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CS92PROD
"Multikulti Germany": Expressions of Germany's Cultural Diversity

GRST 234
Spring 2016
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: GELT 234, COL 216
Certificates: Writing

That Germany is an ethnically and culturally homogenous country is a myth cultivated by the Nazis. Germany's position in the center of Europe has made its geographical and cultural identity fluid and the make-up of its population diverse at least since the Migration of Peoples (ca. 200-800 CE). Adding to the ethnic and cultural mix were influxes of Jews during the Middle Ages and later; the incursions of armies from all over Europe during the Thirty Years' War; the 17th-century immigration of French Hugenots to Prussia; the redrawing of borders after both world wars; marriages between black GIs and German women after WWII; and, during the labor shortage that followed World War II, the arrival of guestworkers from southern and eastern Europe and Turkey, many of whom ended up staying. Refugees also came from Eastern Europe during the Soviet era and during the Bosnian War, and for some people not motivated by political or economic oppression Germany has proved an attractive destination. In this course we will focus primarily on fiction and non-fiction works by recent immigrants or descendants of immigrants, all of whom write in German and have been translated into English. Among the topics we explore will be homesickness; interactions with the bureaucracy; use of and perspectives on language; questions of citizenship, assimilation, and integration; clashes of cultures; and encounters with xenophobia. We will also look at the particular experience of Afro-Germans.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA GRST
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (GRST-MN)(GRST)
Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above

Last Updated on MAR-29-2024
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