Courses Fall 2016

Core Courses

IS101 Plato’s Republic and Its Interlocutors

AY/BA1/Bard1 Core Course

Module: Greek Civilization

Instructors: Hans Stauffacher, Tracy Colony, James Harker, David Hayes, Ewa Atanassow (coordinator)

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 10:45 - 12:15, Thu 9:00 - 10:30

Bard College Berlin's core curriculum begins with a semester-long investigation of Plato’s Republic in its cultural, political, and intellectual context. This text—in conversation with what we here figure as its “interlocutors,” the main works and movements with which it is in dialogue—offers a unique point of entry into the epochal literary, philosophical, cultural and political achievements of fifth and fourth century Athens. Republic depicts and draws us into a discussion of the kinds of values (ethical, political, aesthetic, religious, epistemic, and literary) at the heart of Bard College Berlin's approach to education, and fundamental to human life itself. Rather than a series of separate treatises, the Republic treats these values as the subject of a single investigation that transcends disciplinary boundaries as we have come to conceive of them. And while it may be said to contain a “social contract” theory, a theory of psychology, a theory of demonstration, a theology, a critique of mimetic art, a theory of education, or a typology of political regimes among other proposals, it is reducible to none of these. Simply, this text, perhaps in a manner unlike any other written before or after, sets the agenda for any set of research questions that one might wish to pursue today. In this course we shall be particularly attentive to the dialogic character of Plato’s writing, and to its exchanges with other authors, works, genres and kinds of thought in the Greek tradition. Reading Plato’s work alongside Homer’s Iliad, Hesiod’s Works and Days, Euripides’s Bacchae, Parmenides’s poem, Aristophanes’s Clouds, Herodotus’ Histories and Thucydides’ (so-called) History of the Peloponnesian War, and a selection from Euclid’s Elements, together with a lecture and seminar on the Parthenon and a visit to both the Pergamon and the Trojan collection at the Neues Museum, we will strive to better appreciate and evaluate the argument and drama of the Republic. As we read the Republic and attend to the conversations it has with its interlocutors, we aim to become informed and engaging interlocutors for Plato and for one another.  

IS102 Renaissance Florence

BA2 Core Course

Module: Renaissance Art and Thought

Instructors: Geoff Lehman, Katalin Makkai, Elizabeth Merrill

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 11:00 - 12:30, Thu 9:00 - 10:30

In this course we examine the visual and intellectual culture of Renaissance Florence.  A sustained engagement with a number of principal monuments in Florentine painting, sculpture, and architecture provides the basis for a consideration of key values within the development of Renaissance art that also shape, more broadly, the thought, cultural practices, and everyday experiences of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Renaissance could arguably be characterized as a historical period in which the visual arts played the leading role in the culture as a whole. Thus the focus on works of visual art, in a sustained dialogue with literary, philosophical, and political texts of the period, opens upon a consideration of broad, trans-disciplinary problems such as the emergence of new models of subjectivity and objectivity, the relationship between religious and secular experiences, the framing of early modern political thought, and the origins of the scientific method.  The course is structured around four principal topics, each a defining value for the visual arts between the thirteenth and the sixteenth centuries that is also central to the development of Renaissance thought: self-reflexivity, perspective, harmony and grace, humanism. The direct experience, evaluation, and interpretation of individual works of art are a crucial part of the course, and with this in mind there will be several visits to Berlin museums – specifically, the Gemäldegalerie and the Bode Museum, with their extensive Renaissance collections – to encounter works of art firsthand.

IS303 Origins of Political Economy

BA3/4 Core Course

Module: Origins of Political Economy

Instructor: Dirk Ehnts, Andreas Blank

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 9:00 - 10:30, Thu 11:00 - 12:30

The course explores the intellectual history of the contemporary disciplines of economics, political theory and sociology, by examining the origins of the discourse known as “political economy,” the philosophical study of the means and processes by which societies and populations provide for their own survival and development. It offers an introduction to the reach and implications of this endeavor, its relationship to questions of law, sovereignty and political representation as well as war and the definition of human identity. In keeping with its attention to the formative history of modern categories and disciplines of knowledge, the course also addresses the way in which economic thinking influences literary texts and cultural exchange, from the shaping of novelistic plot to the connotations of everyday language. It allows students to understand, draw upon and critique the historical formulation of contemporary problems and concerns such as inequality, the sources and circulation of wealth, and the connection (and differentiation) between the economic and political spheres. 

Please note that this semester there will be two separate seminars fulfilling this module. Consult the syllabus of the seminar to which you have been assigned for information on the topic and the assignments of the course. 

IS123 Academic Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences 

Module: Senior Core Colloquium

Instructor: James Harker

Credits: 12 ECTS, 6 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 15:15 - 18:30

This seminar is a training in the methods of academic research. Focusing on representative contemporary research in the humanities and the social sciences, it supports students in proceeding with their own individual research projects by focusing on the essential elements of independent scholarly work: the choice of a topic or object of study; the outline of the main components of an article or scholarly paper; finding, gathering, collating and interpreting the sources needed for the project; correct citation, attribution, and bibliographical documentation, and lastly, the effective presentation of the final work in structure and style, as well as peer review and constructive feedback. Including the participation of thesis supervisors and other faculty members, this course meets throughout fall term and in spring term until the submission of the final thesis project. 

Art and Aesthetics Foundational Modules

UB101 Berlin Archipelago – an Introduction to Architecture and Urbanism

Module: Art and Artists in Context

Instructors: Wulf Boettger & Caroline Wolf

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Saturday 13:00 - 16:00

Through excursions, lectures, tutorials and studio time, this course aims to provide students with an introduction to architectural analysis and design.

Over the last 100 years, Berlin has witnessed six different political systems that have each left their legacy – or scars – on its urban fabric until today. In this course, we will discuss prevailing controversies about the spatial planning of Berlin's center that revolve around neoconservative attempt to reinvent a historical Berlin, memory and representation, commercial speculation and tourism as well as grassroots political activism. 

