Additional texts:
Jenny Erpenbeck, Gehen, ging, gegangen
Yadé Kara, Selam Berlin
Katja Petrowskaja, Vielleicht Esther
Saša Štanišic, Wie der Soldat das Grammofon repariert
Yoko Tawada, Das nackte Auge (oder anderer Text)
Ilija Trojanow, Der Weltensammler
ODER ein anderer Text Ihrer eigenen Wahl (nach
Absprache)
DESCRIPTION
Herrlich ist der Orient
übers Mittelmeer
gedrungen
Nur wer Hafis liebt und
kennt,
weiß was Calderon
gesungen.
Wer sich selbst und
andre kennt
Wird auch hier erkennen
Orient und Okzident
sind nicht mehr zu
trennen.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, West-östlicher
Divan (1819, 1827)
World literature or Weltliteratur
as Goethe understood it looks beyond the national scope of
literature. In North America the term was traditionally
understood as the study of great works of European literature,
as part of a cultural canon of works every well-educated
individual should be familiar with. Goethe himself was
inspired by his study of the Persian writer Hafi while working
on his largest collection of poetry, the West-Eastern Divan or
West-östlicher Divan,
and looking beyond European literature. Writers who lived and
experienced more than one culture and language, such as
Adelbert von Chamisso or Paul Celan have been part of the
German literary tradition. Intercultural literature today
negotiates questions of belongings, identities, and borders
within a new language, an extension of an earlier cultural
memory in another language. With that intercultural literature
does not simply reflect a different cultural point of view,
but rather creates a new language, a discourse of negotiation
of place and space beyond the national.
This course takes a closer look at the intercultural
literature in Germany in the last decades. How is the
phenomenon addressed? How does the terminology change? What is
the socio-political background for the emergence of this
literature? Who are the authors, and how do they contribute to
the discourse on language, culture, and what it means to be
German today?
GENERAL
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon
successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
-Recognize and identify key concepts of intercultural
literature
-Recognize and identify
authors of German intercultural literature
-Demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills
-Collaborate and perform effectively in team activities
SPECIFIC
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon
successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
-Identify significant works in German from various periods
relating to aspects of intercultural encounter in literature
and film
-Discuss theoretical writings on aspects of intercultural,
multicultural encounter and and how attitudes have changed
throughout time.
-Demonstrate
knowledge of the social and political background of
Germany from the early 1960 to today
-Prepare a bibliography and compose a convincing essay (MLA
style)
-Demonstrate their German language skills by expanding
vocabulary through the reading of higher level German texts.
ASSESSMENT A variety of tools will help me to assess your
progress in this course: from short pop quizzes, response
papers, a book review, bibliography, a Power Point
Presentation, and a research paper with a literary analysis,
to a final exam, with a short answer section and an essay
question, all in German, will provide feedback on your
performance in this class. Since I am using a grading
software, students will have the opportunity to keep track of
their progress from week to week.
GRADING
2
Sitzungsprotokolle
10%
Oral presentation (Power Point Referat)
20%
Book review
10%
Article reviews, response papers
20%
Essay (schriftliche Hausarbeit)
40%
ASSIGNMENTS Prepare to read a lot for this course. You will also
have to present a PowerPoint, and write a book review and an
essay. All assignments listed on the syllabus are to be
prepared for the day they are listed. You will probably
spend about four to six hours work outside of class for each
class session. This includes preparing reading and writing
assignments.
*Power Point
Presentation You will prepare a Power Point presentation of about
20 minutes in length including a handout for. For this Power
Point Referat, you will present on a work (book or film)
that you are not reading in class. You will also prepare your
book review on that same work.
PREPARE YOUR BOOK REVIEW FOR THE DAY YOUR POWER POINT
PRESENTATION AS AN ADDITIONAL HANDOUT.
You will be evaluated on handout, content, grammatical
accuracy, delivery, and the presentation overall. Hints
for your presentation:
*Be ready to talk for at least 20 minutes,
run a test presentation in order to prepare for your actual Referat.
*You may not just read from the slides.
*Slides should be a backdrop for your presentation.
*Make use of photos, illustrations, maps etc. in your slides,
but do not overdo it. Refrain from sound effects or other
distracting features.
*Make sure that your presentation does not contain any
spelling or grammatical errors.
*Make sure that your handouts contains all important
information so it can serve all students in order to review
for the final.
*Response
Papers You will prepare a number of two- to
three-page-response papers on the readings. Please submit your
response papers to the course wiki, so that all class members
have access to them. Hints
for a response paper:
*A response paper is not an academic paper.
*A response paper is not just a summary of what
happened / of the main argument.
*A response paper is a reflection of your scholarly
engagement with the text.
*A response paper is not
a personal reaction paper of what you felt and thought while
reading the text.
*Think of the response paper as a review of a work in a
scholarly journal.
*What points of view representative of the time can you detect
in the text - what attitudes, values, concepts, and possibly
belief systems do you recognize?
*What is your personal opinion on the argument made? Is it
convincing? Why?
*How has this text possibly altered your own personal point of
view regarding your initial reading of the text and your world
view at large?
*Book Review
You will write a review of one additional work that we do not
read as a group.
Your choice of work has to be approved by me.
Your Power Point presentation, bibliography, and essay may
be on the same work.
You should count on a minimum of two to three pages for this
assignment (double-spaced, MLA
style).
