Winter 2024
ELTS C101XP – Between Los Angeles and Europe: New Approaches to Transatlantic European Studies
Instructor: David D. KimExamination of rich migration history between Los Angeles and Europe with view to German-speaking world. Overview of transatlantic cultural, literary, and historical studies back to colonial era. Targeted investigation of complex transatlantic relations between Angelenos and German immigrants during 20th century, including World War II. Students apply newly acquired cultural, historical, and political knowledge to current transatlantic conversations. Offers innovative, scholarly, and praxis-oriented approaches to transatlantic European studies through integration of lesson into community-engaged projects. Illumination of limits of monolingual or state-centric configurations of disciplinary knowledge in addition to exemplifying interdisciplinary, multilingual, and transnational studies of Europe, in general, and Germany, in particular.
French 101: Advanced Expository Writing: Techniques of Argumentation
Instructor: Laurence Denié-HigneyFrench 101 will teach students to write strong argumentative essays in French while discovering the UNESCO French and Francophone Intangible Cultural Heritage. We will carefully read and study texts that will help students develop their writing skills and effectively communicate their ideas. In that aim, they will learn how to write a well-structured introduction in French, how to defend their position while taking into account counter-arguments, and how to effectively conclude their essays. Students will develop their vocabulary, and learn how to use French expressions to introduce examples, causes and consequences, comparisons, and concessions.
French 108: Advanced Practical Translation from French to English
Instructor: Dominic ThomasBi-weekly translations of literary and journalistic texts, technical texts (EU policy), focusing on transcultural issues such as diversity and translation, environmental issues, literature, architecture, and political discourse. Authors include: Annie Ernaux, Élisa Shua Dusapin, Léonora Miano, Anna Moï, Faïza Guène, Édouard Louis, Alain Mabanckou, Abnousse Shalmani, Nathalie Sarraute, Louis-Philippe Dalembert, and Philippe Rahm. Taught in English
French 116 – Studies in Renaissance French Culture and Literature
Instructor: Raphaëlle BurnsTaught in French. Study of Renaissance French culture and literature, including la Pléiade and 16th-century poetry, linguistic and poetic revolution, novel and early prose, and late French humanism. May be repeated for credit with topic change.
French 142 – Francophone Cinema
Instructor: Dominic ThomasStudy of Francophone (Africa, Caribbean, postcolonial communities in France) cinema and cinematographers in generic, thematic, and sociocultural aspects. May be repeated for credit with topic change.
French 16 – Society and Self in Early Modern France
Instructor: Raphaëlle BurnsRole of religion, politics, and sociability in constructing self and understanding its relation with society in early modern France. Development of students’ critical thought and knowledge of French and European intellectual tradition.
German 104 – German Film in Cultural Context, 1945 to Present
Instructor: Kalani MichellSurvey of German film since 1945 in its thematic and stylistic diversity. How did German filmmakers grapple with aftermath of World War II and Holocaust, economic recovery, Cold War and division of Germany, reunification, and growth of minority communities? May be repeated twice for credit with topic change.
German 115: 19th-Century German Philosophy
Instructor: John McCumberThis course will explore the difficult and complex, but enormously influential, development of philosophy from the Critical Philosophy of Kant through the Absolute Idealism of Hegel and the post-Hegelians Kierkegaard and Marx, ending with a brief examination of Nietzsche. In addition to clarifying some of the views of these very different philosophers, we will examine the reasons they have for those views.
All readings in English; papers may be written in German or French with permission of instructor.
German 141 – Current Topics in Germanic Linguistics
Instructor: Christopher StevensEnforced requisite: course 152. Taught in English with German proficiency required. In-depth investigation of one topic in field of Germanic linguistics, such as phonetics and phonology, morphology and syntax, semantics and pragmatics, social and spatial variation (i.e., sociolinguistics and dialectology of German), or history of German.
German 155 – Advanced German Language through Cultural History and Current Affairs
Instructor: Yasemin YildizTaught in German. Advanced German language course that juxtaposes cultural history with current affairs to teach complex speaking and writing skills of interpretation, analysis, and criticism. Readings may include selections from Luther, Heine, Freud, and current authors. Students create their own interactive media presentations.