The actual design brief will focus on an intriguing contemporary vision for the public space of Berlin’s “historic” Mitte. The Flussbad – a bottom-up project, planned to convert the Spree river canal into a public pool, which would run right through Berlins’ highly representative World Heritage Museum Island: Students will be required to develop their visions and designs for the pool. In the course of the semester students will get familiarized with methods of spatial analysis and design. Design tutorials will assist them in acquiring graphic and model-making skills and vocabulary essential to develop, visualize and present an architectural concept.

Please note there is a one-time practicing arts course materials fee of €100 for all BCB degree students and visiting students taking one or more practicing arts course (except for Arts & Society and LAB students).

AR240 Landscape, Land Art, and the City

Module: Art Objects and Experience

Instructor: Geoff Lehman

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course times: Tue 13:30 - 15:00, Thu 13:30 - 15:00

This course will examine landscape art as a mode of representation, of experience, and of site-specific intervention, through close readings of a small number of major works. For much of the course, we will focus on European landscape paintings, from the Renaissance to modernism (where landscape plays a foundational role), as well as exploring the landscape tradition of Song dynasty China. In the latter part of the term, we will turn our attention to land art, an artistic practice in which the engagement with landscape becomes a direct intervention in, and experience of, the actual physical landscape, and consider its relationship to landscape painting as well as its place within the transition from modernism to postmodernism. Topics for the course include: nature and human experience; perspective, landscape representation, and knowledge; subjectivity and the aesthetics of landscape; the materiality of the art object and the “post-medium condition” in site-specific work; and the relationship of land art to the experience of urban space. Among the artists whose works will be our focus are Leonardo da Vinci, Giorgione, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Fan Kuan, Xia Gui, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Robert Smithson, and Richard Serra. Readings will include art historical, philosophical, and literary texts. Visits to Berlin museums, installation sites, and public spaces to experience works of art firsthand are an integral part of the course.

FM230 Narrative Filmmaking

Module: Art Objects and Experience

Instructor: Pia Marais

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Friday 17:00 - 20:15

This course is a practical guide to filmmaking, focused on the making of a short film as a final project. The class explores effective choices of theme, the development of a script, and the technical tools needed for shooting, editing and production. The weekly seminars introduce key elements of filmmaking: shot breakdown, sound, and working with actors (and non-actors). The emphasis will be process-oriented, stressing the capacity for collaboration and team-building, which includes assuming or agreeing on the distribution of the various roles in the filmmaking project, such as directing, camera work and sound. We will also hear about the experience and expertise of practitioners in the world of filmmaking, who will share their recommendations and insights with the class as well as giving feedback on works in progress. 

Please note there is a one-time practicing arts course materials fee of €100 for all BCB degree students and visiting students taking one or more practicing arts course (except for Arts & Society and LAB students).

FA106 Beginners Black and White Photography Class: Made for a Party

Module: Art Objects and Experience

Instructor: April Gertler

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Monday 15:15 - 18:30

Using the backdrop of Berlin, this class (named after a famous Hannah Höch piece from the late 1930s) will explore the history of photography by Berlin based photographers while learning how to use a manual camera and also finding one’s way around an analogue darkroom through acquiring the technique of printing black and white photographs. Participants will be exposed to the rich photographic history of Berlin through presentations, discussions and studio visits. The historical component of the class will cover works by Berlin based photographers from Erna Lendvai-Dircksen to Michael Schmidt. Assignments throughout the semester will mirror various photo techniques used in the historical examples discussed. Camera techniques and black and white printing will be the fundamental element of the class. 

Please note there is a one-time practicing arts course materials fee of €100 for all BCB degree students and visiting students taking one or more practicing arts course (except for Arts & Society and LAB students).

FM201 The Hitchcock Files: An Introduction to Film Studies

Modules: Theater and Film/Approaching Arts Through Theory

Instructor: Matthias Hurst

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 15:15 - 16:45 & 19:30 - 21:00 (Screenings), Thu 15:15 - 16:45

Alfred Hitchcock’s films have inspired a variety of reflections and interpretations sounding the desires, fears, and neurotic obsessions of modern humanity. He has also been described as “the most complete filmmaker of all” (François Truffaut) because of his technical command and control of the capabilities needed to create “every image, each shot and every scene,” as well as accomplished screenplays, photography, and an effective publicity machine. Known as the “the master of suspense” he became identified with the crime and thriller genre, but his best films function on many levels. Attending to the techniques and psychological effects of Hitchcock’s work, this course not only seeks to grasp the uniqueness and significance of his contribution to the history of cinema, but to introduce the central concepts, approaches, and topics of film studies as a field. The course consists of both seminars and film screenings.

TH201 Social Choreography and the Politics of the Public Sphere

Module: Theater and Film/Approaching Arts Though Theory

Instructor: Heba Amin
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course Times: Wed 13:30 - 16:45

Cross-listed with Literature and Rhetoric

Economics Foundational Modules

EC110 Principles of Economics

Module: Principles of Economics

Instructor: Martin Binder, Beatrice Farkas

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 11:00 - 12:30, Wed 11:00 - 12:30

This course is an introduction to the essential ideas of economic analysis. It elaborates the basic model of consumer and firm behavior, including demand and supply, in the context of an idealized competitive market, and examines several ways in which the real world deviates from this model, including monopoly, minimum wages and other price controls, taxes, and government regulation. The assumptions concerning human behavior that underlie economics are presented and critiqued. The course is also concerned with the aggregate behavior of modern economies: growth and measurement of the economy, unemployment, interest rates, inflation, government spending and its impact, and international trade. Part of the course focuses on the government tools used to influence economic growth and individuals' behavior. 

EC210 Microeconomics

Module: Microeconomics

Instructor: Israel Waichman

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 17:00 - 18:30, Fri 9:00 - 10:30

Microeconomics is the study of how individual economic units (households and firms) interact to determine outcomes (allocation of goods and services) in a market setting. This course further develops principles and analytical methods introduced by the Principles of Economics course. The first part of the course deals with consumer behavior, market demand and the extent to which a consumer’s decisions can be modeled as rational. The second part of the course deals with the theory of the firm and the positive and normative characteristics of alternative market structures—perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, pure monopoly, and, in resource markets, monopsony—are studied in depth. Finally, the efficiency of market outcomes is studied as well as situations (e.g. the presence of externalities) under which markets are not efficient. Part of the course is devoted to problem solving, in which students present solutions to specific case studies. 

