Core Courses
IS101 Plato’s Republic and Its Interlocutors
AY/BA1/Bard1 Core Course
Module: Greek Civilization
Instructors: Ewa Atanassow, Jeffrey Champlin, Tracy Colony, David Hayes, Andrea Ottone, Hans Stauffacher
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time:
Group A: Tue & Thu 10:45-12:15
Groups B-F: Tue & Thu 14:00-15:30
Bard College Berlin's core curriculum begins with a semester-long engagement with Plato’s Republic in dialogue with the main works and movements that shaped its cultural and intellectual context. The Republic offers a unique point of entry into the epochal philosophical, political, and literary achievements of fifth and fourth-century Athens. Through its depiction of Socrates in conversation, it draws us into a dialogue about ethical, political, aesthetic, and epistemic questions that are fundamental to human life. Rather than a series of separate treatises, the Republic addresses its themes as the subject of a dynamic and open investigation that transcends disciplinary boundaries as we have come to conceive them. And while it may be said to contain a social contract theory, a theory of psychology, a theology, a critique of mimetic art, a theory of education, and a typology of political regimes, it is reducible to none of these. In its aspiration and scope, the Republic offers an illuminating starting point for the endeavour of liberal education. Moreover, as an exemplar of open and critical inquiry, both in Plato’s time and beyond, the figure of Socrates is a vital resource for our own engagements with the contemporary world.
In this course, we will be particularly attentive to the dialogic character of Plato’s writing in its exchanges with other authors, genres and modes of thought. In the first week we read Plato’s Apology of Socrates as an introduction to the figure of Socrates. We next devote 5 sessions to reading Homer’s Iliad which is a constant point of reference in the Republic. We will also read Sophocles’ Antigone and Aristophanes’ Clouds and the lyric poetry of Sappho to trace the equally important dialogues that the Republic opens with tragedy, comedy and lyric poetry. Attending to the interlocutors with which the Republic is engaged, we will strive to better understand and evaluate its own poetics and arguments.
Syllabus
IS102 Renaissance Florence
BA2 Core Course
Module: Renaissance Art and Thought
Instructors: Geoff Lehman, Katalin Makkai, Clio Nicastro, Andrea Ottone, Laura Scuriatti
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 10:45-12:15
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 be characterized as an 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 dialogue with literary, philosophical, and political texts of the period, opens a consideration of 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.
Syllabus
IS303 Origins of Political Economy
BA3/4 Core Course
Module: Origins of Political Economy
Coordinators: Jeffrey Champlin, Aysuda Kölemen, Gale Raj-Reichert, Boris Vormann
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Wed & Fri 14:00-15:30
This course explores the intellectual history of the contemporary disciplines of economics, political science and sociology, by examining the historical origins of the discourse and practice known as “political economy”: 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. It equally addresses changing state-market relationships and normative discourses about the best ways to organize societies as they echo in the liberal and critical traditions of Western political thought. In keeping with its attention to the formative history of modern categories and disciplines of knowledge, the course also addresses the ways in which changes in the (understanding of) political economy have led to disciplinary specializations and certain blind spots in linking development and underdevelopment, enlightenment and exclusion. It allows students to understand, draw upon and critique the historical formulation of contemporary problems and concerns such as the foundations of political freedom, the nature of markets, the sources and circulation of wealth, the social impact of inequality and racism, and the connection and differentiation between the economic and political spheres.
Syllabus
IS123 Academic Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Module: Senior Core Colloquium
Instructor: Ulrike Wagner, Nassim Abi Ghanem, Nina Tecklenburg (for students pursuing a Creative Component)
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon 9:00-12:15
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 in fall term and in spring term.
Syllabi: Wagner, Tecklenburg
Art and Aesthetics Foundational Modules
AH211 Introduction to Twentieth-Century Art: From Van Gogh’s Starry Night to Jeff Koons’ Made in Heaven
Module: Art and Artists in Context / Art Objects and Experience
Instructor: Laura López Paniagua
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon 14:00-17:15
Around 1890, Vincent van Gogh painted his popular Starry Night (1890) and Bedroom in Arles (1888). A century later, Damien Hirst encased a shark in formaldehyde and displaced it as an artwork titled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991). In the same decade, Tracey Emin won the prestigious Turner Prize showing her own dirty bed (My Bed, 1998) and Jeff Koons produced sculptures and prints portraying himself and his then-wife, the former porn actress Ilona Staller (also known as Cicciolina), engaged in erotic acts in the series Made in Heaven (1989-1991). What happened in one century to transform art so radically? This course will examine the political and technological transformations – catastrophic, neutral, or beneficial – that precipitated alterations in views of representation and of the status of art itself. In our survey, we see the value of figurative realism interrogated and undermined by a myriad of different approaches. Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Viennese Actionism, Minimalism, Conceptual Art and the relation of each to contextual pressures will be addressed in our question concerning the fate of art in the twentieth century.
Syllabus
AH212 Memory Matters: The Place of Germany’s Past in the Present
Module: Art and Artists in Context
Instructor: Aya Soika
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Fri 14:00-17:15
What aspects of the past are being remembered in German art of the 20th and 21st centuries? How do Berlin’s numerous museums, as well as its architecture and memorials, add to the dynamics of remembrance culture discourse? The seminar focuses on "the place of Germany’s past" in its development throughout the second half of the twentieth century up until today. Beyond the discussion of the works by well-known figures such as Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer or Gerhard Richter, or those by architects such as Daniel Libeskind and Peter Eisenman, the class will address numerous other sites and positions which remain of great interest in attempts to map Berlin's memory landscape (e. g. video artist Betina Kuntzsch’s recent commentary on a socialist memorial). With public discussion currently focused on the reconstruction of Berlin’s historical center and its controversial pseudo-Baroque City Palace--in reality a steel and concrete construction--we will explore the place of recent debates over the role of Germany’s colonial past in Germany’s memory discourse, especially in the context of shifting definitions and new approaches to constructions of contemporary national identity. In addition, the seminar aims to serve as an introduction to twentieth-century German history and remembrance culture in art and architecture. Visits to museums and memorial sites will be an integral part of the class.
Syllabus
FA103 Found Fragments & Layered Lines: mixed-media techniques for drawing and collage
Module: Art Objects and Experience / Artistic Practice
Instructor: John Kleckner
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Fri 14:00-17:15
This is a hands-on studio art course exploring contemporary and historical approaches to drawing and collage. The goal of this course is to develop and enhance each student's skills in visual thinking through the creation of mixed-media drawings and collages of found printed fragments. A central focus will be exploring the potential to create new content and meanings resulting from the juxtaposition of found fragments and drawn lines. The course work begins with directed assignments and moves toward more individual creative projects. Students will gather printed materials from Berlin's famous Flohmärkte (flea markets) to use in collages, they will hone their skills at drawing from observation, make abstractions from nature by working outdoors, work collaboratively on large-scale drawings, develop systematic approaches for creating compositions, and experiment with the expressive possibilities of combining text and imagery. The semester culminates in the creation of a body of original artwork that will be shown during the “Open Studios” group exhibition. The majority of classes are studio sessions. There will also be a number of group critiques, image presentations, and artist studio / gallery visits. The ideal student will be highly motivated, with a strong interest in studying and producing art, and must be comfortable with presenting their artistic creations with peers in class discussions.
Syllabus
FA106 Beginners Black and White Photography Class: The Slow Photo
Module: Art Objects and Experience / Artistic Practice
Instructor: April Gertler
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Fri 9:00-12:15
This beginning Black and White photography class will focus on learning how to use a manual camera and understanding how to use an analogue darkroom. Students will be exposed to the rich photographic history of Berlin through presentations, discussions and a historical walk through parts of Berlin. The historical component of the class will cover works by Berlin based photographers from Helga Paris to Michael Schmidt. Assignments throughout the semester will mirror various photo techniques used in the historical examples discussed. Black and white printing, in addition to camera techniques, will be the fundamental basis of the class. A few classes will meet on Saturdays to have concentrated darkroom time. Students will leave the class with a full understanding and ability to complete the process required to produce black and white analog images; from shooting, to film processing to printing.
Syllabus
FA108 Your Own Point of View: Introduction to Digital Photography
Module: Art Objects and Experience / Artistic Practice
Instructor: Carla Åhlander
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon 9:00-12:15
This course is an introduction to digital photography with a focus on artistic expression. The course is aimed at those who want to learn digital photography at a basic level and develop their photographic work into a project. The course includes in-class critiques and discussions on the choice of method, technique and subject matter, as well as possible forms of presentation. Parts of the course will consist of looking at works by contemporary and historical photographers, as well as introductions to the technical and theoretical tools you will need to work on your project. We will ask questions such as ”What is my own way of seeing something?”, ”What is my own point of view?"
Syllabus
MU171 Berlin: City of Music
Module: Art Objects and Experience
Instructor: Benjamin Hochman
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 15:45-19:00
Berlin’s musical life presents an embarrassment of riches- where to begin? This course helps you chart a path through Berlin’s endlessly fascinating musical offerings, from chamber music to symphonic music and opera, covering a wide range of musical styles from the last three-hundred years. We will make field trips to attend concerts, masterclasses, and open rehearsals throughout the city. We will also explore a range of musical performances in digital format, from live broadcasts to historical recordings. Choice of events to attend, in person or virtually, will depend on scheduling and the availability of free or low-cost tickets. Venues may include the Hans Eisler School of Music, the University of the Arts, the Barenboim-Said Akademie, the Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin Konzerthaus, and other venues. We will prepare for each event by reading a variety of texts (musicological, historical, critical) and listening to recordings. Writing requirements will include short weekly assignments as well as two longer assignments such as a concert review or a response to one of the musical events we attend. No prior musical knowledge is required for this course: music-lovers and musicians of all levels are equally welcome.
Syllabus
TH161 Performance Practice
Module: Artistic Practice / Approaching Arts Through Theory
Instructor: Siegmar Zacharias
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon 15:45-21:30 (The course will comprise a mix of weekly and bi-weekly meetings. Students are asked to reserve the full time in their schedules to accommodate this.)
