GERST 4100 - The Seminar

(LA-AS) Satisfies Option 1.

Fall. 4 credits.

Prerequisite: any German course at the 3200-3499-level or equivalent. Taught in German. The Seminar is a requirement of the German Studies major but is open to all students who have met the prerequisites. The course has a research component and is taught each fall by a faculty member in the Department of German Studies on a topic of their expertise.

P. McBride.

Topic: “Berlin Stories: Urban Life and History”.

Berlin’s central role in the twentieth century makes it a unique place for assessing crucial junctures in the history of modern Germany. This seminar will focus on key moments in Berlin’s tumultuous transformation over the course of the twentieth century—the Golden Twenties, the 1960s, and the years around 1989—to examine how narrative conventions and media affect the way we think and write about history and urban life. We will discuss specific ways in which the experience of urban spaces has shaped memory and narrative; the relation between history and storytelling; and the ways in which narrative can help articulate forms of subjectivity and modes of political engagement that are unique to metropolitan life.