Ethics and Politics Foundational Modules

PL105 In Search of the Good: An Introduction to Ethics

Module: Ethics and Moral Philosophy/Moral and Political Thought

Instructor: Tracy Colony

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Wed 17:00 - 18:30, Fri 17:00 - 18:30

What is the basis for ethical action? Since its beginnings, philosophy has confronted this question. In this course we will read some of the central texts in Western philosophy that have attempted to come to terms with it. Starting with Socrates and focusing on the works of Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Emerson, and Nietzsche we will trace a tradition which has sought to understand and elaborate the possible grounds and scope of ethical action. The approach of the course will be predominantly chronological and we will engage in close readings of these seminal texts with an eye to their historical context and reception. However, we will also approach their concepts and vocabularies as possible starting points or references for conceiving of and reflecting on our own ethical responses to our circumstances and wider historical situation.         

PT203 Theories of Liberty

Module: History of Political Thought/Moral and Political Thought

Instructor: Andreas Blank

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 17:00 - 18:30, Thu 17:00 - 18:30

One of the most exciting developments in political thought of the past two decades is the revival of a conception of liberty that predates liberalism. This concept is often dubbed the “republican conception” of liberty. Such a conception be traced back at least to Renaissance interpretations of the constitution of the Roman Republic in antiquity, most prominently in Niccolò Machiavelli’s Discourses on Livy. It became influential in the political thought of the English Interregnum (for instance in the political writings of John Milton) and has left significant traces in the theory of liberty as division of power (most prominently in Charles Louis de Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws). In addition, political thought associated with the French Revolution—particularly its feminist manifestation in the work of Olympe de Gouges and Mary Wollstonecraft—has been influenced by the republican concept of liberty. The seminar explores the history of this pre-liberal idea of liberty, and contrasts it with concepts of liberty in classical liberalism (as in John Locke and John Stuart Mill), as well as concepts of liberty in 20th century liberalism (for example in the work of Isaiah Berlin and Judith Shklar). More recently, the republican concept of liberty has been used as a theoretical tool to deal with problems of oppression in international relations and questions of justice and democracy across borders. The last part of the seminar considers some influential texts from the contemporary debate and asks whether the liberal conception of justice could not be understood to fulfill very similar theoretical functions.

SO210 Culture Change and Exchange

Module: Methods in Social Studies

Credits 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Regina Knapp

Course Times: Tue 15:15 - 16:45, Thu 15:15  16:45

What prompts shifts in social structures, modes of behavior, or practices in a given context? What is the role of the dynamic that we call “exchange” in this process? If we consider our own social environment, we can see that it contains many examples of, and may even be radically determined by, fundamentally “economic” kinds of transaction, even where (as in the case of gift-giving) the transfer of a (perhaps) valued object seems like something “additional” or unnecessary, a “pure” expression of feeling. This course introduces the tools we can use to examine the dynamics of a social context: the means by which we can gather information about it, interpret that information, and produce an understanding of the arrangement of social interaction, as well as a sense of how change happens (its causes, trajectories, and outcomes), and how it can be precipitated. We concentrate on the objects, instruments and goals of anthropology as a field, and its links with social science more generally. 

Literature and Rhetoric Foundational Modules

TH201 Social Choreography and the Politics of the Public Sphere

Module: Theater and Film/Approaching Arts Though Theory

Instructor: Heba Amin

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Wed 13:30 - 16:45

Recent years have seen significant shifts in the construct of the public: from the mass uprisings of the “Arab Spring,” to political movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter, to the democratization of secret government data courtesy of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. This course addresses public space as a domain of performance and looks at its role in shaping cultural autonomy. We will study Andrew Hewitt’s notion of “social choreography” as a project of modernity that “seeks to aesthetically instill a social order directly at the level of the body.” Is social choreography appropriate as a theoretical framework for an analysis of political ideology in the public sphere today? Through a wide survey of artists and select readings, students will learn tools and tactics associated with cultural activism, public intervention, protest, hacktivism and other strategies that attempt to give rise to a political counter-public. We will particularly look at cultural activism grounded in performance as a reclaiming of public space and address forms of social critique that challenge old definitions of radical politics. This studio course will help students shape their own political and social strategies through performance projects that question the public realm in today’s neo-liberal societies.

LT237 The Odyssey

Module: Theories and Kinds of Narrative

Instructor: David Hayes

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 17:00 - 18:30, Fri 13:30 - 15:00

A close reading of Homer’s epic poem. We will pay attention throughout to the multifaceted and ambiguous character of the poem’s main hero, and to his own and the poet’s efforts to mark meaningful differences when it is not always easy to do so, such as: the difference between maturation and rebellion; between eating and devouring; between love and sex; between heroes and ordinary people; men and women; human beings and monsters; human beings and gods; between reconciliation, justice, and revenge; responsibility and luck; luck and fate; poetry as lies and poetry as truth; intelligence and self-identity; compassion and weakness; hospitality and betrayal; pride, modesty, and debasement; and between travelling for its own sake and trying to go home again. 

FM201 The Hitchcock Files: An Introduction to Film Studies

Modules: Theater and Film/Approaching Arts Through Theory

Instructor: Matthias Hurst

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits 

Course Times: Tue 15:15 - 16:45 & 19:30 - 21:00, Thu 15:15 - 16:45

Cross-listed with Art and Aesthetics

Politics Foundational Modules

HI281 In Search of a History: Migration in Germany from World War II to the Present

Instructor: Marion Detjen (ZZF, Potsdam)

Module: Historical Studies/Methods in Historiography

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S credits

Course Times: Fri 13:30 - 16:45

Cross-listed with Ethics and Politics

PS183 Participation, Deliberation, Democracy: Policy Analysis and Engagement

Module: Policy Analysis

Instructor: Adina Maricut

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 15:15 - 16:45, Wed 13:30 - 15:00

Policy analysis is traditionally regarded as an activity of governments, by governments, and—even when conducted independently—for [the benefit of] governments. Nowadays there are many ways, however, in which citizens, civil society organizations, and social movements can influence or participate directly in the policy process. This course aims to introduce students to some of the fundamental concepts, methods, and approaches to policy analysis from the perspective of possibilities for civic engagement. The heart of the course is an exploration of how civic engagement is present at different stages of the policy cycle: through activism and lobbying in agenda-setting and policy formulation, through direct participation and deliberation in decision-making, through the involvement of the third sector in the delivery of public services, or through the work of think tanks and research institutes on policy evaluation. The course takes into consideration local, national, transnational, and international organizations working on issues such as refugee assistance and advocacy, Roma education, anti-corruption, governance accountability, civil and disability rights, or media freedom. A key component of the course is practicing policy writing skills, including op-eds, memos, and policy briefs.