Performance making is a way of expressing embodied experiences as well as holding space, creating communities, processing and critiquing societal norms. In the 21st century it has a broad remit, appearing in different contexts such as theaters, galleries, the street and the net. In this course we will explore some of the tools for performance making. These will range from writing exercises, the construction of rule-based structures or scores for movement, investigating the possibilities of the urban environment, and learning from the strategies of other performance makers (such as Forced Entertainment, Goat Island, and Gob Squad). We will also visit topical shows of the Berlin performance scene. We will discuss and try out different forms of audience arrangements from the traditional frontal configuration, to parkour/guiding, installation, durational and one-on-one performances. This course is open to those interested in creating a performance for the first time.
Syllabus
FM206 24 Times a Second: Life, Death, and Truth in Narrative Films
Module: Approaching Arts Through Theory
Instructor: Matthias Hurst
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 15:45-17:15 + Screening Mon 19:30-22:00
According to French film director Jean-Luc Godard "Cinema is truth 24 times a second.“ Taking its cue from this dramatic assertion, our introductory course addresses existential topics of human experience – life, love, death, and truth – as they are manifested in classic films of the 20th century (for instance Citizen Kane by Orson Welles, Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa, 8½ by Federico Fellini, The Seventh Seal and The Silence by Ingmar Bergman, Blow-Up by Michelangelo Antonioni, Day For Night by François Truffaut, Days of Heaven by Terrence Malick and Vagabond by Agnès Varda). Basic knowledge and ideas of film history, film theory and film analysis as well as different approaches to film interpretation will help us understand how narrative films represent and comment on life and death and truth, i.e. the tensions between objective and subjective realities of the human condition as informed by the historical and cultural experiences of (post)modernity. Last but not least, we consider how film undertakes critical self-reflection on its own medium and its visual, ontological and empirical “truth.”
Syllabus
Economics Foundational Modules
EC110 Principles of Economics (Group A)
Module: Principles of Economics
Instructor: Marcus Giamattei
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 14:00-15:30
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.
Syllabus
EC110 Principles of Economics (Group B)
Module: Principles of Economics
Instructor: Ann-Kathrin Blankenberg
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 14:00-15:30
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.
Syllabus
MA120 Mathematics for Economics
Module: Mathematics for Economics
This course fulfills the mathematics and science requirement for humanities students.
Instructor: Marcus Giamattei
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 15:45-17:15
This course focuses on the mathematical tools important for the study of economics: analytic geometry, functions of a single variable, functions of two variables, calculus, integrals, and linear algebra (matrices, determinants, systems of linear equations, and methods for solving them). A large part of the course will deal with optimization in one or more variables and will also cover financial math and first-order difference equations. The course will also be of interest to any student with a general interest in mathematics, or who does not intend advanced specialization in economics but wishes to become informed regarding the essential mathematical building blocks of economics as a discipline.
Syllabus
MA151 Introduction to Statistics
Module: Statistics
This course also fulfills the mathematics and science requirement for humanities students.
Instructor: Ann-Kathrin Blankenberg
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 10:45-12:15
The goal of this course is to introduce students to quantitative methods in political science and economics. The course covers the basics of descriptive and inferential statistics, including probability theory, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis. To facilitate students’ ability to understand and critically engage with these methods, examples of quantitative social science research are discussed throughout the course. Classes are complemented with exercises to build students’ skills in applying the learned methods independently. Many of these exercises use data from public opinion surveys, which cover a wide range of social, economic, and political topics. Working with this survey data, students will also have the opportunity to explore research questions of their own. At the end of the course, students will be able to read and engage with the majority of modern quantitative research. They also will be well prepared to pursue a variety of more advanced quantitative research courses.
Syllabus
Ethics and Politics Foundational Modules
HI109 Global History Lab - with a focus on the Global History of Berlin and Prussia
Module: Methods in Social and Historical Studies
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Marion Detjen
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon, 14:00-17:15
This course is part of a longer term effort by Princeton University's "Global History Lab" to work toward an integrated, encompassing, and multi-faceted history of the world. It is taught across 22 locations around the world simultaneously. The course provides a thorough overview of global historical developments from Chinggis Khan’s armies conquering China and Baghdad in the thirteenth century to the Obama years. You will explore models and concepts for explaining the cycles of world integration and disintegration, like the rise and fall of empires, colonialism, expansion, and the role of free trade. Do earlier modes of globalization help us to understand our own age? What explains European global expansion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries? How have world wars and revolutions shaped the international system over time? What role have diseases and pandemics played? The course offers content, tools and techniques to situate any historical event, place or person in broader, globally relevant narratives. But we will also discuss the epistemological and methodological challenges to Global History from a postcolonial perspective, and we will work on Case Studies which combine the local and the global with a focus on Berlin, Prussia, and Brandenburg. These Case Studies take up questions of belonging, exclusion, and othering, of citizenship and statelessness, and try to answer them using historical constellations that left their traces in Berlin as examples. The students who successfully graduate from this course will be able to enroll in Global History Lab's successive course, “History in Dialogue,” taught by Princeton University faculty in Spring Semester 2023.
Syllabus
SO181 Race, Racism and Resistance: From the Enlightenment to Black Lives Matter
Module: Methods in Social and Historical Studies / History of Political Thought
Instructor: Joshua Paul
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 17:00-20:15
This course examines the emergence of modern ideas of ‘race’ and forms of racism as well as the social and political forces that have shaped their development. We will consider how racial ideas are conceptualized and justified through separate and interrelated forms of biological, social, and cultural description and explanation. The course covers the history of racial ideas from their invention in Enlightenment Europe through to contemporary debates namely the mobilization of race for exclusion (i.e. Charlottesville and a resurgent white supremacy) and inclusive, anti-racist ends (i.e. Black Lives Matter and allied struggles such as Stacey Abrams and Felicia Davis' voter campaigns in Georgia). We will consider the shifts in ‘race’ and racism in relation to slavery and emancipation in the Caribbean and North America, colonialism in the Americas, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust in Europe, contemporary far-right politics in the USA, ‘new’ or ‘cultural’ racisms in the USA and Europe, and will finishing with a look at the successes of and backlashes to Black Lives Matter. Throughout the module we will examine the work performed by racial ideas as well as its political functions and social effects. Ultimately, the course will emphasize a critical approach to the understanding of race and racism and encourage students to evaluate the social implications of persistent racial ideas.
SO182 Research and Activism in the Urban Context
Module: Methods in Social and Historical Studies
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate and Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirements
Instructor: Ayşe Çavdar
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 15:45-17:15
This class deals with the intersection between activism and sociological research in the context of the city. Urban Studies as a field often engages with forms of activism: for instance, regarding the issue of gentrification, or the privatization of public spaces. This engagement frequently raises ethical questions; one pertains to the way in which research is used by private companies and by state institutions to deal with activist movements. We will examine studies that scrutinize that phenomenon, in order to come to an understanding of the way in which the connection between knowledge and power operates in the link between scholarship and practice. We will also address the nature of “activism” itself. Who is an activist? To what ends is activism directed? What kind of perspective does an activist bring to social-scientific research? Finally, our framework of inquiry includes the question of how to define the city space itself, and to describe the forces that contend for ownership over it or an experience of community within it. Our readings will range from classic sociological theory to recent works on solidarity, citizenship and popular movements.
Syllabus
The following courses are cross-listed with Politics:
IN110 Globalization and International Relations
Module: Political Systems and Structures
Coordinator: Aaron Allen
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 17:30-19:00
In the social sciences, globalization is often defined as an increase in the mobility of various factors and actors. This definition includes heightened flows of finance capital, the rise of global production networks in expanding divisions of labor as well as the movement of people and ideas. This course uses standard international relations theories as a starting point to examine how growing networks of exchange and circulation have altered political calculation, economic geographies, and governmental arrangements. A particular focus will be placed on the political processes that have facilitated and increased mobility over time, from the emergence of the interstate system in the late nineteenth century, to the globalization of trade and interdependence in our own historical moment. This course will explore new actor constellations and shifting power arrangements in more detail with regards to transnational environmental issues, asymmetric warfare, and humanitarian interventions. In so doing, this course will consider the ways in which the phenomena and levels of globalization challenge the traditional paradigms of the social sciences and prompt a new formulation of the field of international relations.
Syllabus
PL105 Introduction to Ethics
Module: Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Instructor: Thomas Hilgers
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 US credits
Course time: Wed 15:45-19:00
What does it mean to lead a good life? What makes a person – or rather her character – good or bad? What makes a particular action good or bad? Can we universally determine what to do in general, and what not to do in general? Is it, for instance, always wrong for a person to kill, to steal, or to lie – and if so, how could we justify such universal rules or laws? What is the nature of evil? What is the nature of morality? These are some of the most fundamental questions asked in the philosophical field of enquiry called “ethics.” In this course, we will address all of these questions by studying and discussing some of the most influential texts within the history of Western philosophy and some more contemporary texts. More precisely, we will read and discuss texts by Aristotle, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Nietzsche, Philippa Foot, John Rawls, Bernard Williams, Martha Nussbaum, and Jorge L. A. Garcia.
Syllabus
PL208 Introduction to Existentialism
Module: Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Instructor: Tracy Colony
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 17:30-19:00
One of the most important philosophical movements of the 20th century is unquestionably Existentialism. The philosophy of existence developed by Jean-Paul Sartre can be seen as the clearest expression of this movement. In this course we will read selections from Sartre and other core representatives of French Existentialism. However, this reading will be prepared for by tracing through important philosophical lines of influence which the existentialists often acknowledged in the works of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Heidegger. All texts will be read in translation, however, parallel readings in the original French or German will be supported and encouraged.
Syllabus
PS119 Nation-States and Democracy
Module: Political Systems and Structures
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate and Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirements
Instructor: Dave Braneck
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 9:00-10:30
Why and how do political systems differ from one another? Which processes have led to the formation of distinct political regimes? And how do these historical variations affect politics today? In addressing these questions in a wide set of contexts, this course provides an introduction to key theoretical approaches and concepts in the comparative study of politics. The focus will be on core topics in political development such as state and nation-building, the role of the state in the economy, its relationship to civil society and processes of democratization. We will also look at different types of political regimes, electoral and party systems—and the ways in which they affect the structure, functioning, and social role of political institutions. We explore these topics from a comparative perspective in combining theoretical texts with case studies. By the end of the course, students will be able to understand important topics in domestic politics, grasp the diversity of political systems and regimes, and analyze current political developments.
