GERM 201
Reisefieber: Germans On the Road for Adventure, Wealth, Escape Fall 2021
Division I
This is not the current course catalog

We will investigate potent myths of North America and Africa that fuelled German emigration, colonial projects, and adventurism. We will also look at inner-German travel stories, and, in a final segment, the contemporary refugee experience. Our travelers hail from diverse backgrounds and historical time periods: ranging from Glikl, a Jewish businesswoman in the seventeenth century, to fur trade and real estate tycoon Johann Jakob Astor, to contemporary emigrants and thrill-seekers. We will also analyze films and tales about the potent myth of the “Wild West” and noble Indians, promoted by nineteenth-century bestselling author Karl May, and their afterlife in contemporary movies.