PS105 Systems of Power: Foundations of Comparative Politics

Module: Comparative Politics

Instructor: Adina Maricut

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 13:30 - 15:00, Wed 15:15 - 16:45

Political power is one of the most contested concepts in the study of politics. The organization of political power into different political systems raises key questions about the capacity of various institutional arrangements to generate desirable social outcomes such as political stability, accountability, and redistribution. This course provides an introduction to central notions of comparative politics regarding the functioning of political systems in the post–World War II context. The course explores from a comparative perspective different types of states, political regimes, democratic and dictatorial institutions, political culture(s), as well as the role of identity groups in the organization of politics. At the same time, the course addresses current challenges of contemporary political systems, including globalization, civic disengagement, the rise of extremist movements, and new forms of political violence like terrorism. The core of the course consists of analyses of case studies illustrating the different concepts covered in the foundational readings of the field. The case studies are rooted in the diverse experiences of European states and additionally include, depending on the topic, comparisons with the United States, Russia, and China. 

PT150 Global Citizenship  

Module: International Studies and Globalization  

Instructor: Kerry Bystrom

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits  

Course Times: Tue 13:30 - 15:00, Thu 13:30 - 15:00

Citizenship is traditionally a concept associated with nation-states, and at base signifies the status of belonging to a bounded political order and the rights and duties this entails. Yet economic, legal and technological globalization increasingly calls state boundaries into question, and borderless problems such as climate change, forced migration, epidemics, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism require collective action on an equally global scale. In this context, global citizenship has been promoted as a sensibility and indeed as an emerging reality. This course explores the notion of “global citizenship” from the philosophical, cultural, and political perspectives and challenges students to think critically about what global citizenship can and should mean. We will explore the history of this concept, with its roots in ancient philosophy as well as in modern definitions of national borders and processes of globalization; critiques of it; and contemporary experiences and movements through which it might be forged.  The heart of the course will be in an interdisciplinary exploration of two of the borderless problems already noted above—climate change and forced migration—through readings and discussion of novels, film, social theory, social scientific research, and policy documents from international institutions like the UN. Texts will include essays by Kant, Martha Nussbaum and Craig Calhoun, Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines, Ghassan Kanafani's Men in the Sun, Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior and Michael Winterbottom's In This World. An important part of the course will be exchange between students enrolling in this course in different locations across the Bard network (USA, Russia, Lithuania, Palestine, Kyrgyzstan). 

PL105 In Search of the Good: An Introduction to Ethics

Module: Ethics and Moral Philosophy/Moral and Political Thought

Instructor: Tracy Colony

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Wed 17:00 - 18:30, Fri 17:00 - 18:30

Cross-listed with Ethics and Politics

PT203 Theories of Liberty

Module: History of Political Thought/Moral and Political Thought

Instructor: Andreas Blank

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 17:00 - 18:30, Thu 17:00 - 18:30

Cross-listed with Ethics and Politics

Art and Aesthetics Advanced Modules

AR308 Collecting / Curating  / Critiquing

A Cooperation with the Technical University Berlin

Module: Exhibition Culture and Public Space

Instructor: Aya Soika, Andrea Meyer (TU Art History Department)

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 12:30 - 17:30

In 2013 the foundation stone was laid for a project that, more than any other, sums up the paradoxes, ironies and potential of the relationship between art objects, institutional display and historical reckoning: the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, situated in a reconstruction of the destroyed city palace, is by 2019 to house the collection of non-European art previously located in the ethnological museum in Dahlem. The project prompts scrutiny of the relationship between the museum (or any framework determining the presentation of art) and its contents, and more broadly, of the political meaning and aesthetic consequences of decisions regarding the configuration of public space, artistic collections, and the dynamic connection between the two. This course provides the tools to critique a wide range of practices and results pertaining to the work of collecting, curating, and institutional transformation, focusing in particular on the city of Berlin and the variety of locations and forums, public and private, which exhibit art to general or specialist publics. Attention will focus on training observation through site visits, as well as use of art criticism and familiarity with media discourses that debate the civic significance of art and its role in constructing and embodying cultural value. 

FM305 Aspects of New German Cinema

Module: Artists, Genres, Movements

Instructor: Matthias Hurst

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 13:30 - 15:00 & 19:30 - 21:00, Wed 15:15 - 16:45

The film industry in postwar West Germany of the 1950s and 1960s was primarily escapist. Neither the contemporary social reality of the new democratic state nor the totalitarian past of the Third Reich and horrors of the Second World War were usually represented. Instead, in the years of the Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle), the audience seemed satisfied by trite mass entertainment, which essentially amounted to a continuation of the conformity-inducing function of cinema during the Nazi era. In 1962, however, in the Oberhausen Manifesto, a group of young, progressive filmmakers proclaimed the end of “Papa’s cinema” and the beginning of a new critical film culture. New forms of storytelling dealing with topical subjects, a new individual freedom of expression (Autorenfilm) and a self-conscious aesthetics emerged. The so-called “New German Cinema” was born, and soon gained international recognition. In this seminar, we examine the key directors of the movement: Alexander Kluge, Edgar Reitz, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. We see how the kind of cinema they created revolutionized the possibilities of the medium, and critically intervened in social, historical, and political discourses, including those relevant to the division of Germany and the terrorist outbreak of the 1970s. The course consists of both seminars and film screenings.