Syllabus
PS185 Introduction to Policy Analysis
Module: Political Systems and Structures
Instructor: Gale Raj-Reichert
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Wed & Fri 10:45-12:15
This course introduces students to policy analysis and policymaking. Public policies are courses of action undertaken by governments to solve societal problems by changing behavior. They include laws, regulations, incentives, and providing services, goods and information. It is important to remember that policies not only include what governments choose to do but also what they choose not to do. Policies by individual governments, groups of governments and intergovernmental organizations can impact outcomes for people, communities, industries, and the environment in different parts of the world. As an introductory course, during the first part of the course, we will spend time learning about and discussing what characterizes and defines a public policy, and how such policies are formulated, implemented, and evaluated. During the second half, we will apply these foundational concepts by examining and discussing real-world policy case studies addressing current policy problems within a domestic and global context. With this course, students will gain an understanding of a holistic approach to public policy and policy analysis. Students will also learn how to communicate about policy problems, options and recommendations verbally, visually, and in writing.
Syllabus
PT143 The Private, the Public and the Political
Module: History of Political Thought
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Hans Stauffacher
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 9:00-10:30
The distinction between the private realm and the public sphere has always been foundational for conceptions of the political. Taking the second-wave feminist slogan “the personal is political” as a starting point, this course will explore influential and critical notions of public and private life and their impact on different conceptions of the political. We will give special consideration to how these conceptions determine obstacles and possibilities for participating in the political life of a society, especially in relation to constructions of class and gender. Reading and discussing texts from Aristotle to 21st-century reflections on YouTube as a public sphere, we will ask whether political action is only possible in such a sphere, as many classic positions hold, and how that sphere—and the realm of the “private”—may be defined today.
Syllabus
PT150 Global Citizenship
Module: Political Systems and Structures
Instructor: Nassim Abi Ghanem
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate requirement
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 15:45-17:15
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 call state boundaries into question. Transnational challenges such as climate change, forced migration, epidemics, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism also require collective action on a global scale. In this context, global citizenship has been promoted both as a sensibility and as an emerging reality. This course explores the notion of "global citizenship" from its philosophical foundations. We also address cultural and political perspectives, thinking critically about what global citizenship can and should mean. Building on these investigations, we explore the contemporary experiences and movements through which a future idea or reality of global citizenship might be shaped. The heart of the course will be in an interdisciplinary exploration of two of the transnational problems already noted above – climate change and ethno-nationalist conflicts – through readings and discussion of novels, historical work, film, social theory, social scientific research, and policy documents. We present and compare rising political and social movements relevant to the definition of the category of the citizen across the globe. Texts will include essays by Immanuel Kant, Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Edward Said, Martha Nussbaum, Craig Calhoun, along with Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines, Tayib Salih's Season of Migration to the North, Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior and Michael Winterbottom's In This World.
Syllabus
PT160 Transnational Feminism Is for Everybody
Module: History of Political Thought / Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Instructor: Agata Lisiak
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate requirement
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 17:30-19:00
Named after bell hooks’ 2000 essay collection Feminism Is for Everybody, and with an essential transnational focus, this course offers an introduction to feminism as a political movement to end sexist oppression across differences. Students will discuss, try out, and question various feminist theories and methodologies to critically examine a range of cultural, social, and economic issues across geographical and historical contexts. While acknowledging the importance of one’s personal experience in finding feminism and committing to it, this course also invites students to look beyond the personal and focus on political projects connected with feminism to seek out solidarity-yielding connections. Among other topics, we will discuss the demands of early socialist women’s rights activists, queer feminist formations in the Global South, transfeminist activism in Latin America and beyond, sex workers’ struggles across borders, decolonial feminist interventions in Europe, and the connections between gender justice and environmental justice. Bringing together feminist contributions from sociology, philosophy, cultural studies, political science, activism, and more, the course will also serve as an introduction to the work of such influential thinkers as Sara Ahmed, Angela Davis, Silvia Federici, Alexandra Kollontai, Audre Lorde, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Françoise Vergès, and Clara Zetkin, among many others. Students will employ feminist methodologies as a means to question established knowledge paradigms and dominant intellectual traditions derived from the Global North. Designed jointly by scholars and educators from across the Open Society University Network (AlQuds Bard College in Palestine, American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, Bard College in the United States, and Bard College Berlin in Germany) and scholars affiliated with Off-University, the course is part of OSUN‘s Transnational Feminism, Solidarity, and Social Justice project. Through a series of shared readings and assignments, students will have a unique opportunity to engage with peers and professors from other OSUN campuses, thereby building local and international alliances, challenging dogma, and experimenting with powerful forms of feminist expression.
Syllabus
PT175 What’s So Funny? The Politics and Philosophy of Humor
Module: History of Political Thought / Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Instructor: Sinem Kılıç
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 10:00-13:00
How many philosophers does it take to explain a joke? Many, it turns out. Since the concept of humor is itself quite elusive, there have been many different approaches throughout history to explain exactly what makes people laugh. The purpose of this class is to discuss the variety of philosophical theories and types of discourse proposed to explain humor as well as to identify its political significance, since humor has always been a useful resource for taking on politically fraught issues. Our readings take us from an exploration of the nature of humor and the civilizing function of the comic to some of more disturbing strains, as well as towards an analysis of the relationship between humor and the human condition itself. Readings are (among others) by Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Montaigne, Hobbes, Locke, Descartes, Addison, Hutcheson, Shaftesbury, Kant, Schopenhauer, Baudelaire, Bergson, Freud, Arendt, Scruton, Beckett, Cavell, Carroll, Adorno, Nagel, and Morreall.
Syllabus
The following course is cross-listed with Literature and Rhetoric:
LT145 Tragedy
Module: Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Instructor: David Hayes
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 17:30-19:00
While we ordinarily use the word “tragic” to refer to very sad events, in its full sense it refers to a specific kind of artwork and an entire way of looking at life. What makes an artwork or a worldview tragic, rather than merely pessimistic or sad? Is it possible to hold a tragic view of life today? Or is this view rooted in a kind of society (aristocratic), with its attendant values, or a kind of metaphysics (fatalistic)—neither of which are, presumably, ours? Beginning with the flourishing of tragedy in ancient Greece, we will examine works of art and literature from different time periods and cultures (including non-Western). Special attention will be paid to the surprising reemergence of tragic concerns in the American/Central-European film noir of the 1940s. Alongside the works of art, we will also consider the analysis and significance of tragedy within Greek, Anglo-American, and Continental moral philosophy.
Syllabus
Literature and Rhetoric Foundational Modules
LT142 Fiction Writing Workshop
Module: Written Arts
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Clare Wigfall
Credits 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time:
Group A: Fri 12:30-15:45
Group B: Wed 12:30-15:45
With over sixteen years experience of teaching creative writing, British Faber & Faber author and BBC National Short Story Award winner Clare Wigfall has developed a method that guarantees to inspire your imagination. Whether you are a total beginner, or a writer with some prior experience keen to now work on your craft in collaboration with other writers, her intention is to break down the barriers that inhibit so that the creative process can come naturally. Her maxim for teaching is that in creative writing there are no rules. You’ll be challenged to experiment with new writing techniques and different genres, such as dystopian fiction, as well as exploring how to mine your own experience for inspiration. You’ll also be introduced to inspirational and thought-provoking fiction by established authors, from Roxane Gay to Vladimir Nabokov, and will have a chance to hone your critical skills through discussion of these texts. Encouragement and guidance will be given to help you with shaping your ideas into fully developed writing, and of course you’ll gain invaluable feedback from the group through sharing your work in class. This course will work you hard and provide challenges and surprises, but it also promises lots of laughter, as well as much stimulation and encouragement from the others in the group. As per tradition, Clare’s workshops always conclude with a lively public reading to which all other BCB students and faculty are warmly invited, offering a chance for the group to share new work with the world. You are very welcome to make contact with Clare before registration to introduce yourself and ask any questions.
Syllabi: Group A, Group B
LT155 Romanticism Then and Now
Module: Literary History
Instructor: Sladja Blažan
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 9:00-12:15
Generally recognized as one of the most important and influential historical periods of Western literary, cultural, and political thought, Romanticism is primarily known as a literary movement (roughly 1790-1830) that emphasized individualism and emotions while promoting new visions of Nature. More recently, we can observe a rising interest in similar topics: Romantic individualism finds its reflection in contemporary theories of subjectivity, Romantic emotions return within the field of affect theory, and a revision of our conceptualization of Nature is underway in environmental humanities. Various Romantic writers were taking a step away from the imperative of science and refused to look at the human through the lens of the industrial Revolution. Estrangement from society and a consequent turning inward mark the Romantic era as much as our own. Seeking modes of self-expression was considered imperative in a profit-oriented world of rising industrial capitalism then and now, whereas Nature and mysticism often become avenues of escape. In this class, we will first learn what commonly defines Romanticism. We will explore key concepts that organized eighteenth-century thinking on transatlantic Romanticism: for example, the “beautiful,” the “sublime,” Gothic motifs, the centrality of personification etc. The second half of this course will be dedicated to the afterlife of Romanticism. How does Romanticism continue to shape our current sense of our own aesthetic, political, and cultural possibilities? How did racialized and gendered representations of Nature during Romanticism shape the ways in which we perceive the nonhuman? We will explore how Romanticism has been reframing and reorganizing itself for the last 200 years. Readings will include works by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, Friedrich Schlegel, Henry David Thoreau, and (in contemporary literature) Jeanette Winterson, Elizabeth Nunez, and Maureen McLeen among others.
