Minority Voices in Germany (335-0-1)
Instructors
Isabel von Holt
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-440: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
Starting out from the question: "What is German?" we shall enquire into changing understandings of national identity in postwar Germany following influential socio-historical changes from the influx of so-called guest workers in the 1950s up to reforms in citizenship laws acknowledging the changing face of those claiming Germany as their Heimat (homeland). In this context we will examine fiction, autobiography, poetry, and political and theoretical writings by and about "minority voices" in Germany in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Questions we will explore include: What is the relationship between autobiographical writing and identity? What is a "minority" and how might we conceive of a "minority" literature in a manner that is critical to identitarian claims of ethnicity, religious belief, gender, and class? What role does "minority literature" play in Germany?
Learning Objectives
To consolidate and extend written, reading, and oral German skills; to familiarize students with the socio-historical background and literature of migration in Germany; to introduce students to contemporary political and literary debates about German national identity; to encounter different interpretative approaches to literary texts; to have students engage with discourses on representations of alterity and identity in autobiography and fiction in the contemporary German context
Class Materials (Required)
Class materials will be uploaded to Canvas
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area