FA301 Advanced Painting: Material Matters & Technical Expression

Module: Media, Practices, Techniques

Instructor: John Kleckner

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Fri 13:30 - 16:45

This advanced studio course is designed to connect the gamut of technical and material approaches in painting with the development of an individual studio practice. Weekly sessions will expose students to a wide range of alternative approaches to applying paint, with the aim of synchronizing painting materials and methods with expressive content. Classes will feature demonstrations of techniques such as airbrushing, marbling, projection, masking, stamping, stencils, collage, and inkjet printing on canvas. Students will gain experience working in oil, acrylic, enamel, Flashe, and gouache. The material demonstrations will be augmented by readings, slideshows, gallery tours, and studio visits. The syllabus begins with group assignments that become increasingly directed towards personalized ideas and independent projects. The ideal student will have previous painting experience and bring a strong commitment to producing a body of quality work. The semester will culminate in a student group exhibition.

Please note there is a one-time practicing arts course materials fee of €100 for all BCB degree students and visiting students taking one or more practicing arts course (except for Arts & Society and LAB students).

FA315 Advanced Studio Practice

Module: Media, Practices, Techniques

Instructor: John von Bergen

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Fri 13:30 - 16:45

This practicing arts course is designed to sharpen a variety of critical skills relating to creative practice inside and outside the studio. All formal directions will be welcomed as platforms to explore, including (but not limited to) sculpture, drawing, collage, photography, painting, video, performance, installation, mixed media, etc. Aside from considering our choice for materials and techniques, we will explore the extremities of scale, outdoor intervention, the use of a timeline, and pragmatic decisions relating to a professional art practice. Several rooms at Bard College Berlin’s “Factory” studio building will be allocated for a combination of studio space, presentation space, and workshops (facilitating light carpentry, mold-making, model-building, etc.). Individual and group critiques will happen throughout the semester in connection to assignments and personal projects. Additional required (as well as optional) elements include readings, lectures and discussions (group, as well as private), visiting artist talks, off-campus visits to galleries, museums, private artist studios, project spaces, private collections, fabrication facilities, and art events. A public presentation of artworks will be arranged at the end of the semester.

Please note there is a one-time practicing arts course materials fee of €100 for all BCB degree students and visiting students taking one or more practicing arts course (except for Arts & Society and LAB students).

Economics Advanced Modules

EC310 Global Economics

Module: Global Economic Systems

Instructor: Dirk Ehnts

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 15:15 - 16:45, Thu 15:15 - 16:45

Dealing with advanced topics of macroeconomics, such as trade and financial aspects of open economic systems, this course addresses real flows of goods in international trade as well as the flow of assets and liabilities in international financial markets. Key theories of trade are discussed and evaluated along with the role played by money, credit, and banking within modern economies. The module also looks at economic systems and the organization of economic life within these systems: what are the key features of global capitalism? To what extent is economic planning relegated to the state or the market and how are these two entities distinguished? How viable are these systems and what sorts of institutions do they create?

EC320 Econometrics

Module: Econometrics

Instructor: Israel Waichman

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 13:30 - 15:00, Thu 13:30 - 15:00

Economics is in many ways an applied science deeply anchored in real-world phenomena that can be measured and quantified. In order to answer important quantitative questions, the economist needs to collect data and assess the empirical relationships between objects of interest. Since much economic data is observational, a main task of the econometrician is trying to find out whether events that are correlated also stand in causal relationship with each other and in what order of priority. In order to answer such questions, the economist needs the toolkit of multivariate regression analysis as well as a number of sophisticated techniques that expand on the simple linear regression model (time series and panel data models, vector-autoregressive models, non- and semiparametric econometric techniques, and various methods to assess the degree to which such models fit). This course expands on the basic statistics course by applying and developing core statistical notions within an economic context. It develops literacy in applied economics, and capacity to assess claims made in that field through critique of methods of econometric analysis. 

EC315 Behavioral Economics

Module: Behavioral Economics

Coordinator: Martin Binder

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 13:30 - 15:00, Wed 15:15 - 16:45

While much of the core of economic theory is based on the rational choice model of human activity (i.e. the human being is seen as homo economicus, a hyper-rational and solely self-interested individual), research in psychology calls for a more realistic picture of human decision-making. Behavioral economics is the subdiscipline of economics that aims at modifying the rational choice model of behavior in the direction of a more realistic model that accounts for bounded rationality, the use of heuristics, and the analysis of how human decisions are driven by emotions, and distorted by various biases. This course familiarizes students with this new and fascinating approach to economics and presents economic models that take into account the rich psychological structure of human decision-making. We analyze the consequences of using such a nuanced behavioral model of decision-making, and of taking into account the existence of social preferences (such as other-regarding, altruistic preferences) and so forth. Courses also can deal with the implications human irrationality would have for economic policy-making as well as research into human subjective well being (“happiness”) and its economic correlates.

Ethics and Politics Advanced Modules

PT318 Populism in Western Europe – Rewriting the Rules of the Political Game

Module: Law and Society

Instructor: Timo Lochocki

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 10:45 - 12:15, Thu 9:00 - 10:30

This class will be concerned with the reasons for and the impact of the recent rise of populist forces in Western European party politics. While in southern Europe, left-wing populist parties thrive (e.g. Podemos in Spain) northern European countries see the rise of right-wing populist actors (e.g. UKIP in the UK). This course will examine these phenomena in a fourfold process: firstly, in comprehending the basic political mechanisms comparative party research has revealed that help us to understand these organizations; secondly, in conducting a qualitative research project on the recent rise of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) or, alternatively, other comparable party movements elsewhere in Europe; thirdly, in bringing together these insights in focusing on three other case studies (most likely Greece, Spain and the UK); finally, this will enable us to understand the significance of the rise of these parties for Western European politics more generally, including consideration of the question of their impact on democracy. 