Syllabus
LT162 Precarious Life in Literature
Module: Close Reading
Instructor: Catherine Toal
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 10:45-12:15
Literature often introduces us to life on the “edge,” to figures or circumstances marked by an extreme fragility or instability, from the existential heroes of the modern novel such as Dostoevsky’s “man from the underworld” (1864) or Knut Hamsun’s vagrant artist in Hunger (1890), to Jean Rhys’s masterpiece Good Morning, Midnight (1939), and Ann Petry’s bestselling postwar American classic The Street (1946). We focus in particular on shorter novels parallel to but outside the twentieth-century modernist tradition of radical experimentation. The works have in common an intense concentration on the psychological effects of physical suffering and worries about the future, also found in our final, contemporary example, Christine Smallwood’s The Life of the Mind (2021), described by one critic as the “novel of our time.” Throughout, we examine the ways in which “precarious” existence has been defined and understood, from theories of the body politic to the consequences of neoliberalism. The class is an introduction to the reading of narrative, including attention to typical plots and motifs, the nature of the novel as a form, and the rhetoric of fiction.
Syllabus
LT168 Theories of the Body
Module: Critical and Cultural Theory
Instructor: Clio Nicastro
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 9:00-10:30
The body has always attracted the interest of thinkers and researchers from different disciplines, from philosophy to critical theory to neuroscience. The crucial challenge is to overcome the dichotomy between mind and body, reason and feeling, that has affected Western culture especially from Descartes on. What does it mean to think through the body and what are its ‘dialectics’ (Lisa Yun Lee)? Is there such a thing as a ‘natural’ body or are bodies always constructed by class, race, gender, and our personal stories? This course introduces the main theories of literature and culture by looking at the body as an object of the “medical gaze” (Barbara Duden, Michel Foucault) and of political/gender persecutions (Silvia Federici) as well as a site of both active and passive resistance and expression. The experience of the body is often at the limit of the expressible and challenges the artistic and verbal forms we have available to articulate and give meaning to it. Furthermore, we will look at efforts to find a language to speak for/through the body, its desires, and its idiosyncrasies (Dodie Bellamy, Audre Lorde). What kinds of stories are mapped and inscribed in our physical bodies (Paul B. Preciado, Roxane Gay)? Does the body forget? And how are our bodies influenced by their narratives and representations?
Syllabus
The following course is cross-listed with Ethics and Politics:
LT145 Tragedy
Module: Close Reading / Literary History
Instructor: David Hayes
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 17:30-19:00
While we ordinarily use the word “tragic” to refer to very sad events, in its full sense it refers to a specific kind of artwork and an entire way of looking at life. What makes an artwork or a worldview tragic, rather than merely pessimistic or sad? Is it possible to hold a tragic view of life today? Or is this view rooted in a kind of society (aristocratic), with its attendant values, or a kind of metaphysics (fatalistic)—neither of which are, presumably, ours? Beginning with the flourishing of tragedy in ancient Greece, we will examine works of art and literature from different time periods and cultures (including non-Western). Special attention will be paid to the surprising reemergence of tragic concerns in the American/Central-European film noir of the 1940s. Alongside the works of art, we will also consider the analysis and significance of tragedy within Greek, Anglo-American, and Continental moral philosophy.
Syllabus
The following course is cross-listed with Art and Aesthetics:
FM206 24 Times a Second: Life, Death, and Truth in Narrative Films
Module: Critical and Cultural Theory
Instructor: Matthias Hurst
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 15:45-17:15 + Screening Mon 19:30-22:00
According to French film director Jean-Luc Godard "Cinema is truth 24 times a second.“ Taking its cue from this dramatic assertion, our introductory course addresses existential topics of human experience – life, love, death, and truth – as they are manifested in classic films of the 20th century (for instance Citizen Kane by Orson Welles, Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa, 8½ by Federico Fellini, The Seventh Seal and The Silence by Ingmar Bergman, Blow-Up by Michelangelo Antonioni, Day For Night by François Truffaut, Days of Heaven by Terrence Malick and Vagabond by Agnès Varda). Basic knowledge and ideas of film history, film theory and film analysis as well as different approaches to film interpretation will help us understand how narrative films represent and comment on life and death and truth, i.e. the tensions between objective and subjective realities of the human condition as informed by the historical and cultural experiences of (post)modernity. Last but not least, we consider how film undertakes critical self-reflection on its own medium and its visual, ontological and empirical “truth.”
Syllabus
Politics Foundational Modules
All courses are cross-listed with Ethics and Politics:
IN110 Globalization and International Relations
Module: International Studies and Globalization
Coordinator: Aaron Allen
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 17:30-19:00
In the social sciences, globalization is often defined as an increase in the mobility of various factors and actors. This definition includes heightened flows of finance capital, the rise of global production networks in expanding divisions of labor as well as the movement of people and ideas. This course uses standard international relations theories as a starting point to examine how growing networks of exchange and circulation have altered political calculation, economic geographies, and governmental arrangements. A particular focus will be placed on the political processes that have facilitated and increased mobility over time, from the emergence of the interstate system in the late nineteenth century, to the globalization of trade and interdependence in our own historical moment. This course will explore new actor constellations and shifting power arrangements in more detail with regards to transnational environmental issues, asymmetric warfare, and humanitarian interventions. In so doing, this course will consider the ways in which the phenomena and levels of globalization challenge the traditional paradigms of the social sciences and prompt a new formulation of the field of international relations.
Syllabus
PL105 Introduction to Ethics
Module: Political and Moral Thought
Instructor: Thomas Hilgers
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 US credits
Course time: Wed 15:45-19:00
What does it mean to lead a good life? What makes a person – or rather her character – good or bad? What makes a particular action good or bad? Can we universally determine what to do in general, and what not to do in general? Is it, for instance, always wrong for a person to kill, to steal, or to lie – and if so, how could we justify such universal rules or laws? What is the nature of evil? What is the nature of morality? These are some of the most fundamental questions asked in the philosophical field of enquiry called “ethics.” In this course, we will address all of these questions by studying and discussing some of the most influential texts within the history of Western philosophy and some more contemporary texts. More precisely, we will read and discuss texts by Aristotle, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Friedrich Nietzsche, Philippa Foot, John Rawls, Bernard Williams, Martha Nussbaum, and Jorge L. A. Garcia.
Syllabus
PL208 Introduction to Existentialism
Module: Political and Moral Thought
Instructor: Tracy Colony
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 17:30-19:00
One of the most important philosophical movements of the 20th century is unquestionably Existentialism. The philosophy of existence developed by Jean-Paul Sartre can be seen as the clearest expression of this movement. In this course we will read selections from Sartre and other core representatives of French Existentialism. However, this reading will be prepared for by tracing through important philosophical lines of influence which the existentialists often acknowledged in the works of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Heidegger. All texts will be read in translation, however, parallel readings in the original French or German will be supported and encouraged.
Syllabus
PS119 Nation-States and Democracy
Module: Comparative Politics
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate and Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirements
Instructor: Dave Braneck
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 9:00-10:30
Why and how do political systems differ from one another? Which processes have led to the formation of distinct political regimes? And how do these historical variations affect politics today? In addressing these questions in a wide set of contexts, this course provides an introduction to key theoretical approaches and concepts in the comparative study of politics. The focus will be on core topics in political development such as state and nation-building, the role of the state in the economy, its relationship to civil society and processes of democratization. We will also look at different types of political regimes, electoral and party systems—and the ways in which they affect the structure, functioning, and social role of political institutions. We explore these topics from a comparative perspective in combining theoretical texts with case studies. By the end of the course, students will be able to understand important topics in domestic politics, grasp the diversity of political systems and regimes, and analyze current political developments.
Syllabus
PS185 Introduction to Policy Analysis
Module: Policy Analysis
Instructor: Gale Raj-Reichert
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Wed & Fri 10:45-12:15
This course introduces students to policy analysis and policymaking. Public policies are courses of action undertaken by governments to solve societal problems by changing behavior. They include laws, regulations, incentives, and providing services, goods and information. It is important to remember that policies not only include what governments choose to do but also what they choose not to do. Policies by individual governments, groups of governments and intergovernmental organizations can impact outcomes for people, communities, industries, and the environment in different parts of the world. As an introductory course, during the first part of the course, we will spend time learning about and discussing what characterizes and defines a public policy, and how such policies are formulated, implemented, and evaluated. During the second half, we will apply these foundational concepts by examining and discussing real-world policy case studies addressing current policy problems within a domestic and global context. With this course, students will gain an understanding of a holistic approach to public policy and policy analysis. Students will also learn how to communicate about policy problems, options and recommendations verbally, visually, and in writing.
Syllabus
PT143 The Private, the Public and the Political
Module: Political and Moral Thought
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Hans Stauffacher
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 9:00-10:30
The distinction between the private realm and the public sphere has always been foundational for conceptions of the political. Taking the second-wave feminist slogan “the personal is political” as a starting point, this course will explore influential and critical notions of public and private life and their impact on different conceptions of the political. We will give special consideration to how these conceptions determine who can or cannot partake in the political life of a society, especially in relation to determinations and constructions of class and gender. Reading and discussing texts from Aristotle to 21st-century reflections on YouTube as a public sphere, we will ask whether political action is only possible in a public sphere, as many classic positions hold, and how that sphere—and the realm of the “private”—can or cannot be defined today.
Syllabus
PT150 Global Citizenship
Module: Globalization and International Relations
Instructor: Nassim Abi Ghanem
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate requirement
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 15:45-17:15
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 call state boundaries into question. Transnational challenges such as climate change, forced migration, epidemics, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism also require collective action on a global scale. In this context, global citizenship has been promoted both as a sensibility and as an emerging reality. This course explores the notion of "global citizenship" from its philosophical foundations. We also address cultural and political perspectives, thinking critically about what global citizenship can and should mean. Building on these investigations, we explore the contemporary experiences and movements through which a future idea or reality of global citizenship might be shaped. The heart of the course will be in an interdisciplinary exploration of two of the transnational problems already noted above – climate change and ethno-nationalist conflicts – through readings and discussion of novels, historical work, film, social theory, social scientific research, and policy documents. We present and compare rising political and social movements relevant to the definition of the category of the citizen across the globe. Texts will include essays by Immanuel Kant, Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas, Edward Said, Martha Nussbaum, Craig Calhoun, along with Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines, Tayib Salih's Season of Migration to the North, Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior and Michael Winterbottom's In This World.