Please
familiarize yourself how to write a review.
PREPARE YOUR
BOOK REVIEW FOR THE DAY YOUR POWER POINT PRESENTATION AS A
HANDOUT and publish in the course wiki.
*Article
Review
You will write at least one review of a scholarly article /
book chapter and present on tit briefly in class (no longer
than 5 minutes). The reviews has to fit on ONE page. List on
the top the bibliographical entry and make copies for all
class members. Please familiarize yourself how to write a
review. Consult an academic journal such as the German
Quarterly. Please submit your article review also on
the course wiki page.
*Sitzungsprotokolle
You will prepare minutes for TWO class session. The minutes
are due the following day (Wednesday) by noon at the latest.
Please submit your minutes / Sitzungsprotokolle to the course
wiki. Why the
early due date? Minutes are intended as a review tool.
They are of no help to other students if they are posted too
late. Minutes are prepared easiest and best by writing them
directly after a session.
*Essay
Your schriftliche Hausarbeit (essay) will
be a research paper on at least one work dealing with our
topic. You may also compare and contrast more than one work
with each other. Please discuss your essay topic with me.
Your essay should be
between 14-18 pages in length (MLA
Style follow this link to
view a sample heading and a works cited page, double spaced,
1-inch margins, 12-point font). You have to consult at
least ten secondary sources (scholarly research articles /
books). You may use internet pages as an additional
source, but articles from newspapers or wikipedia are
not scholarly research articles. Scholarly
articles accessed by means of the library web page are valid
secondary sources (research articles). If you are not sure,
please check with me. Submit your final essay via email.
*Final exam
There will be NO final exam, rather
regard your final essay as a cumulative learning experience
for this course.
UA
NONDISCRIMINATION NOTICE
The University of Alabama complies with applicable laws
prohibiting discrimination, including Titles VI and VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment
Act, Executive Order 11246, Title IX of the Education
Amendments of 1972, Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, the Vietnam Era Veterans Adjustment Assistance
Act, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990, and does not discriminate on
the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex,
sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status in
admission or access to, or treatment of employment in, its
programs and services.
DISABILITY
SERVICES
It is university policy to provide, on a flexible and
individualized basis, reasonable accommodations to students
who have disabilities that may affect their ability to
participate in course activities or to meet course
requirements. Students with disabilities are encouraged to
contact me in the beginning of the semester to discuss their
individual needs for accommodations. It is standard university
procedure that instructors require from students with learning
disabilities a letter requesting accommodations in compliance
with the Office of Disability
Services (ODS). If you have a disability, register with
ODS. Instructors are not obligated to provide academic
adjustments until they have received an RFA letter ("Request
for Accommodations" letter). To request disability
accommodations, please contact the Office of Disability
Services at 348-4285. After initial arrangements are made with
that office, contact your professor. This information refers
to all courses at the university.
STORMS AND
OTHER EMERGENCIES
The primary university communication tool for sending
out information is the UA web
site. Students should consult this site as soon as they
can in an emergency. Information on the course will be given
through the E-learning shell in case of an emergency.
SEMESTERPLAN
DATUM
VORBEREITUNG
28. 8.
Edward Said, Orientalism;
Hayden White, "At the Limits of the Concept;"
Karen S. Feldman, "Formal, Figural, and Historical: On the
Limits of Argumentativity."
4.
9.
TENTATIVE:
Library Session
Rafik Schami, Erzählungen
Jakob Arjouni, Happy
birthday, Türke! Watch BEFORE class:
Fassbinder, Angst essen Seele auf
11. 9.
Ermine Sevgi Özdamar, Die Brücke vom Goldenen
Horn
18.
9.
Watch BEFORE class:
Fatih Akin, Auf der
anderen Seite (The Edge of Heaven)
Fatih Akin,
Gegen die Wand (Head-On)
25. 9.
Feridun
Zaimoglu, Kanak Sprak, Koppstoff
2.
10.
Zafer
Senocak, Gefährliche
Verwandtschaft
9.
10.
Zehra Cirak, Gedichte
Watch before
class: Feo Aladag, Die Fremde (When we leave)
16. 10.
Watch before class: Kurzfilm Schwarzfahrer
May Ayim, Gedichte
23. 10.
Herta Müller, Heute wär ich mir lieber
nicht begegnet
30. 10.
Wladimir Kaminer, Russendisko
6. 11.
Watch
BEFORE class:
Dani Levy, Alles auf Zucker!
Olga
Grjasnowa, Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt
13.
11.
Olga
Grjasnowa, Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt
20.
11.
Abbas Khider, Ohrfeige
27. 11.
Fatma Aydemir, Ellbogen
4.12
Fatma Aydemir, Ellbogen
11 12 .
Abgabetermin
Essay (schriftliche Hausarbeit)
Abgabe 11
Uhr per E-mail
UND ausgedruckt
(als Hardcopy) in mein Fach legen. Sie können Ihre Arbeit natürlich auch früher
einreichen.
(You may submit your materials via email IF you make
personal arrangements with me and I approve it.)
SPRACHE
UND WÖRTERBÜCHER
LEO
Deutsch-Englisch-Deutsch Deutsches
Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, ausführlichstes
Wörterbuch zur deutschen Sprache Deutsches
Rechtswörterbuch ausgezeichnetes Wörterbuch, besonders
für Fachsprachen
