German Language & Literature

Overview

The German program at New College offers courses at all levels of German language as well as courses and tutorials in literature and culture in English translation. Elementary and Intermediate German are offered each year. Advanced German courses present topics focusing on modern German culture and these topics vary from year to year. Students will learn standard modern German and acquire skills in critical thinking, visual literacy, cultural competency, German language proficiency, geography, and reading film as text. The German program also strives to provide students with exposure to a broad, inclusive range of cultural contexts in Germany by incorporating into courses material and themes that refocus Germanness to include diverse racial, ethnic, religious, and gender perspectives and experiences. 

Students doing an Area of Concentration (AOC) in German will complete coursework beyond the second year and/or participate in a program at another institution, especially one in a German-speaking country. In the past, New College students have accomplished this by completing summer Independent Study Projects (ISPs) and off-campus semesters at branches of the Goethe Institute in Germany. Students are also required to take at least one course in German history. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the German program, students are encouraged to take courses in other disciplines that offer courses in German culture such as history, art history, politics, international relations, religion, music, and philosophy. Students are also encouraged to do a joint Area of Concentration in German and another field. 

A concentration in German can lead to careers in a wide range of fields, such as political science, law, high school and university teaching, natural sciences, government, international business, and economics in both the United States and Germany. Students of German Studies learn many transferable skills that open up work opportunities in many areas, such as tourism and hospitality, advertising, public relations, foreign service, translation and interpretation, publishing, trade relations, journalism, or the start-up sector in Berlin, labeled the new “Silicon Valley of Europe”. A
student with a degree in German can also work as a diplomat, pilot or flight attendant, or travel writer.

Faculty in German

Susan Mailaender, Adjunct Instructor of German
Wendy Sutherland, Professor of German and Black European and Diaspora Studies

Requirements for the AOC in German Language and Literature

A minimum of ten (10) academic units beyond the initial language sequence.

¹

For students who have either completed the above sequence or the equivalent.

²

After the third-year bridge course.

³

In addition to the curriculum in German language and literature in the original, there is usually one course each semester on a German Studies topic that is accessible to students with no background in the German language. 

⁴

When the history course is not concentrated solely on Germany, the student can focus on Germany in their papers and assignments for that course.

Requirements for the Joint AOC in German Language and Literature

A minimum of seven (7) academic units.

¹

In addition to the curriculum in German language and literature in the original, there is usually one course each semester on a German Studies topic that is accessible to students with no background in the German language.

²

When the history course is not concentrated solely on Germany, the student can focus on Germany in their papers and assignments for that course.

Sample 4-Year Pathway

Sample Pathway for Transfer Students

Students must have completed at least four semesters of college German (Intermediate German II or the equivalent).

Study Abroad

Students are strongly encouraged to study abroad at universities in Germany and Austria for at least one semester in order to improve their level of German language proficiency and cultural competence.

Senior Thesis

The senior thesis is a culmination and showcase of student learning and can focus on any aspect of German cultural studies. In preparation for the thesis, students will benefit from taking individual and/or group tutorials in advanced German language, courses in German literature in the original and in English translation, and courses on German culture and history. It is recommended that students decide on their topic by the end of the third year so that they can begin preliminary work during the summer before their fourth year. Students will assemble a thesis committee made up of the thesis advisor and at least two other faculty members. The senior thesis should be no longer than 50 pages of text.

When the thesis is completed, the student will do an oral exam called a baccalaureate exam, which is a presentation of the thesis both in English and in German. The baccalaureate committee can ask questions of the student both in German and in English. The thesis and baccalaureate exam exhibit how the student can work independently, carry out research, analyze and synthesize material, present orally and answer questions in both English and German, and prepare a PowerPoint presentation. If the student is doing a double or a joint Area of Concentration, the topic of the thesis must include both areas of study. For example, if a student is doing a Joint AOC in German and history, the thesis topic must be on German history.

Representative Senior Theses in German Language and Literature

• The End of History? Far-Right Authoritarian Parties in Europe and the Syrian Refugee Crisis
• A Study in Nationalism and its Effects on Historical Writing: German Nationalism and the Investiture Contest
• Luciferian Proto-Individualism in Two Adaptations of the Faust Legend
• ’Eres tú, Antígona: Intertextuality and Representations of Authoritarianism in Two 20th-Century Retellings of Antigone
• Sie sind wieder da: The Return of the Far-Right to German Parliamentary Politics
• Access: Graffiti Through a Privileged Lens
• Of Mafia and Men: Observing Transnational Organized Crime Structures in the Federal Republic of Germany
• “There Goes the Neighborhood”: Racial Politics from the Good Neighbor to the New Jim Crow
• Madness in Arthur Schnitzler’s Therese: Chronik eines Frauenlebens
• The Individual in the Modern Age: Early Twentieth Century Vienna