Syllabus
PT160 Transnational Feminism Is for Everybody
Module: Political and Moral Thought
Instructor: Agata Lisiak
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate requirement
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 17:30-19:00
Named after bell hooks’ 2000 essay collection Feminism Is for Everybody, and with an essential transnational focus, this course offers an introduction to feminism as a political movement to end sexist oppression across differences. Students will discuss, try out, and question various feminist theories and methodologies to critically examine a range of cultural, social, and economic issues across geographical and historical contexts. While acknowledging the importance of one’s personal experience in finding feminism and committing to it, this course also invites students to look beyond the personal and focus on political projects connected with feminism to seek out solidarity-yielding connections. Among other topics, we will discuss the demands of early socialist women’s rights activists, queer feminist formations in the Global South, transfeminist activism in Latin America and beyond, sex workers’ struggles across borders, decolonial feminist interventions in Europe, and the connections between gender justice and environmental justice. Bringing together feminist contributions from sociology, philosophy, cultural studies, political science, activism, and more, the course will also serve as an introduction to the work of such influential thinkers as Sara Ahmed, Angela Davis, Silvia Federici, Alexandra Kollontai, Audre Lorde, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Françoise Vergès, and Clara Zetkin, among many others. Students will employ feminist methodologies as a means to question established knowledge paradigms and dominant intellectual traditions derived from the Global North. Designed jointly by scholars and educators from across the Open Society University Network (AlQuds Bard College in Palestine, American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan, Bard College in the United States, and Bard College Berlin in Germany) and scholars affiliated with Off-University, the course is part of OSUN‘s Transnational Feminism, Solidarity, and Social Justice project. Through a series of shared readings and assignments, students will have a unique opportunity to engage with peers and professors from other OSUN campuses, thereby building local and international alliances, challenging dogma, and experimenting with powerful forms of feminist expression.
Syllabus
PT175 What’s So Funny? The Politics and Philosophy of Humor
Module: Political and Moral Thought
Instructor: Sinem Kılıç
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 10:00-13:00
How many philosophers does it take to explain a joke? Many, it turns out. Since the concept of humor is itself quite elusive, there have been many different approaches throughout history to explain exactly what makes people laugh. The purpose of this class is to discuss the variety of philosophical theories and types of discourse proposed to explain humor as well as to identify its political significance, since humor has always been a useful resource for taking on politically fraught issues. Our readings take us from an exploration of the nature of humor and the civilizing function of the comic to some of more disturbing strains, as well as towards an analysis of the relationship between humor and the human condition itself. Readings are (among others) by Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Montaigne, Hobbes, Locke, Descartes, Addison, Hutcheson, Shaftesbury, Kant, Schopenhauer, Baudelaire, Bergson, Freud, Arendt, Scruton, Beckett, Cavell, Carroll, Adorno, Nagel, and Morreall.
Syllabus
Art and Aesthetics Advanced Modules
AR315 Through the Looking-Glass: Art and the Oneiric
Module: Aesthetics and Art Theory / Artists, Genres, Movements
Instructor: Geoff Lehman
Credits: 8 ECTS Credits, 4 U.S. Credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 15:45-17:15
“He was part of my dream, of course—but then I was part of his dream, too!” (Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass). Alice’s reflection upon her dream evokes something of the oneiric experience that can be part of one’s encounter with a work of art: the dialogue between the specific universe the artwork invites us to enter—with its own logic, kinds of seeing, and means of expression—and the viewer as subject, bringing her or his own desires and experiences to its interpretation. One important aspect of this encounter could be described, in psychoanalytic terms, as a relationship between the unconscious wishes, drives, and memories of the viewing subject, on the one hand, and the unconscious qualities of the work itself, both in its production and—especially—in its visual character (its “optical unconscious”), on the other. Major topics for the course include: psychoanalytic interpretations of art; the relationship between the oneiric, the imaginative, and the theatrical; contemplation, daydreaming, schizophrenia, nightmares, and other altered states of consciousness in relation to the experience of artworks; the oneiric and visual narrativity; the place of (self-)reflexivity or its absence in immersive art. Artists whose works we study include Wang Ximeng, Fra Angelico, Mirza Ali, Goya, Redon, Picasso, Ernst, Miller, Kahlo, Fellini, Tarkovsky, Woodman, and Kusama. Readings will be from Lewis Carroll, De Quincey, Woolf, Freud, Jung, Caillois, Borges, Bachelard, and others.
Syllabus
AR316 Contemporary Art and Urban Development: historical archetypes, present-day case studies, and future scenarios
Module: Media, Practices, Techniques
Instructor: Tirdad Zolghadr
Credits: 8 ECTS Credits, 4 U.S. Credits
Course time: Tue 14:00-17:15
How have artists occupied, colonized, revitalized or otherwise contributed to the (metropolitan) spaces around them? This practicing arts/curatorial class will engage with historical and contemporary examples of how art affects the city contexts around it. As a canonical point of departure, we will begin in Europe, with the hubris of the historical avant gardes, deep in the suffocating mass of the 19th-century industrial city. We will then move on to the iconic 1970s cool cats in the enormous lofts of deindustrialized Manhattan – and on to the freakish violence of today's planetary real estate cycles. Although Berlin will remain a key point of reference, the seminar will look beyond the European context, to venture cross-comparisons to artist initiatives in Palestine, California and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Importantly, this class includes theoretical as well as practical components. On the one hand, it will include excursions to various settings and case studies across Berlin, including Haus der Statistik and KW in Mitte, and ExRotaprint in Wedding. On the other hand, we may also collectively pursue a curatorial exercise, and attempt to translate our conceptual concerns into a concrete public moment, however gestural or fleeting. In the best of cases, we will tackle the issue of “art and urban renewal” critically and historically, but also “act our way into thinking,” by means of hands-on experiments that open up new and more speculative scenarios.
Syllabus
AR360 Practices and Politics of Contemporary Art: documenta and the Venice Biennial
Module: Exhibition Culture and Public Space / Aesthetics and Art Theory
Instructor: Dorothea von Hantelmann
Credits: 8 ECTS Credits, 4 U.S. Credits
Course time: Wed 14:00-17:15
The highlight of this course will be two trips to major international art exhibitions: documenta in Kassel and the Venice Art Biennial. The Biennale di Venezia is the oldest world exhibition of visual art: founded in 1895 it figures as a model (and counter-model) for many of the 200 international biennials and triennials that exist today. Titled “The Milk of Dreams”, the 2022 edition focuses on three themes in particular: the representation of bodies and their metamorphoses; the relationship between individuals and technologies; the connection between bodies and the Earth. Documenta, held every five years, is considered the most important contemporary art exhibition worldwide. Up to 900,000 visitors come to Kassel expecting to encounter the current “state of art,” or even more: the current “state of thinking.” This year’s fifteenth edition is curated by Jakarta-based artists’ collective ruangrupa, who build their exhibition on aesthetic and economic principles such as collectivity, communal resource sharing, and equal allocation. Through visits to and discussion of these art events, we explore developments and individual works in contemporary art and examine the logistics, politics, framing, and effect of the major international art exhibition as a phenomenon. The excursions to Kassel and Venice will be supplemented by pre- and post-sessions in Berlin. During these we will visit, engage with the history, conceptual agenda and theoretical framework of the exhibitions, and discuss individual artworks.
Please note there is a fee of €515 for participation in this course to cover travel to and accommodation in Venice and Kassel. The trip to Venice will take place during fall break.
Syllabus
FA288 Sonic Narration: An Introduction to Radio Drama
Module: Media, Practices, Techniques
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Noam Brusilovsky
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 15:45-19:00
This course aims to introduce the theoretical, aesthetic and practical aspects of artistic radiophonic creation processes. The course will consist of readings of canonical texts on radio history and theory, listening to significant milestones in the history of English-speaking radio drama and pursuing a creative exploration of the possibilities of storytelling by acoustic means. During the course, students will collect audio material (sounds, field recordings, interviews etc.) that will be processed into a short auditory final project. We will visit Haus des Rundfunks, one of the first radio studios in the world, which now belongs to Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. The course demands active participation in discussions, presentations and creative tasks.
Syllabus
FA294 Queering the capitalocene: (Eco-)feminist film and video art for earthly survival
Module: Media, Practices, Techniques
Instructor: Angela Anderson
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 14:00-17:15; Students should keep Thursdays after 17:15 free for screenings and excursions
“It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with … It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.” - Donna Haraway, from Staying With The Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene
In the face of the multiple human-induced social and ecological crises unfolding across the globe, who is telling what story? How is the story being told, and to whom? These critical questions will frame and guide this theory and practice-based course which will engage with historical and contemporary positions in queer (eco)feminist moving image production in the expanded field between art and cinema. Starting from the assumption that there is an intimate connection between audiovisual media, the production of subjectivity, and the apprehension of the world, how can creative aesthetic practices foster inter-species & inter-material solidarity? How can they proactively intervene in monological narratives which reproduce destructive patriarchal value systems based on competition, hierarchy and exploitation? Through close readings of texts situated in film and media, gender, decolonial and postcolonial, and indigenous studies, as well as film screenings, artist talks, and exhibition visits, students will be introduced to a wide range of queer (eco)feminist voices and artistic strategies. Through exercises in listening, writing and filming, students will develop their own filmic projects over the course of the semester. While experience in working with audio-visual media is helpful for this course, it is not a requirement.
Syllabus
FA302 Advanced Painting: Oil Paint & After
Module: Media, Practices, Techniques
Instructor: John Kleckner
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Fri 9:00-12:15
This advanced studio course is designed to connect the gamut of materials and techniques in contemporary painting with the development of an individual aesthetic style. Weekly sessions will expose students to a wide range of experimental painting techniques with the aim of synchronizing chosen materials and methods with personal expression and content. Classes will feature demonstrations of airbrushing, marbling, masking, projecting, stamping, stencils, collage, and digital printing on canvas. Students will gain experience working with oil, acrylic, enamel, vinyl, and gouache paints. Material demonstrations will be augmented by readings, slideshows, gallery tours, and studio visits. The syllabus begins with directed assignments that become increasingly more personalized and independent as the course progresses. The ideal student will have previous painting experience and be highly motivated to make a body of original work. The semester culminates in an “Open Studios” group exhibition.