HI281 In Search of a History: Migration in Germany from World War II to the Present

Instructor: Marion Detjen (ZZF, Potsdam)

Module: Historical Studies/Methods in Historiography

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S credits

Course Times: Fri 13:30 - 16:45

This course is an introduction to post-war migration history in Germany with a special focus on Berlin, the city that has been a crossing point for migration movements ever since the settlement of the Huguenot Réfugiés in late 17th century, and is now a main center for dealing with issues arising from the so-called "refugee crisis“. In spite of constant migration, German academic historiography has until recently widely neglected this history. We will seek to understand why Germany found it so difficult to conceive of itself as an immigration country and what kind of migration regimes it developed after the Second World War, under the conditions of German separation and reunification and in a European and global context. This will lead us to ask broader questions about how history is being written and what aims and interests it serves. How do personal and collective experience shape historical knowledge, and what is the relationship between politics and history? How many narratives can be formed out of one basic chronology, and how do we find the appropriate categories for analyzing and interpreting our source material? The sources are not restricted to written documents, as we will use the city of Berlin with its rich landscape of memorials, archives and museums as our material, hearing the testimony of contemporary witnesses who wrote German migration history as outsiders. At the end of the term, students will be asked to elaborate their own perspectives on migration history, using the general tools that historical methodology provides but finding the personal modes of expression that suit them best.

PL303 The Frankfurt School

Module: Social Theory/Critical and Cultural Theory

Instructor: Florian Becker

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 17:00 - 18:30, Fri 13:30 - 15:00

This course focuses on the central preoccupation of “Frankfurt School” thought: the question of ideology and its critique. What is ideology? How, and from what vantage point, can one distinguish between ideological and non-ideological forms of consciousness? What, if anything, makes a work of literature or art ideological? How, if at all, can a work of art resist or criticize ideology? What exactly is the Frankfurt School’s notion of “critique”? In attempting to answer these questions, we will trace a central strand in German aesthetic and social philosophy, one that runs from Hegel to Habermas and beyond. We will proceed from a re-examination of Marx’s often perplexing statements on the matter. What is ideology in Marx’s sense? Is it an attribute of individual consciousness or of shared cultural norms? And what is the epistemological status of Marx’s own theory of social reality? What makes a theory “non-ideological”? What makes a theory “dialectical” or “critical”? We will attempt to make sense of the divergent answers different Marxist and post-Marxist thinkers have given to these and other questions. Finally, what happens to these questions and answers “after Marxism”? Students able to do so are encouraged to read the material in the original. In selected seminars, attention will be given to the terminology in the original German texts, and to its development across the works of the thinkers discussed. 

PL304 The Theory of the Subject

Module: Movements and Thinkers

Instructor: Jan Völker

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S credits

Course Times: Wed 17:00 - 20:15

The philosophical movement known as “structuralism,” which emerged in France at the end of the 1960s, challenged the notion of an “individual” separate from the rules of language, as well as the belief in norms or values independent of social structures. Thus the “author” became dissolved in the “text,” the “original” became an end-result of its reproductions, and the very idea of a unique identity came to be seen as an effect of external disciplinary interventions (the apparatus of the state, education, culture, the family). The term used to describe this product or effect, referring neither to the individual human being nor to a content, was “the subject.” This phrase evoked the constitution of a position of potential agency that is generated by but at the same time (as the word “subject” itself suggests) subordinated to a structure. Precisely for this reason, the concept of the “subject” is the most debated one in structuralism. Controversy hinges above all on whether there is a place for the subject within the structure or not. Ever since, the term has had a considerable career, being invoked in philosophy and varieties of critical theory to describe any constellation that forms positions (affective, social, and political) whose shape may demand challenge and reconfiguration. This course introduces the key claims of structuralism and post-structuralism in philosophy (examining texts by Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan, and Julia Kristeva among others), and examines its legacy in the present, specifically for thinking through questions of identity, difference, and political agency. We consider the distinctive and even incompatible philosophical approaches (phenomenological, ontological) underlying reflections on “the subject” and try to map the present-day outline of the category.

HI306 Representations of Nature in the Early Modern World, 1450-1750

Module: Methods in Historiography/Historical Studies/Mathematics and Sciences

Instructors: Clare Griffin, Jaya Remond (MPI Berlin)

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 13:30 - 15:00, Fri 11:00 - 12:30

This course examines how the arts and the sciences collaborated to gain insight into nature in early modern Europe and the wider world. European naturalists and artists faced a natural world in expansion, one that they sought to describe in detail as new realms of natural history emerged, facilitated by a conjunction of sweeping geographic exploration and the invention of new scientific instruments. European exploration, trade, and colonial expansion led to encounters between Europeans and non-Europeans that challenged perceptions of the limits and forms of human beings, nature, and the world. Images, texts, and objects functioned in this context as powerful tools of knowledge and as repositories of newly gained information about human bodies, plants, animals, and minerals. Addressing the epistemological encounter between image makers, scientists, and the natural world, this course focuses on how such a moment of intersection called for innovative strategies of visualization, collection, and classification. It interrogates how techniques of up-close observation, connected to technological progress in printing texts and images, informed and circulated innovative modes of depiction. We take a thematic approach, informed by a close examination of visual and textual sources. From the experimentation that nature generated in apothecary shops to the creation of cabinets of curiosity— challenging existing ideas about classification, visual expertise, collecting, and display—we ask how questions of creation, morphology, scale, growth, and deformity, were investigated, and how we can retrace their scientific and artistic logic today. Classes incorporate library and museum visits.

UB302 Post/Migrant Cities: Lessons from the Urban Age?

Module: Global and Comparative Politics/Law and Society

Instructor: Agata Lisiak

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 9:00 - 10:30, Wed 13:30 - 15:00

Cross-listed with Politics

Literature and Rhetoric Advanced Modules

GM350 Menschen-Tiere and Tier-Menschen: Creaturely Perspectives in German Literature and Culture (in German)

Module: Literary Movements and Forms

Instructor: Ulrike Wagner

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 9:00 - 10:30, Wed 10:45 - 12:15

The course introduces key periods of German literary history and culture through the lens of human-animal relations. Beginning with the Enlightenment, we will examine representations of “Menschen-Tiere” and “Tier-Menschen,” of hybrid beings that challenge conventional distinctions between humans and animals in various literary genres, including short prose and poetry by authors such as Lessing, Herder, Goethe, the Grimm brothers, Kleist, Rilke, Brecht, Musil, and Kafka. While literary texts take center stage, we will also cross disciplinary boundaries and bring these texts into conversation with the arts. We will discuss works by the Blaue Reiter artist Franz Marc, watch Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man, talk to the Berlin-based artist Iris Schieferstein about her work with dead animals and visit the exhibition “Animal Lovers” at the nbgk (Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst). The course goal is to introduce students of German to central themes in the history of German literature from an animal studies’ perspective, and to thereby learn how to read, discuss, and write about literary texts in German. Students taking the class should have a C1 proficiency level.

