Lecturer: Sara Zavaree

Course Nr.: 15304.0185

Date/Time: Wed, 10.00 - 11.30

Location: S34, Building 102, U1, -1.309

When Edward Said published his book "Orientalism" in 1979, it provoked polarized reactions. In his work, Said describes Western scholarship on the Eastern World as inherently imperial and analyzes stereotypes of the so-called Orient in Western literature. In this seminar, we will look at Said's original argument, his followers, and his critics. For a better understanding of Said's work, we will cross-examine other major authors of postcolonial theory. In addition, we will discuss how the concept holds up today by contrasting Said's theory with contemporary discourses.

Lecturer: Matthias Kliemann

Course Nr.: 15304.0183

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

Location: S34, Building 102, U1, -1.309

The period from around 1750 to 1850, referred to by historian Reinhart Koselleck as the „Sattelzeit“ (saddle period), not only characterises the transition from the early modern period to the modern age, but also carries this out linguistically with reference to a motif that owes as much to the increased mobility at the end of the 18th century in european societies as it does to movement and the spaces in which it takes place.

Based on a social as well as cultural-historical differentiation from other forms of pedestrian movement (walking, strolling), we will examine works of literature by Eichendorff („Memories of a Good-for-Nothing“), Müller („The Winter’s Journey“) and Heine („Deutschland. A Winter’s Tale“), before turning to a more contemporary take on the motif with Hape Kerkeling’s travelogue „I’m off then“.

In doing so, we will systematically move not only between literary-historical epochs and texts, but also between different forms of realisation of the motif (literature, music, film), so that we might come to a better understanding of one of the most elusive and at the same time characteristic literary figures of german literature: To the wanderer.

All necessary texts (both primary as well as secondary) will be provided via digital distribution (ILIAS).

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: Christine Nießen, Prof. Aria Adli

Course Nr: 14535.0224

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

Location:  103, 2.316

Credit Points: 3

In this course we are studying both formal theory and systematic principles of usage of null subjects and null objects. We take a cross-linguistic stance, drawing from literature on Romance, Germanic, and also non-Indo-European languages. This course includes practical exercises with corpus data, during which we annotate and analyze examples on null subjects and null objects, in order to better assess the findings from the research papers

Lecturer: Prof. Alice Mitchell

Course Nr: 14501.1010

Time/Date: Mon, 10.00 - 11.30 

Location:  103, S54

Credit Points: 3

Why do you speak the particular set of languages that you do? Why do certain languages have millions of speakers and others only two or three? Why is this course in English? Language ecologies explores the sociocultural, economic, and political contexts that influence which languages are spoken where, when, and by whom. We will learn about different types of multilingualism and how multilingual repertoires are negotiated both at the individual and societal level. We will also study possible outcomes of languages in contact, including new linguistic varieties, such as pidgins, creoles, and urban youth languages, as well as the phenomenon of language endangerment and attempts to reverse it. Colonialism, conflict, and inequality will be important themes throughout the course. Towards the end of the semester, we will take a look at digital language ecologies and the factors shaping online linguistic practices. Our final topic is    ecolinguistics   , which highlights the role of the physical environment and climate on language ecologies. The course has an areal focus on Africa and students will become familiar with language contexts in different parts of the continent.

Lecturer: Prof. Alice Mitchell

Course Nr: 14501.1008

Time/Date: Thur, 10.00 - 11.30 

Location:  106, S23

Credit Points: 3

This course provides an introduction to the study of language in its sociocultural context. More specifically, it addresses the links between language, culture, and cognition as reflected in the lexicon, grammar, and discourse structures of different languages. The course begins by considering (i) how we produce meaning through language and (ii) how linguistic meanings both shape and are shaped by cultural patterns of thought and behaviour. We then explore how different aspects of human experience, including space, time, sensory perception, and emotion, are expressed in diverse languages. We will also take a detailed look at how people refer to themselves and others in different languages and what these linguistic choices reveal about social organization. The final part of the course concentrates on the structures of everyday interaction and conversation styles in different parts of the world

Lecturer: Dr. Heinz Felber

Course Nr: 14501.1306

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

Location:  114, U1, -1.03

Credit Points: 3

tbc

Lecturer: Dr. Heinz Felber

Course Nr: 14501.1306

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

Location:  103, S54

Credit Points: 3

tbc

Lecturer: Sarah Dominique Busch

Course Nr: 14569.3304

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

Location:  103, S76

Credit Points: 3

Considered to be one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Virginia Woolf is also one of the leading (female) voices of the modernist generation. She is credited with nothing less than inventing a new language, a new style for writing prose and aptly critiquing the realist tradition that she did not see fit to describe this new moment in time: “On or about December 1910 human nature changed,” she wrote in one of her essays of literary criticism. Students will also engage with Woolf critically, reading her political views as a product of her time and her upper-class upbringing. Together, we will embark on a journey through Woolf’s literary Modernism, get to know the Bloomsbury Group as a space for queer-feminist utopia, and learn to perform close readings of her experimental writing style. Further, we will look at two adaptations of Woolf’s work that were created roughly 100 years later to understand her lasting influence on contemporary literature and culture.