Syllabus
FA308 Finding the Stories
Module: Media, Practices, Techniques
Instructor: Carla Åhlander
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon 14:00-17:15
This course combines photo analysis and practical photo work. We develop our awareness of what constitutes a narrative, and consider how the meaning of a photograph is created. In addition to producing their own photo series, the participants will become skilled at looking at, reading and talking about photographs. We will deal with issues such as subjectivity and objectivity, private and public, as well as technical issues like light situations. The workshop will include collaborations between students. Together we will explore a variety of aesthetic, practical and conceptual issues, asking questions like "What is my attitude to the subject-matter?" or “Where does this narrative begin or end?"
Syllabus
FM272 Wild at Heart and Weird on Top: The Films of David Lynch
Module: Artists, Genres, Movements
Instructor: Matthias Hurst
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 15:45-19:00 + Screening Wed 19:30-22:00
Welcome to the “Luna Lounge” and the dark side of our dreams: we will explore the weird and wonderful immersive cinematic universe of auteur filmmaker David Lynch, beginning with his early short films – Six Men Getting Sick (1967), The Alphabet (1968) and The Grandmother (1970) – to his last film, the experimental, multifaceted conundrum Inland Empire (2006) – “it’s about a woman in trouble, and it’s a mystery, and that’s about all I want to say about it” (Lynch). In discussing the dreamlike, mysterious world(s) of Lynch, his specific representations of the uncanny and the sublime and of disturbing echoes and repercussions of anxieties and desires as well as his imaginative practice and adaptation of postmodern visual culture we will revisit challenging and seminal filmic works of postmodernism like Eraserhead (1977), Blue Velvet (1986), Wild At Heart (1990), Lost Highway (1997) and Mulholland Drive (2001).
Syllabus
TH261 Digital Theaters: Performance in Post/Pandemic Times
Module: Media, Practices, Techniques / Exhibition Culture and Public Space
This is an OSUN Network Collaborative Course taught in partnership courses on Digital Theatres offered at the following partner institutions: Bard College Annandale; Birkbeck, University of London; Central European University, Budapest/Vienna; Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá; Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg.
Instructors: Nina Tecklenburg and Ramona Mosse
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 17:30-20:45
What happens when theaters go digital? This course addresses how theater and performance as live embodied practices and forms of communal encounter have permanently changed due to extended lockdowns, social distancing, and pandemic health restrictions. Together we want to investigate the new dispersed digital formats - WhatsApp and Instagram performances, VR/AR-experiences, Zoom theaters, hybrid performances etc. - that have expanded our idea of theater. But how do these new networked performance experiences alter common social and cultural functions of theater? Using case studies from the six exemplary locations of Berlin, Vienna/Budapest, Bogotá, London, Johannesburg and Annandale/New York City, Digital Theaters aims to study how the performing arts have fundamentally altered their reach, audience, institutional structures, and the quality of social encounter by going digital. We ask what that suggests about the future composition of the performing arts sector. As an OSUN collaborative network course, this seminar emphasizes that questions about the shifting ethics and aesthetics of cultural production need to be discussed in a global civic context that mirrors how we currently come together: physically distanced but virtually connected. Our local in-person class will therefore hold regular virtual meetings with other collaborating parallel courses. We will explore our questions through a mix of theory and practice, combining readings and discussions with practical projects that allow students to try out the tools of digital theater making. We also invite theater makers and curators to give workshops as part of the seminar. Students will be asked to collaborate across campuses to actively document the current cultural moment and reflect the enhanced role of digital media. In doing so, they will participate in our semester-long project of creating a living archive of digital theater, consisting of video documentations, audio interviews, hybrid performances, and interactive collages.
Students also have the option of combining Digital Theaters with the OSUN-course Visual Storytelling to create a short video documentary as their final project for both courses.
Syllabus
Cross-listed with Literature and Rhetoric:
TH310 Bertolt Brecht: The Study and Staging of Epic Theater
Module: Media, Practices, Techniques
Course Instructor: Julia Hart
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Wed 15:45-19:00
Nowhere else can Bertolt Brecht's presence be felt more than in the streets of Berlin. But what is the Epic Theater he is so famous for and what influence does it have on stage in Berlin's current theater scene? This course will not study the plays of Brecht as literature, but students will be in dialogue with Brecht as one of the most revolutionary theatermakers of the 20th Century. This seminar will introduce students to Brecht's theoretical texts on the epic theater such as A Short Organum for the Theater and The Street Scene. Students will not only analyze these provocative theater techniques, but will try to use Brecht's specific acting and directing exercises and devices in rehearsal. Throughout the semester, students will act and direct scenes from two of Brecht's plays: Mother Courage and Her Children and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui to investigate how Brecht and his ensemble worked. This course includes visits to the Bertolt Brecht Archive and several theater productions in Berlin, including the Berliner Ensemble, to question Brecht's footprint on German theater today.
Syllabus
Cross-listed with Ethics and Politics and Politics:
SE306 Performing Water: Environmental Crisis in Art and Literature
Module: Artists, Genres, Movements
Instructor: Ramona Mosse
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 9:00-12:15
How does water shape our lives? In this course we will explore water as a resource, medium, and metaphor in order to understand how environmental breakdown has become represented in contemporary cultural production. In doing so, we will draw on the UN’s 2010 declaration of water as a human right and the increasing importance of hydro-politics that negotiate water scarcity as well as rising sea levels. Students will be introduced to central discourses in the environmental humanities and models of eco-critical thinking that reformulate the relationship between the human and extra-human worlds; the notion of “thinking with water” will play a crucial role here to identify alternative knowledge practices. Topics will include the nature/culture divide, Anthropocene debates, environmental histories of capitalism/colonialism, cli-fi and dystopia as well as questions of environmental activism in relation to real-life water crises. The course combines readings on the history, philosophy and politics of water (e.g. Rupert Glasgow’s The Concept of Water; David L. Sedlak’s Water 4.0; Jamie Linton’s What is Water? The History of a Modern Abstraction) alongside artistic engagements with water across literature and the visual and performing arts, including works such as Amitav Ghosh’s novel Gun Island, Jason deCaires Taylor’s underwater sculptures and Olafur Eliasson’s environmental installations, Sabrina Mahfouz’ play The History of Water in the Middle East, the sound art of A.M. Kanngieser, as well as Sarnath Banerjee’s graphic novel All Quiet in Vikaspuri. The course will include field trips and participate in the online guest speaker series "Performing Water", co- organized with Le Mans Université and their digital research platform www.performingwater.org. We will also share discussion sessions with a paired seminar at Le Mans Université. Assessment will be based on active participation in class, a presentation, a midterm essay as well as a creative final digital media project.
Syllabus
Economics Advanced Modules
EC212 Experimental Economics
Modules: Behavioral Economics
Instructor: Israel Waichman
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 17:30-19:00
Experimental economics is the application of experimental methods to economic questions. Experiments are used in economics to test the descriptive accuracy of economic models, to study behavior in cases where theory provides ambiguous predictions (or no predictions), and also to test the effectiveness of economic policies. The course aims to introduce experimental economics and its various applications in economics. We will conduct some of the experiments in the classroom, providing the participants in the course with first-hand experience of the economic situations that are being thought through. The course consists of three parts: In the first part: “the methodology of experimental economics,” we introduce experimental economics. We discuss the merits (and limits) of experiments, and the principles of conducting and analyzing an experiment. In the second part “Applications: Influential experiments in economics”, we survey some of the seminal research in experimental (and behavioral) economics (e.g. on markets, bargaining, biases and heuristics under uncertainty, guessing games and predictions, experiments related to the environment and to climate change, etc.). In the third (short) part, students will present their own pilot studies.
Prerequisites: Students shall have completed Principles of Economics and Microeconomics before enrolling in this course.
Syllabus
EC221 Sustainability Economics
Modules: Behavioral Economics / Choice, Resources, Development
Instructor: Ann-Kathrin Blankenberg
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 9:00-12:15
This course focuses on the relation between the discipline of behavioral economics and the question of the state of the natural environment. Humanity is drawing closer to its ecological limits and faces increasingly complex challenges such as resource scarcity, climate change, loss of biodiversity, the consequences of increasing wealth inequality and, as we now know only too well, the renewal of an old threat: epidemics. Economic development that is ecologically sustainable and socially just as well as efficient is of crucial importance for the future of society. To bring it about, actors at all levels (individuals, companies, and political decision-makers) must be involved. Public policies have to be developed that are grounded on empirical evidence about how people actually behave. We will explore the potential of behavioral economics to drive environmental protection and to contribute to the efficient design of policy instruments, as well as discussing pro-environmental behavior and how it is perceived or experienced. Topics covered in the course include: the basic relationship between the economy and ecology; the causes of environmental problems; the overexploitation of the natural basis of life; the essential meaning of the term “sustainable development”; relevant differences between schools of economic thought; instruments for environmental protection; the valuation of non-marketable effects/goods (stated & revealed preferences, SWB); environmental behavior (is it a sacrifice?); pro-environmental identity; and the connection between environmentally-friendly behavior and life satisfaction.
Syllabus
EC310 International Monetary Economics
Module: Global Economic Systems
Instructor: Marcus Giamattei
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 15:45-17:15 & Wed 9:00-10:30
International monetary economics seeks to advance an understanding of international flows of goods, services, and capital and the policy measures that are taken to organize and regulate these. This embraces global financial institutions as well as the practice of dealing with exchange rate risks and forecasts. What policies and variables affect the exchange rate, and can we forecast its development? In which currency should international traders invoice goods and financial transactions? Does foreign investment stimulate the economy? How should policymakers deal with a current account deficit? Is openness (to trade and finance) good? What roles should central banks and fiscal policy obtain, and might international relationships impede these? Do capital controls make sense? By working on these questions, students are enabled to understand the international context of individual economic decisions, to decipher the effects and deficits of globally operating financial institutions, and to obtain decision models that are relevant to practice.