German 61A: Modern Metropolis: Berlin
Instructor: Yasemin YildizCultural, political, architectural, and urban history of one of most vibrant and significant cities in world. Exploration of city over 800 years, using innovative mapping tools to understand how Berlin evolved from fortified mercantile town into global city. Taught in English.
Italian 110 – Dante in English
Instructor: Massimo CiavolellaClose study of one of world’s greatest literary geniuses, particularly of his masterpiece, Divine Comedy, the archetypal medieval journey through the afterworld.
Italian 123 – Modern Italian Cultural Studies
Instructor: Nina BjekovicReading, research, and writing on various cultural aspects of modern and contemporary Italy. Examination of contemporary Italian food culture, fashion and design, photography and visual arts, mass media, politics, music, and sports.
Italian 50B: Masterpieces of Italian Literature in English: Enlightenment to Postmodernity
Instructor: Robert RushingIn this class, we will look at three kinds of modern Italian masterpieces: the music of the 19th century (three of the great operas of Giuseppe Verdi, which combine poetry, theater, and music), the literature of the 20th century (three of the strange and beautiful novels of Italo Calvino), and the cinema of the 21st century (three films by the astonishing young talent of Alice Rohrwacher). Class will focus both on appreciation (understanding why these three artists have made such an impression and why these really are “masterpieces”), critical analysis (understanding their historical and political context, their ideology, where they sometimes fall short), and theory (how do these arts speak to an inform each other?). No knowledge of Italian is required; all works are either subtitled or in translation.
SCAND C180: Literature & Scandinavian Society/Scandinavian Legend Traditions
Instructor: Kimberly BallLegends are traditional stories about extraordinary events, told as true, or, at least, believed by some to be true. Subjects range from the numinous (angels, ghosts, elves) to the horrifying (witches, werewolves, rat pizza) to the humorous, evoking wonder in various forms. They are told in a conversational mode by ordinary persons in everyday settings, and give rise to debates over the limits of knowledge, the merits of skepticism vs. faith, and the nature of reality. This course will explore Scandinavian legend traditions in their cultural and historical contexts, as represented in oral narratives collected by folklorists in the 19th and early-20th centuries, as well as more recent “urban legends” transmitted via electronic media, with readings of primary legend texts as well as secondary scholarship. SCAND C180 is a variable topics course that may be repeated for credit with topic change. Taught in English.
Scandinavian 143C: Scandinavian Crime Literature
Instructor: Patrick WenHow does the “nonfiction” true crime genre inform the traditional crime “fiction” narrative and vice versa? Do these accounts of crimes of power and crimes of desire reveal anything about culture, identity and ideology? This course will address these questions from a Scandinavian perspective, exploring recent crime narratives from Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the American Midwest. Taught in English.
Scandinavian 165B: Vikings on Film
Instructor: Kimberly BallVikings were medieval raiders, traders, and pioneers who journeyed from Scandinavia as far west as the shores of North America and as far east as Baghdad. Their impact on the world was significant, as is their stature in the popular imagination, where Vikings continue to resonate as emblems of violence, freedom, adventure, brutality, and masculinity. This course explores representations of Vikings in films ranging from the 1920s through the 2020s, from Hollywood blockbusters to Icelandic “westerns” to Turkish pepla. We will consider what Vikings have come to signify in the modern era and why, as well as whether Viking films constitute a genre, and if so, what this genre’s characteristic features, concerns, and functions might be. We will view approximately two films each week, in addition to reading film scholarship and other secondary sources. Taught in English.
Scandinavian 60: Introduction to Nordic Cinema
Instructor: Patrick WenScandinavian 60 provides undergraduates with a broad introductory overview of the cinematic traditions of the Nordic countries. Surveying a wide range of films, we will familiarize ourselves with several significant threads running throughout the history of Nordic film, while simultaneously building the necessary tools with which to write effectively about film narrative. We will also provide an historical and theoretical framework for our understanding of Nordic cinema by reading several relevant texts touching on issues such as globalization, immigration, Dogme 95 and feminist film theory.