Recommended reading:
Bartlett, Neill. Orlando.
The Royal Ballet. Woolf Works. 2015.
Woolf, Virginia. A Room of One’s Own. 1929.
Woolf, Virginia. Monday of Tuesday. 1921.
Woolf, Virginia, Mrs Dalloway. 1925.
Woolf, Virginia. Orlando. 1928.
Woolf, Virginia. “Street Haunting: A London Adventure.” 1927.

secondary reading will be provided in excerpts on ILIAS.

Students taking this course should have a high level of English.

Attendance is mandatory - students may be absent a maximum of 3 times.

Lecturer: Friederike Zahn

Course Nr: 14569.5204

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

Location: 103, S82

Credit Points: 3

What is culture? How are different aspects of culture mirrored in our conceptualisation of the world around us and how does it influence the ways in which we communicate? Employing prominent frameworks of intercultural communication, we will read and discuss case studies of (linguistic) encounters across cultural borders. Learning about different communication styles will enable course participants to understand, objectively assess resolve, and prevent instances of intercultural misunderstandings

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Christiane Bongartz

Course Nr: 14569.2101

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

Location:  100, Hörsaal VIII

Credit Points: 3

In this lecture class, we will examine how our perspectives, research questions, and evaluations might change when we approach every linguistic issue from a perspective of multilingualism. We will examine various models of socio-linguistic evaluation and critically evaluate how they bear on a variety of specific contexts for language use. A number of guest speakers will present their current research findings to add a practical dimension to the course experience.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Heinz Antor

Course Nr: 14569.3101

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

Location:  105, Hörsaal C

Credit Points: 3

These lectures will round off our series of lectures on the English novel in the twentieth century and take us from the 1960s to the present. We will specifically discuss postmodern traits in recent English fiction and emphasize the importance of historiographic metafiction, but we will also cover other important phenomena such as postcolonial writing, gothic fiction and others. Once again, we will refer to some of our authors' contributions to the theory of the novel as well as to the extra-literary political, social, religious, philosophical etc. background to the works analysed. We will read and interpret key passages from various novels. For preliminary reading I suggest John Fowles, The French Lieutenants Woman (1967), Julian Barnes, Flauberts Parrot (1984) and A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters (1989), Graham Swift, Waterland (1983), Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor (1985) and Chatterton (1987), Patrick McGrath, The Grotesque (1989), Ian McEwan, The Cement Garden (1978) and Black Dogs (1992), A.S. Byatt, Possession (1990), V.S. Naipaul, The Mimic Men (1967) and Half a Life (2001). I also recommend the relevant chapters in Malcolm Bradbury, The Modern British Novel (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2nd ed., 2001).

Lecturer: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Paul Silva

Course Nr: 14213.0232

Time/Date: Tue, 12.00 - 13.30 

Location:  100, 4.011

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: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Paul Silva

Course Nr: 14213.0212

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

Location:  100, 4.011

Credit Points: 3

This course will cover a range of topics in recent epistemology. It begins with readings on some of our basic representational states (esp. beliefs, seemings) and moves on to discuss when belief are justified and might constitute knowledge. We will examine various recent theories of knowledge with an emphasis on virtue-theoretic approaches. We will then turn our attention to other factive states in epistemology: ignorance, awareness, and understanding. We will examine the extent to which these states are related to knowledge.