Syllabus
EC320 Econometrics
Module: Econometrics
Instructor: Israel Waichman
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 14:00-15:30
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 and in particular assess the descriptiveness of economic theories, the economist needs to collect data and assess the empirical relationships between objects of interest. Since most economic data is non-experimental, 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 particular to test the accuracy of economic theories specifying a causal relationship between factors/events. This course expands on the basic statistics course by applying and developing core statistical notions within an economic context. In particular, we will learn how to estimate linear regressions and their requirements for causal inference. We will also learn how to deal with cases when the requirements are not fully met (e.g., the endogeneity problem, the binary outcome model, etc.). The course develops literacy in applied economics, and the capacity to analyze field data, as well as cultivating the ability to assess claims made in that field through critique of methods of econometric analysis. The course will introduce students to the statistical software package Stata, which will be used to analyze data applying the methods learned.
Prerequisites: Students shall have completed Statistics and Microeconomics before enrolling in this course.
Syllabus
Ethics and Politics Advanced Modules
All courses are cross-listed with Politics
HI307 Science Faces Trial: Early Modern Thinkers and the Roman Inquisition
Module: Law, Politics and Society
Instructor: Andrea Ottone
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Wed & Fri 10:45-12:15
During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, Western culture experienced a burst in philosophical and scientific innovation. While the embryonic form of modern empirical science was taking shape, the Roman Church was realigning its ideological and institutional structure in the pursuit of a restrictive definition of moral and religious orthodoxy. The premises and outcomes of these two readjustments clashed repeatedly over time in a process of progressive separation. When collisions occur, the traces that remain can serve the purpose of factual investigation. This seminar will investigate these traces to define the identity of both parties to the conflict, and to outline the nature of the ongoing struggle between them. Ultimately, this will be a tangential way of looking at the process of the secularization of western society. To present the two contenders at play, we will consider an overview of the structure and purpose of the early modern scientific community as well as the structure and function of the Roman Inquisition. We will take both phenomena on their own terms and examine the seriousness and coherence of their irreconcilable approaches. We will then look at a few illuminating cases. Secondary sources will consolidate our understanding of the general framework. Later in the semester we will undertake a close reading of primary sources such as inquisitorial trials and apologetic texts.
Syllabus
PT304 The Soviet Experience: A Postcolonial Assessment
Module: Movements and Thinkers / Global Social Theory
Instructor: Ewa Atanassow
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 9:00-10:30
Why do postcolonial studies privilege Western imperialism and typically exclude from their remit the historical experience of the Soviet empire? In a search for answers, this course will examine the theory and history of the USSR and its “replica states” in Eastern Europe and beyond. We’ll begin by probing the social and political theory of revolutionary Marxism, which supplied the ideological foundation of the Soviet regime, and then turn to consider its contested practice in the various dimensions - economic, institutional, scientific, cultural and political - of Soviet life. On our way, we’ll encounter an array of personages: thinkers and artists, scientists and political actors, dissidents and human rights activists. We will interrogate their self-understanding and how they envisioned the promises and pitfalls of the social and political experiment that was the USSR.
Syllabus
PT358 Critical Human Rights and Humanitarian Advocacy/ Scholars At Risk
Module: Civic Engagement and Social Justice
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate and Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirements
Instructor: Kerry Bystrom
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 15:45-17:15
Scholars, students, and other researchers around the world are routinely threatened, jailed, or punished. Sometimes they are simply trapped in a dangerous place, while in other cases they are deliberately targeted because of their identity or their work. Academic freedom, or freedom of thought and inquiry, is usually considered a basic human right, but its definition and content is essentially contested. This seminar will explore the idea of academic freedom by examining - and attempting to intervene in - situations where it is threatened. In conjunction with the human rights organization Scholars at Risk, we will investigate the cases of scholars currently living under threat and develop projects aimed at releasing them from detention or securing refuge for them. This will involve direct hands-on advocacy work with SAR, taking public positions and creating smart and effective advocacy campaigns for specific endangered students, teachers, and researchers. In order not to do this naively or uncritically, our action-oriented work will be paired throughout the semester with critical reflection on human rights and humanitarian advocacy more generally. Through readings about the historical rise of human rights and humanitarianism as paradigms for creating a better world--as well as the pitfalls of these paradigms--and by engaging with texts that outline the ethical and practical challenges of doing advocacy, we will together work towards creating an intellectual framework that allows us to be more attentive, deliberate and effective advocates for social change.
Syllabus
SC250 Science Communication
Module: Movements and Thinkers
This course also fulfills the mathematics and science requirement for humanities students.
Instructor: Maria Avxentevskaya
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 15:45-19:00
This course is being offered as an OSUN online course and will include students joining from other OSUN universities.
Making sense of scientific information has become part of our daily lives. Whether it be questions about digital data, vaccination, or the environment, all of them involve interpreting scientific materials. At the same time, scientists in a variety of fields also need to get their insights across to the public and policymakers. 'Science communication' occurs when society and science meet on common ground. However, that often requires a willingness to consider uncomfortable questions that may arise in democratic debates about specific policies. How to bring society and science into a dialogue for the benefit of mankind? This course will discuss science communication as a process that produces shared evidence and mechanisms of persuasion. We will look at how metaphors help bring astounding discoveries to whole new audiences, how rhetoric can foster and shatter scientific expertise, and how scientific debates help cultural minorities achieve their social and political goals. We will explore contentious socio-scientific issues in genetics, AI automation, and space exploration in a series of case studies that will begin with early modernity and reach into the future of how science communication may help make a difference in people’s lives. We will learn how to craft science stories, create science podcasts, and collaborate with artists to improve mutual understanding between science and society. These skills are also part of the job of a professional in science communication, which has grown in popularity as a branch of public relations. The students will complete their own mini-research projects and work towards online publications in science communication.
Syllabus
SE291 Social Justice and the Body
Module: Civic Engagement and Social Justice
Instructor: Cassandra Ellerbe
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate requirement
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon 12:30-15:30
The lived experience of the human body forms in many ways the cornerstone of human identity. As we move throughout the social world and interact with various human groups, we see that our bodies create, maintain and perpetuate power dynamics. However, certain human bodies are disproportionately exposed to numerous forms of violence and inequalities. In this course, we will explore and critically examine social justice movements from a body-centered perspective, as well as what bodies do in and how they affect such movements. Select case studies from various areas of the Global North and South and historical periods will assist us in this exploration. The goal here is to not only examine the interconnection between various forms of oppression such as colonialism, racism, environmental exploitation, militarized or police aggression, femicide etc., but also to understand the ways in which awareness of the body’s power and limitations (vulnerability or defiance) are experienced in relationship to participation in social justice movements. Utilizing an interdisciplinary and critical analytical approach to knowledge production; we will focus upon and interrogate why certain bodies are ascribed less value, considered to disrupt and question state sanctioned norms, and treated as readily disposable.
Syllabus
SO281 Feminist Approaches to International Law
Modules: Global Social Theory / Law, Politics, and Society
Instructor: Zeynep Kivilcim
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 14:00-17:15
Law as a discourse can have a tendency to privilege certain claims and voices over others. The course aims to read international law through a gendered lens and to search out the sexed and gendered subjectivity in its rhetoric and institutions. It will study the gender divide in international institutions where international law is made, implemented or enforced. The course will then critically approach the lack of participation of women and LGBTQ in international policy, decision-making and in the judicial bodies that have an influence on legal practice and individual and collective circumstances. It will discuss the questions of gender within the international human rights legal framework, gender-related aspects of international refugee protection, the gendered dimensions of globalization and feminization of poverty, as well as the impact of the absence of any explicit gender concerns from international economic law.
Syllabus
The following courses are cross-listed with Literature and Rhetoric as well as Politics:
LT309 German Theories of Vegetable Genius; or, Posthumanism before the Anthropocene
Module: Movements and Thinkers
Instructor: Ross Shields
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 9:00-12:15
The philosophical definition of the human as a rational animal separates us from the botanical world even more completely than from the zoological. Animals, it was long presumed, have at least something analogous to our own mental life, whereas plants simply vegetate (think: “couch potato”). But botanists in recent decades have increasingly put this view into question: plants are now recognized to have perception, memory, communication, and even the ability to learn. Conversely, the idea that humans and animals are ontologically superior forms of life has been criticized as a bestial brand of chauvinism that distorts our relationship to the natural world. This course will ask how the ‘vegetable Other’ challenges us to rethink what it means to be human. Starting from the “German theories of vegetable genius” described by M.H. Abrams, we will trace an underground current of botanical thought through romanticism and transcendentalism to contemporary ecology. Special attention will be paid to literary and philosophical representations that problematize the plant/human divide, by either anthropomorphizing plants or describing human activity in botanical terms. Readings by Leibniz, Kant, Herder, Goethe, Young, Novalis, Schlegel, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Whitehead, Döblin, Deleuze, Haraway, Latour, Stengers, Coccia.
Syllabus
LT356 (Re-)Writing a Politics of Belonging in Contemporary American Literature
Module: Movements and Thinkers
Instructor: Kathy-Ann Tan
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Fri 9:00-12:15
This course is being offered as an OSUN online course and will include students joining from other OSUN universities.
How much has changed in the USA since President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021? While certainly a relief for many following the years of the Trump presidency, have the promises of “repair”, “building” and “healing” the nation made in Biden’s inauguration speech been followed through? In this seminar, we will read a selection of texts from recent US-American literature that seek, through the act of writing, to reconfigure a sense of belonging and collective identity in turbulent times of global pandemic and political struggle. We will also examine how selected works of literature by queer writers and writers of color lay bare and critique the intersectional structures of oppression, exclusion and marginalization that are still prevalent in America. Above all, our goal will be to understand the fraught, creative dynamics of “belonging” in America and the role of literature in shaping the social. Includes readings by Ijeoma Oluo, Cathy Park Hong, Brit Bennett, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Ocean Vuong, Claudia Rankine, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Akwaeke Emezi, Amanda Gorman.
