GERM 202
Hansestadt Hamburg Spring 2018
Division I
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

“Wenn Du in Hamborger Hopn platt snacken kannst, dann geiht immer eine Dör mer auf”. Hamburg, the second largest city in Germany (with 1.8 million inhabitants), always had a particular significance within German cultural consciousness. Part of the Hanseatic League since the Middle Ages, the Free City of Hamburg quickly became an important commercial center in Northern Europe and a prosperous city of traders and merchants. Located on the river Elbe and in close proximity to the North Sea, the city-state Hamburg is still a major port city which has long benefited trading activities and fostered an exposure to other cultures. Called the gateway to the world (because the port was for a long time the gateway to the Americas) and the Venice of the North (the city is surrounded by water and features more canals, streams, and bridges than Amsterdam), later on completely destroyed by the World War II bombing raids, Hamburg is a city of contrasts: infamous for its dialect (Plattdeutsch) as well as its red light district (St Pauli), renowned for its journalism (Der Spiegel, Die Zeit) and culture scene, famous for its culinary specialties, (the burger might have been invented there) and its sports culture (soccer, handball, basketball), Hamburg has a rich past and a multicultural present that this course will examine. In order to gain a deeper insight into the geography, history, and culture of this fascinating city, we will read the autobiography by Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi, novels by Uwe Timm, short stories by Yoko Tawada and Siegfried Lenz, listen to songs by Hans Albers, Wolf Biermann, Udo Lindenberg, the Hip Hop band Fettes Brot, and watch movies by Fatih Akin, Sandra Nettelbeck, Christian Alvart, Özgür Yildirim, and Leander Haußmann. Taught in German.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 12
Expected: 8
Class#: 3858
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: oral presentations, four 3- to 5-page papers in German, midterm and final exams
Extra Info: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis; not available for the fifth course option
Prerequisites: GERM 201 or equivalent
Enrollment Preferences: German majors
Distributions: Division I

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