Lecturer: Jun.-Prof. Dr. Paul Silva

Course Nr: 14213.0210

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

Location:  106, S23

Credit Points: 3

Lecturer: Prof. Thomas Widlok

Course Nr: 14501.1206

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

Location:  103, S58

Credit Points: 3

Extractive industries are the businesses that take raw materials, including oil, coal, gold, iron, copper and other minerals, from the earth. The industrial processes for extracting minerals include drilling and pumping, quarrying, fracking, and mining. These industries have been among the defining actors in shaping entire nations and continents both economically and socially. Mining has further led to the expansion of colonial settlement and has contributed to perpetuating racialized tensions through the continuation of violent practices such as dispossession, corruption, disenfranchisement, the demolition of sacred sites, and the destruction of the landscape and nature worldwide. By referring to examples from literature, cinema and visual arts from the 19th to 21st century, applying theories of post-colonialism, ecocriticism and energy studies, this course will discuss cultural engagements with the effects of the extractive industries and how literature imagines a (postextractive) future of energy.
It will be discussed in what ways these narratives from various genres, set in Britain, USA, Australia, African nations, or on distant planets, respond to the environmental and land rights issues intrinsic to these particular locations, and in how far they carry the potential to foreground issues of societal change and environmental destruction.

Lecturer: Hannah Klöber

Course Nr: 14524.2008

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

Location: 118, S264

Credit Points: 3

This course discusses the role of law in China for governing officials and governed individuals. Using the concept of authoritarian legality as a theoretical backdrop, the course introduces institutional structures and the political environment in China, to find “wiggle room” for citizens in administrative structures to claim their rights. The course discusses the role of the constitution for public law in China, the basic set-up of administrative law and the court system, and how these structures are influenced by Chinese characteristics. It will look into such topics as the Social Credit System, the applicability of data protection laws for state organs and land ownership in China.
    
Knowledge of Chinese is encouraged but not necessary

Lecturer: Prof. Anna Bonifazi

Course Nr: 14555.0114

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

Location:  114, 02, 2.05/2.06

Credit Points: 3

Penelope Brown (2009: 223) claims that “in the realm of language, repetition enters at the basic level of what constitutes a code”. In earlier years, Roman Jakobson (1966) considered “grammatical parallelism” a fundamental and pervasive component at least of oral traditions. Finally, John Du Bois (2014: 359) defines resonance or dialogic syntax as “the catalytic activation of affinities across [overt] utterances”, whether in dialogic or in monologic discourse. The seminar will explore these concepts and their intersection. Several language-use-based phenomena of repetition, parallelism – taken as repetition with patterned variation – and resonance will be analyzed in spoken as well as in written discourse across different languages. Core readings will be suggested at the beginning of the course.

Lecturer: Prof. Anna Bonifazi

Course Nr: 14555.0120

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

Location:  105, Hörsaal G

Credit Points: 3

Penelope Brown (2009: 223) claims that “in the realm of language, repetition enters at the basic level of what constitutes a code”. In earlier years, Roman Jakobson (1966) considered “grammatical parallelism” a fundamental and pervasive component at least of oral traditions. Finally, John Du Bois (2014: 359) defines resonance or dialogic syntax as “the catalytic activation of affinities across [overt] utterances”, whether in dialogic or in monologic discourse. The seminar will explore these concepts and their intersection. Several language-use-based phenomena of repetition, parallelism – taken as repetition with patterned variation – and resonance will be analyzed in spoken as well as in written discourse across different languages. Core readings will be suggested at the beginning of the course.

Lecturer: Prof. Oyvind Eide

Course Nr: 16130.0231

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

Location:  103, S91

Credit Points: 3

This lecture serves two different functions. On the one hand it gives the background for the exercise ”Media Transformation – Interaktives Erzählen in VR” and establishes a basis for a critical reflection on the practical work the students do in creating VR systems. On the other hand it is also a discussion about the role of different media, before and now, and how media relate to interactivity, agency, and embodiment which can be taken as an independent course.

The main part of the teaching consists of lectures and discussions, but the students are also asked to do some practical exercises in order to understand better some of the points raised and to help them clarifying their own positions.

The language of the lectures is English. Some questions and presentations from Students might be in German. Work can be submitted in English or German as each student prefer.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Ingvill Constanze Ødegaard

Course Nr: 14389.0013

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

Location:  210, 02, 2.B.11

Credit Points: 3

September 2015 the United Nations (UN) adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 17 goals were defined. The overall aim of the SDGs is to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls is addressed in SDG 5 and is considered fundamental for the development of sustainable societies. This seminar will discuss and analyze the importance of gender equality in developing sustainable societies as well as opportunities and challenges, in particular following the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing geopolitical tensions.

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Stefan Neubert

Course Nr: 14387.1000

Time/Date: Tue, 16.00 - 17.30 

Location:  118, S3.03

Credit Points: 3

The seminar will provide an introduction to internationally influential approaches to educational science in connection with the tradition of John Dewey (1859-1952) and the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (1925-2017)