Courses by semester
Courses for Fall 2025
Complete Cornell University course descriptions and section times are in the Class Roster.
| Course ID | Title | Offered |
|---|---|---|
| GERST 1121 |
FWS: Writing Berlin
Berlin is a city that reinvents itself by rewriting itself. In this writing seminar, we'll study a variety of literary, visual, and sonic texts to create a mythical map of the city from its emergence as modern metropolis in the 1920s, reduction to rubble in World War II, refuge for the disaffected in the 1980s, and rebirth in the 21st century. As we make our way through the linguistic, visual, and aural landscape of its ever-changing topography, we'll create our own stories of a mythical Berlin in dialogue with texts written by the displaced persons who breached its walls and navigated its illicit economies. We'll also become more critical readers and viewers, as well as better writers. Catalog Distribution: (WRT-AG) |
Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 1122 |
FWS: Love and Death in Vienna
Singing boys. Dancing horses. Waltzing debutantes. Those fortunate enough to live in a city where each day begins with a pastry and ends with a two-liter bottle of wine must live a charmed existence! Not according to Freud. After decades of treating the morbid Viennese, he concluded that human nature must be torn between two warring forces: a love instinct and a death drive. In this FWS we'll explore both sides of Vienna's enigmatic character, its life-affirming hedonism and its self-destructive nihilism, through the lens of narrative fiction on page and on screen. Along the way, we'll learn to read and view more critically by writing our way through the best literature and cinema of the multi-ethnic metropolis on the Danube. Catalog Distribution: (WRT-AG) |
Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 1126 | FWS: Philosophies of Violence: Conceptualizations of Force from Kant to Zizek |
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| GERST 1127 | FWS: Writing Sports: Beauty, Politics, Collectivity |
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| GERST 1128 | FWS: Catastrophe |
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| GERST 1129 | FWS: Phoniness and Awkwardness |
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| GERST 1170 |
FWS: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud
A basic understanding of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud is a prerequisite for participating in critical debates in the humanities and social sciences. Our seminar will explore key terms in the revolutionary models of critical analysis these thinkers pioneered: historical materialism, post-metaphysical philosophy, and psychoanalysis. This will mean articulating points of contrast as well as convergence. Discussions and writing exercises will focus on texts that created the discursive framework for critiquing society and culture today. Our method will proceed from the premise that critical reading, thinking, and writing are inseparable moments in the same operation of critique. The question that guides that method will be: Do alternative ways of thinking exist in opposition to the ones we view as natural, inevitable, or universal? Catalog Distribution: (WRT-AG) |
Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 1210 |
Exploring German Contexts I
Students develop basic abilities in listening, reading, writing, and speaking German in meaningful contexts through interaction in small group activities. Course materials including videos, short articles, and songs provide students with varied perspectives on German language, culture, and society. Catalog Distribution: (FL-AG) |
Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 1220 |
Exploring German Contexts II
Students build on their basic knowledge of German by engaging in intense and more sustained interaction in the language. Students learn more advanced language structures allowing them to express more complex ideas in German. Discussions, videos, and group activities address topics of relevance to the contemporary German-speaking world. Catalog Distribution: (FL-AG) |
Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 1230 |
Expanding the German Dossier
Students continue to develop their language skills by discussing a variety of cultural topics and themes in the German-speaking world. The focus of the course is on expanding vocabulary, reviewing major grammar topics, developing effective reading strategies, improving listening comprehension, and working on writing skills. Work in small groups increases each student's opportunity to speak in German and provides for greater feedback and individual help. Catalog Distribution: (FL-AG) |
Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 1776 |
Elementary Yiddish I
Elementary Yiddish I is the first in a three-class sequence that will enable students to meet their Arts & Sciences language requirement in Yiddish. It provides an introduction to reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Yiddish contains a wealth of embedded knowledge about Ahkenazi Jewish life, both historical and contemporary. In addition to language competence the course will build understanding of this legacy through songs, humor, holiday traditions, literature, and other cultural products. |
Fall. |
| GERST 2000 |
Germany: Intercultural Context
Students examine important aspects of present-day German culture while expanding and strengthening their reading, writing, and speaking skills in German. Materials for each topic are selected from a variety of sources (fiction, newspapers, magazines, and the Internet). Units address a variety of topics including studying at a German university, modern literature, Germany online, and Germany at the turn of the century. Oral and written work and individual and group presentations emphasize accurate and idiomatic expression in German. Successful completion of the course enables students to continue with more advanced courses in language, literature, and culture. Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS) (CA-AG, LA-AG) Full details for GERST 2000 - Germany: Intercultural Context |
Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 2020 |
Literary Texts and Contexts
Babylon Berlin is the most expensive and elaborate television series in German history. The neo-noir police procedural set in a mythical Berlin of 1929 was already a global hit when it entered its current, fifth season of production. This fourth-semester course is designed to improve your linguistic proficiency and cultural competency by investigating the innovative media that gave birth to the myth of Berlin as metaphorical Babylon: pulp fiction, the New Objectivity in art, sound film, and the distinctly German genre of pop music that conquered the cabarets and dance halls: the Schlager. Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS) |
Spring. |
| GERST 2040 |
Perspectives on German Culture
This course aims at sharpening your awareness of personal and cultural subjectivity by examining texts in a variety of media against the backdrop of cultural, political, and historical contexts. We will focus on improving your oral and written expression of idiomatic German by giving attention to more sophisticated aspects of using enriched vocabulary in a variety of conversational contexts and written genres. Materials will include readings in contemporary prose, newscasts, research at the Johnson Art Museum, and interviews with native speakers on a topic of contemporary cultural relevance. Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS) (CA-AG, LA-AG) Full details for GERST 2040 - Perspectives on German Culture |
Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 2567 |
Holocaust in History and Memory
This course explores the history of the Holocaust during which the Nazis murdered six million Jews. Topics covered in this class include the history of antisemitism in Europe and twentieth-century Germany, the origins and rule of the Nazis, the politics of World War II, the Final Solution and extermination camps, Jewish literary responses to the Holocaust, among other topics. Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS, HST-AS) (CA-AG, HA-AG, LA-AG) Full details for GERST 2567 - Holocaust in History and Memory |
Fall. |
| GERST 2700 |
Introduction to German Culture and Thought
Big names, Big ideas, and Big events are associated with German culture and thought: Luther, Faust, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Mozart, Beethoven, Kant, Hegel, Goethe, Einstein, Kafka and Thomas Mann; Enlightenment; World Wars and Reunification; European Union, and Migration and Refugees: In this course, we shall cover the broad spectrum of both the long tradition of German culture and thought, and examine the wide range of political, literary, sociological, and artistic topics, themes, and questions that are of urgent contemporary concern for Germany, Europe, and beyond. Guest lecturers will introduce you to the wide and exciting field of German Studies. Topics include: the age of enlightenment; literatures of migration and minorities; avant-garde art; philosophy, aesthetics, and critical theory; Weimar and War; Holocaust and its Aftermath; film and media; genres of literature: novel, novella, short story, lyric poetry, anecdote, autobiography; literature and politics; literature and the environment; digital humanities and literatures/fictions of cyber space. In addition, this course will introduce you to the techniques of critical analysis and writing. Authors include among many others: Goethe, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Adorno, Freud, Kafka, Kluge, Marx, Thomas Mann, Kracauer, Benjamin. Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS) (CA-AG, LA-AG) Full details for GERST 2700 - Introduction to German Culture and Thought |
Fall. |
| GERST 3025 | Making Futures |
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| GERST 3350 | Kafka in Context: Trials of Modernity |
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| GERST 3513 |
Introduction to Trauma Studies
This course provides an introduction to the theory of trauma, along with literary, artistic and clinical works that engage with traumatic experience. We will explore the enigmatic notion of an experience of catastrophe that is both deferred and repeated, that escapes immediate comprehension but insists on testimonial recognition. How does trauma require us to rethink our notions of history, memory, subjectivity, and language? Who speaks from the site of trauma, and how can we learn to listen its new forms of address? We begin with Freud's foundational studies and their reception across the 20th and 21st centuries, then examine a range of global responses reformulating individual and collective trauma in its social, historical and political contexts. Materials include theoretical, artistic, testimonial expression in various media. Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS, GLC-AS) Full details for GERST 3513 - Introduction to Trauma Studies |
Fall. |
| GERST 3545 | Imagining the Middle Ages: Films, Games, and Media |
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| GERST 3555 |
Comics as a Medium
What are comics? While it's easy to identify a cartoon, graphic novel, or comic book, it's hard to understand the wide world of comics. As a medium, comics are part of a global tradition of visual storytelling and sequential art, including premodern tapestries, early modern pamphlets, and modern children's books, political cartoons, and animated films. With a focus on the German-speaking world, we will examine a wide range of comics genres (e.g., fiction, history, autobiography, journalism, comix) and formats (e.g., books, strips, pamphlets, zines). Our discussions will address questions of taste, aesthetics, materiality, censorship, representation, and word-image relations. While we will primarily be reading and writing about comics and comics studies, students will also gain some exposure to making comics. Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS) (CA-AG, LA-AG) |
Fall. |
| GERST 3620 | Introduction to Critical Theory |
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| GERST 4100 |