LT283 Mapping the Postcolonial in Anglophone Literatures

Module: Literary Movements and Forms

Instructor: Kathy-Ann Tan

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Wed 17:00 - 18:30, Fri 15:15 - 16:45

In this seminar, students will first be acquainted with the key concepts and terminologies used in postcolonial theory that analyze the cultural legacies of colonialism and imperialism on contemporary formations of individual/collective identity and cultural belonging. In particular, we will focus on the theoretical writings of, among others, Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Leela Gandhi, Meenakshi Mukherjee, Homi Bhabha and Stuart Hall, examining the key concepts of hybridity, mimicry, ambivalence, alterity, “otherness”, diaspora, orientalism and the subaltern in their critical contexts. Subsequently, we will use these theories as a conceptual framework to explore how the issues of home and belonging, migration and exile, diaspora, place/displacement, citizenship, the body, gender, class, race and ethnicity are broached in selected works of Anglophone literature: V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas (1961), Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen (1974), Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (1981), M. Nourbese Philip’s She Tries Her Tongue, Her Silence Softly Breaks (1988), Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies (1999), Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss (2006) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah (2013). By the end of the course, students will have grasped a nuanced understanding of the material and epistemological conditions of postcoloniality, as well as of how cultural and collective identities are explored, (re-)negotiated and mapped out in/through Anglophone literary texts.

LT305 Rewriting Shakespeare: the case of The Tempest

Module: Author and Influence

Instructor: Laura Scuriatti

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Wed 15:15 - 16:45, Fri 9:00 - 10:30

This course is devoted to the investigation of Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest (1611), and focuses on three major questions: while exploring the origins and the development of romance as a literary and dramatic genre, the course will engage with the case of The Tempest and its most powerful subtext - colonization - and will propose a critical analysis of the notion of "rewriting," as it emerges in numerous contemporary literary and visual works which are based on The Tempest. We first focus on questions of genre, staging and cultural context for Shakespeare's romances, as well comparing The Tempest with texts that are considered as some of its primary sources, such as Thomas More's Utopia, Michel de Montaigne's essay On Cannibals, and accounts of the expeditions and travels across the Atlantic. Part of the course will also be devoted to the analysis of some of the numerous textual and visual rewritings and remakes of the play. Students are asked to reflect on post-colonial critical discourse, and on the theoretical implications of "rewriting" or "remaking" a literary text. The aim of the course is to shape a critical understanding of the idea of literary genre, to explore the links between literary texts and the historical conditions of their production, and to provide a familiarity with theoretical and interpretative methodologies for analyzing literary and visual languages. Topics we address include the relation between romance and other genres (comedy, masque), techniques of learning in the Renaissance, the imaginative space of the "New World" and the connection between Jacobean staging techniques and political power.

LT212 Elements of Prose

Module: Literary Analysis and Cultural Production

Instructor: Taiye Selasi

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits 

Course Times: Tue 13:30 - 16:45

This creative fiction workshop will explore the basic elements of prose—plot and structure, characterization, theme, setting, point of view and style—with an emphasis on experimental approaches to each. From George Saunders to Lydia Davis, Tope Folarin to Lucia Berlin, we will explore the work of rule-breaking short story writers. By semester's end each writer will have generated at least one piece of fiction that captures his/her unique voice. 

PL303 The Frankfurt School

Module: Critical and Cultural Theory 

Instructor: Florian Becker

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits 

Course Times: Tue 17:00 - Fri 13:30 - 15:00

Cross-listed with Literature and Rhetoric

Politics Advanced Modules

UB302 Post/Migrant Cities: Lessons from the Urban Age?

Module: Global and Comparative Politics/Law and Society

Instructor: Agata Lisiak

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 9:00 - 10:30, Wed 13:30 - 15:30

Large-scale migration affects societies across the globe and, as such, remains highly debated on local, national, and international levels. Not a week seems to go by without some new big reports on migration patterns and numbers, new laws aimed at regulating migration, new stories of success, exploitation, and, most regrettably, deaths related to migration. Migration is assigned various meanings and status (high-skilled and low-skilled, legal and illegal, documented and undocumented, restricted and unrestricted), which are, in turn, contested in multiple ways through grassroots activism, as well as local and international NGOs. Today, migration affects everyone regardless of his or her own migration status. Many contemporary societies are post-migrant (Naika Foroutan) and super-diverse (Steven Vertovec) – these developments are particularly evident in cities. To migrants, urban centers serve as magnets and fortresses, havens and prisons, new homes and forever-foreign lands. As has been repeatedly claimed, we now live in an “urban age” and it is estimated that by 2050 75% of world population will be living in cities. Our cities are already diverse owing to mass migration caused by accelerated economic inequalities and this trend is likely to continue – yet not everyone’s “right to the city” (Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey) is recognized and respected. Inquiring into the workings of migration and cities thus helps us better understand current political, cultural, and socio-economic developments. This seminar offers students a unique opportunity to join the debate on contemporary urban migration from Berlin’s context. We will explore most recent scholarship from the fields of urban studies, migration studies, and critical geography and engage in urban ethnographic projects. The seminar will include off-campus visits, invited lectures, as well as film screenings. 

PT330 Digital Politics

Module: Social Commitment and the Public Sphere

Instructor: Magdalena Taube

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Tue 13:30 - 16:45

The course “Digital Politics” is an introduction to critical internet studies with a hands-on approach. Berlin has a reputation of being the “Capital of Digital Dissidence” with many important parties to this movement, including anti-surveillance groups, internet freedom activists and relevant NGOs residing in the German capital. Yet, what does this status for the city mean exactly? How are politics shaped within the digital realm? What are the technological means available, and the underlying theoretical approaches to the question of their use? This course provides theoretical as well as practical knowledge about the internet as a political tool. Furthermore, there will be a strong focus on internet politics and policy. A number of experts in the field of internet activism, surveillance and citizen media will join us and introduce their projects to the class, giving first-hand insights into their work. We will also make field trips to the actual spaces of digital activism here in Berlin to find out why Berlin is referred to as the “Capital of Digital Dissidence.” In addition to reading requirements addressing the theoretical basics of internet studies, there will also be a strong focus on using digital tools in a practical way. With the help of these tools we will create an online multimedia documentary. 

