipation, should contribute in particular to a democratization of society.
The main topics will be: school and society, pedagogy as cultural policy as well as neoliberalism and (right-wing) populism, whereby we will primarily establish theoretical references to Cultural Studies and postcolonialism.
The seminar is open to international students and will therefore be held in English. As part of the Virtual Mobility program the course will be held most likely online.

Lecturer: Prof. Kirk William Junker

Course Nr: 13980.2614

Time/Date: Wed, 08:00- 9:30h

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 6

Lecturer: Dr. Keith Wilder

Course Nr: 13980.2116

Course Type: Lecture

Time/Date: Fri, 10:00 - 11:30h

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 6

The Family Law class provides an overview to U.S. Family Law. In particular, the class covers marriage in general, marital property law, same-sex marriage, divorce law, and the right to an abortion. Family law is an area of law that is regulated by the individual states. Therefore, in-class presentations highlight the different state law approaches to Family Law issues.

Lecturer: Dr. Keith Wilder

Course Nr: 13980.1009

Course Type: Lecture

Time/Date: Fri, 14:00 - 15:30h

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 6

This course will explore the historical, theoretical and practical differences between the U.S. (common law) and German (civil law) legal systems. We will first look at the organic nature of the common law legal system; its historical development in Britain and as well as its influence on the U.S. legal system. This will be accomplished by discussing the structure of the U.S. legal system, as well as common law legal education, culture and courtroom procedure. Throughout this discussion, essential English legal terminology will be introduced and explained.  

Having surveyed the basic structure of the common law legal system, the course will then focus on specific areas of U.S. law. In this portion of the course, each lecture will be dedicated to a distinct area of law (for example: the law of torts, criminal law, contract law, family law, etc.) with emphasis on the common law / U.S. approach to each area of law and the legal English terminology used in each area of law.  

The lectures will be given in English. While particular effort will be made to make the material presented as accessible to non-native speakers as possible, students should still have a reasonable understanding of both written and spoken English.

Lecturer: Prof. Stefan Neubert

Course Nr: 14387.1000

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

Location: virtual     

Credit Points: 3

The seminar will offer an introduction to internationally influential debates on education in connection with the philosophical tradition of John Dewey (1859-1952) and the sociology of Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017).

Lecturer: Dr. Philipp Immenkötter

Course Nr:

Time/Date:

Location: virtual     

Credit Points:

more information coming soon