The Seminar
Topics vary by instructor. Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS) (CA-AG, LA-AG) |
Fall. |
| GERST 4210 | Existentialism |
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| GERST 4224 | Writing for the Public: Adapting Academic Work for a General Audience |
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| GERST 4413 |
Walter Benjamin
This extraordinary figure died in 1941, and his death is emblematic of the intellectual depredations of Nazism. Yet since World War II, his influence, his reputation, and his fascination for scholars in a wide range of cultural and political disciplines has steadily grown. He is seen as a bridging figure between German and Jewish studies, between materialist critique of culture and the submerged yet powerful voice of theology, between literary history and philosophy. We will review Benjamin's life and some of the key disputes over his heritage; read some of the best-known of his essays; and devote significant time to his enigmatic and enormously rich masterwork, the Arcades Project, concluding with consideration of the relevance of Benjamin's insights for cultural and political dilemmas today. Catalog Distribution: (ALC-AS, HST-AS) (CA-AG, HA-AG, LA-AG) |
Fall. |
| GERST 4510 |
Independent Study
Undergraduate student and faculty advisor to determine course of study and credit hours. |
Fall. |
| GERST 4530 |
Honors Research
The Reading Course is administered by the director of the honors thesis. It carries 4 hours credit, and may be counted towards the work required for the German Major. The reading concentrates on a pre-determined topic or area. Students meet with their honors advisor about every two weeks throughout the term. Substantial reading assignments are given, and occasional short essays are written. |
Multi-semester course: Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 4540 |
Honors Thesis
The thesis is to be written on a subject related to the work done in GERST 4530. A suggested length for the thesis is 50-60 pages. |
Fall, Spring. |
| GERST 5070 |
Teaching German as a Foreign Language: Principles and Practices
Designed to familiarize students with current thought and approaches in the field of applied linguistics and language pedagogy. Introduces different models of foreign language approaches and discusses various practices for the foreign language classroom. Special consideration is given to topics such as language acquisition progression, planning syllabi, creating tasks and projects, designing classroom tests, and evaluating students' performance. Participants conduct an action research project. Full details for GERST 5070 - Teaching German as a Foreign Language: Principles and Practices |
Fall. |
| GERST 6224 |
Writing for the Public: Adapting Academic Work for a General Audience
This workshop-style course will address the question of how to draw on academic research and expertise to write for a non-specialist audience. We will discuss the benefits of public-facing writing; how to select a publication to pitch; how to pitch an article; and how to draft and revise an article once a pitch has been accepted. These skills will be developed through practice. Students will develop real pitch ideas to use as a basis for articles that will be drafted and revised over the course of the semester. We will discuss questions such as selecting appropriate venues, adapting to a new writing style, sourcing, citation practices, and communicating with editors. Full details for GERST 6224 - Writing for the Public: Adapting Academic Work for a General Audience |
Fall. |
| GERST 6310 |
Reading Academic German I
This course emphasizes the acquisition of reading skills in German, using a variety of prepared and authentic texts. The follow-up course, GERST 6320 , Reading Academic German II, is offered in the spring. |
Fall. |
| GERST 6365 | Marxism, Anarchism, Feminism |
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| GERST 6413 |
Walter Benjamin
This extraordinary figure died in 1941, and his death is emblematic of the intellectual depredations of Nazism. Yet since World War II, his influence, his reputation, and his fascination for scholars in a wide range of cultural and political disciplines has steadily grown. He is seen as a bridging figure between German and Jewish studies, between materialist critique of culture and the submerged yet powerful voice of theology, between literary history and philosophy. We will review Benjamin's life and some of the key disputes over his heritage; read some of the best-known of his essays; and devote significant time to his enigmatic and enormously rich masterwork, the Arcades Project, concluding with consideration of the relevance of Benjamin's insights for cultural and political dilemmas today. |
Fall. |
| GERST 6600 | Visual Ideology |
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| GERST 6655 | Media Philosophy |
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| GERST 6920 | Hegel’s Aesthetics: On the Ideal, History, and System of the Arts |
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| GERST 7530 |
Independent Study
Graduate student and faculty advisor to determine course of study and credit hours. |
Fall. |
| GERST 7531 |
Colloquium
The course consists of a bi-weekly workshop series focusing on a range of interdisciplinary topics and sponsored by the Institute for German Cultural Studies (IGCS). Speakers include prominent scholars in the field of German Studies (understood in a wide, interdisciplinary sense) and advanced graduate students, who discuss their work-in-progress based on pre-circulated papers. Besides attending the workshops, course participants meet with the instructor for two additional sessions devoted to pursuing the ties between the topics and disciplinary fields showcased by the speakers and the students' own work. The course is thus intended both as a survey of disciplinary approaches in German and Humanities Studies and as a framework that allows graduate students to hone professional skills (presenter and panel respondent, newsletter contributor, etc). |
Fall. |