Electives

TH239 Dance Lab: Approaches and Practice

Instructor: Eva Burghardt

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits 

Course Times: Sun 12:00 - 17:30 (6 Sundays and 1 Saturday, exact dates TBA in BCB Schedule)

This course is designed as an ongoing training in contemporary dance and improvisation technique as well as providing space to explore theories and techniques of body-based performance work in a broader sense. The course includes the possibility of individual projects in accordance with prior preparation. In the first half of the semester we will focus on movement and dance-based training, drawing from contemporary dance techniques and bodyworks, such as Release Technique and Body Mind Centering. The practice of presence and body awareness will be the core focus. Adding to this foundational work, we will explore dance improvisation technique, developing and expanding movement vocabulary. Rather than prescribing a specific aesthetic, the aim is to give a framework for individual exploration and expression. Solo and group improvisations will lead to “Instant Compositions,” the spontaneous creation of short pieces of dance. The second half of the semester will shift the focus to composing and choreography. Different layers of composition such as use of space, timing, rhythm, atmosphere, dramaturgy and story will be explored. Students will be encouraged to bring in their own ideas, texts, music etc. and find different performative formats. Students can choose whether they would like to choreograph, or perform, or both. A final presentation of the resulting pieces will be shown at the end of the semester. Throughout, we learn to analyze various aspects of dance and performance. An introduction to dance history, as well as excursions to dance performances in Berlin, including discussions and a written reflection/essay afterwards, will be an integral part of the course. 

Please note there is a one-time practicing arts course materials fee of €100 for all BCB degree students and visiting students taking one or more practicing arts course (except for Arts & Society and LAB students).

IS331 Berlin Internship Seminar: Working Cultures, Urban Cultures

Bard in Berlin Program Course

Instructor: Agata Lisiak

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits (in combination with an internship)

Course Times: Wed 9:00 - 10:30

Students enrolled in the Bard College Berlin Internship Program are required to complete the Berlin Internship Seminar, an interdisciplinary course designed to accompany the internship experience. We will meet on a weekly basis and discuss contemporary ways of living and working in Berlin and beyond: What do we mean when we talk about work? Do we need to love what we do? What renders work in/visible? How is work gendered and classed? How is work organized temporally and spatially and how does it, in turn, affect the city and its residents? What distinguishes the spaces in which we live and work today? Which new forms of work have recently emerged in Berlin? Which of them seem to thrive? How do Berlin’s art institutions and citizen-activist organizations operate? Besides in-class discussions, invited lectures, and off-campus visits, the seminar offers a platform for the exchange of observations, reflections, and comments on individual internships. 

Language Courses

GM101 German Beginner A1 (Group A)

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Narges Roshan

Course Times: Mon 9:00 - 10:30, Tue 9:00 - 10:30, Thu 11:00 - 12:30

GM101 German Beginner A1 (Group B)

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Narges Roshan

Course Times: Mon 10.45 - 12:15, Wed 9:00 - 10:30, Fri 10:45 - 12:15

GM101 German Beginner A1 (Group C)

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Mareike Stoll

Course Times: Mon 9:00 - 10:30, Tue 9:00 - 10:30, Thu 10:45 - 12:15

GM101 German Beginner A1 (Group D)

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Ulrike Harnisch

Course Times: Mon 17:00 - 18:30, Wed 10:45 - 12:15, Thu 13:30 - 15:00

GM151 German Beginner A2

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Ulrike Harnisch

Course Times: Mon 9:00 - 10:30, Tue 9:00 - 10:30, Thu 10:45 - 12:15

GM201 German Intermediate B1 (Group A)

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Andreas Martin Widmann

Course Times: Mon 9:00 - 10:30, Tue 9:00 - 10:30, Thu 10:45 - 12:15

GM201 German Intermediate B1 (Group B)

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Linde Trenkel

Course Times: Mon 15:15 - 16:45, Wed 17:00 - 18:30, Fri 17:00 - 18:30

GM251 German Intermediate B2

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Ariane Faber

Course Times: Mon 9:00 - 10:30, Tue 9:00 - 10:30, Thu 10:45 - 12:15

GM301 German Advanced C1

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Instructor: Ulrike Wagner

Course Times: Mon 13:30 - 15:00, Wed 9:00 - 10:30, Fri 10:45 - 12:15

GM350 Menschen-Tiere and Tier-Menschen: Creaturely Perspectives in German Literature and Culture (in German)

Module: Literary Movements and Forms

Instructor: Ulrike Wagner

Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits

Course Times: Mon 10:45 - 12:15, Wed 10:45 - 12:15

Course taught in German language. See Literature and Rhetoric course description.

All Bard College Berlin language courses address the development of skills in reading and listening comprehension, conversation and writing within the context of the European Framework of Languages from level A1 through C2.

Beginner German A1
Emphasis on familiar vocabulary building, listening comprehension and speaking with gradual introduction to grammar and writing skills. 

Beginner German A2
Continued emphasis on listening comprehension and routine communication. Students read and write short, simple texts. 

Intermediate German B1 
Emphasis on communication skills including comprehension of standard speech and descriptive reading passages, topical conversation and simple, descriptive composition. 

Intermediate German B2 
Continued emphasis on communication skills including comprehension of extended speeches and lectures, reading of newspapers and general periodicals, spontaneous conversational interaction with native speakers and writing clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects. 

Advanced German Language C1
Development of listening and reading comprehension levels to include extended speech and some literary texts. Emphasis on conversational and writing skills to express ideas and opinions and present detailed descriptions expressing points of view. 

Advanced German Language C2 
Development of comprehension skills to allow for understanding of all forms of spoken language and written texts. Emphasis on communication skills for the fluent expression of ideas and argument both orally and in written form. 

Bard College Berlin typically offers students three levels of language instruction, beginning, intermediate and advanced. Placement tests determine each student’s enrollment level.