Syllabus
PT241 Feminism and Community
Module: Movements and Thinkers
Instructors: Laura Scuriatti and Ulrike Wagner (BCB)
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed, 14:00-15:30; Students should also keep Thu 9-10:30 free for 3-4 online OSUN sessions
OSUN network course at Bard College Berlin and BRAC University
As a political project with deep roots in the Enlightenment, feminism has been concerned with the relationship between individuals and their political and social communities from its inception. For centuries women had experienced that the societies they inhabited did not consider them as individuals, citizens and members of the community with equal rights. The course examines a variety of feminist projects as they grew out of these experiences, and took on distinctive shapes, developing practices and theoretical frameworks all geared toward assessing, questioning and refashioning women’s places, voices and legal status in their respective societies, thus also addressing notions of community, collectivity, and democracy. We will also look at today’s globally connected community-building practices and examine how these joint efforts have given way to newly conceived notions of society and community in intersectional feminist theories. Students will examine texts and practices of reading, writing, and conversation ranging from the sociability cultivated by elite women during the Haskala (the Jewish Enlightenment in Germany) to contemporary feminist theories of intersectionality, via the literary and political works of feminist artists and activists through the twentieth century. Amongst the authors read in the course are: Henriette Herz, Rahel Varnhagen, Hannah Arendt, Fanny Lewald, George Sand, Germaine de Stael, Mary Wollstonecraft, Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, Alexandra Kollontai, Virginia Woolf, Georg Simmel, Ferdinand Tönnies, Claudia Jones, Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies, Uma Narayan, Saba Mahmood, Gloria Anzaldúa, Alice Walker, Luisa Passerini, bell hooks, Adrienne Rich, Silvia Federici, Judith Butler, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Amina Jamal, Michael Hart, Antonio Negri, Ann Ferguson, Dubravka Ugresic, and Carmen Gaite. As part of the course, students from both campuses (BCB and BRAC) will work on group assignments throughout the semester, aimed at preparing a course lexicon and online resources together with faculty. The results of the collaborative work will be presented at a final workshop with all participants in Berlin.
Syllabus
PT320 Discussing Deutschland: What Germans Are Talking About Today (in German)
Module: Law, Politics and Society / Civic Engagement and Social Justice
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Michael Thomas Taylor
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 9:00-12:15
This course engages pressing debates in German media today, asking about the issues and forms of discourse that shape German politics and social life. It is structured around visits to cultural sites, events, and organizations in Berlin, along with topics chosen from current media by the participants in cooperation with the instructor. These may include visits to museums, political parties, NGOs, or media producers. Reflecting the ongoing shift of public life to online venues, we will also examine the virtual presence of these traditionally site-based forms of publicness in relation to old and new media. In addition to the study of current public debates and civic engagement, the purpose of this course is to refine and advance your ability to articulate yourself verbally and in writing through constant vocabulary building.
NB: Students taking the class should have a B2 proficiency level in German or higher.
Syllabus
The following courses are cross-listed with Art and Aesthetics as well as Politics:
SE306 Performing Water: Environmental Crisis in Art and Literature
Module: Movements and Thinkers
Instructor: Ramona Mosse
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 9:00-12:15
How does water shape our lives? In this course we will explore water as a resource, medium, and metaphor in order to understand how environmental breakdown has become represented in contemporary cultural production. In doing so, we will draw on the UN’s 2010 declaration of water as a human right and the increasing importance of hydro-politics that negotiate water scarcity as well as rising sea levels. Students will be introduced to central discourses in the environmental humanities and models of eco-critical thinking that reformulate the relationship between the human and extra-human worlds; the notion of “thinking with water” will play a crucial role here to identify alternative knowledge practices. Topics will include the nature/culture divide, Anthropocene debates, environmental histories of capitalism/colonialism, cli-fi and dystopia as well as questions of environmental activism in relation to real-life water crises. The course combines readings on the history, philosophy and politics of water (e.g. Rupert Glasgow’s The Concept of Water; David L. Sedlak’s Water 4.0; Jamie Linton’s What is Water? The History of a Modern Abstraction) alongside artistic engagements with water across literature and the visual and performing arts, including works such as Amitav Ghosh’s novel Gun Island, Jason deCaires Taylor’s underwater sculptures and Olafur Eliasson’s environmental installations, Sabrina Mahfouz’ play The History of Water in the Middle East, the sound art of A.M. Kanngieser, as well as Sarnath Banerjee’s graphic novel All Quiet in Vikaspuri. The course will include field trips and participate in the online guest speaker series "Performing Water", co- organized with Le Mans Université and their digital research platform www.performingwater.org. We will also share discussion sessions with a paired seminar at Le Mans Université. Assessment will be based on active participation in class, a presentation, a midterm essay as well as a creative final digital media project.
Syllabus
Literature and Rhetoric Advanced Modules
LT291 Berlin Outsider: History, Politics, Film, Text
Module: Writer and World
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Sam Dolbear
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 17:30-19:00
This course will introduce students to a modern history of the city of Berlin, post-1918. It will do this through a weekly doubling of text (history, fiction, and theory) and image (mostly film) that engage with those who lived on margins of the city, and those who traveled from outside to make Berlin their (often temporary) home. The course aims to provide space for creative engagement and exploration of the urban space; to spend time with texts and film in the classroom, and, ultimately, to transform the streets into an object of study. By the end of the course, students will have a wide and detailed appreciation of a modern history of the city, its aesthetic sensibilities, and its counter-cultural formations. Sequences of the course will include Thinking History: Rosa von Praunheim’s Anita – Tänze des Lasters from 1988, combined with a walking tour with Finn Ballard on queer history of Berlin; Thinking Disaster: a screening of Roberto Rossellini’s Germany, Year Zero (1948), and an essay by W. G. Sebald from On the Natural History of Destruction (1999); Thinking Queerness: Christopher Isherwood’s novel Goodbye to Berlin (1939) with Cabaret (1972) and Nur zum Spaß, nur zum Spiel – Kaleidoskop Valeska Gert (1977); Thinking Race/Queerness: Audre Lorde - The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992 (Dagmar Schultz, 2012) alongside Lorde’s writing; Thinking childhood: Walter Benjamin’s Berlin Childhood around 1990 (1932-38), taught both in the seminar room and also through a walk in the Tiergarten; Thinking Experience: Adrian Piper’s Escape to Berlin: A Travel Memoir (2018); Thinking Decadence: Ulrike Ottinger’s Ticket of No Return (1979) and finally, Thinking Violence: Yvonne Rainer’s Journeys from Berlin/1971 (1980) with Walter Benjamin’s “Critique of Violence” (1921).
Syllabus
LT326 Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop
Module: Producing Literature / Writer and World
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Gavin McCrea
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course times: Tue & Thu 10:45-12:15
As writers, we’re constantly learning how to do what we do. There will never come a moment in our writing career when we will be able to say, “Now I know for certain how this is done.” Ours is, and will remain, the role of the doubter, the questioner, the analyzer, the student. Where does our writing come from? The answer, simply, is other writing. It is by learning how to read writing that we become writers. In order to grow and develop as writers, we must read regularly and widely. But the quantity of works we read will count for nothing if we do not learn how to read carefully. If we do not approach every book, chapter, page, paragraph, sentence as an opportunity to find out what we like and why we like it, what we dislike and why we dislike it, and, importantly, what we will choose to emulate or to recast in our own work. Reading carefully in this way, for this purpose, means slowing down. It means forgetting the race to the end, overcoming the desire to get on to the next story, the next book, and instead approaching each page as a world to immerse ourselves in. This course, then, is an antidote to fast judgements, fast fashions, speed reading, speed writing. In it, we will slowly and carefully analyze a number of short fictional texts in order to learn specific lessons about certain themes relevant to all fiction writing. We will then put these lessons into practice in our own writing. Each week, at home, we will read a short story or a novel extract. In class we will perform close textual analyses of a number of passages from that week’s text. During these analyses, we will not be overly concerned with rhetorical jargon (although some of that might be useful). Our focus, really, will be on identifying what information the writer is transmitting in a specific unit of text, how she conveys that information, what she seems to hide or elide, what questions she is trying to answer and what further questions her answers raise. Why did the writer convey the information in this way, and not in another? What specific techniques did she use? Faced with the task of conveying similar sort of information, how would we ourselves proceed? In addition to the reading, we will perform a series of writing experiments. These experiments will spring from our in-class textual analyses. For example, having spent some time in class looking at how the writer constructs a specific transition between the narrative present and the narrative past, we might set ourselves the task of writing a short piece of prose containing a similar kind of transition. We will be invited to share our experiments in class. Here, the idea is to show our writing in a raw state, as fragments that have yet to be built upon or integrated into larger narrative bodies. Structured around specific themes, seminars will be devoted to sharing writing experiments and performing close textual analyses and writing exercises.
Syllabus
LT329 The Writing Life
Module: Producing Literature / Writer and World
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Martin Widmann
Credits: 8 ECTS Credits, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 10:45-12:15
This course is designed for students who are interested in the various and multiple intersections of literary studies, creative writing and the publishing world. To find out how the literary scene works and develops in Berlin and elsewhere, we will examine lines of tradition and current trends in German writing, both literary and other. Students will learn to engage with literature beyond the page by exploring questions such as: how do manuscripts get published and/or become books? What role do journals and magazines play, both corporate and independent, in the literary scene? How do writers make a living and what are the functions of literary awards, fellowships etc.? Where do the German and international literary communities interact? And how do writers and publishers respond to the challenges of the digital era? Areas to be covered by the reading material include translation, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobooks and the book market. In addition to seminar discussions there will be field trips to literary institutions, publishing houses, magazines and events, such as readings and talks during the internationales literaturfestival berlin (ilb) in September. Guest speakers will include professionals from the world of publishing: editors, translators, journalists and writers.
NB: Reading material and discussions will be both in German and English; students should therefore have B2 level competence of German.
Syllabus
The following courses are cross-listed with Ethics and Politics:
LT309 German Theories of Vegetable Genius; or, Posthumanism before the Anthropocene
Module: Literary Movements and Forms
Instructor: Ross Shields
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 9:00-12:15
The philosophical definition of the human as a rational animal separates us from the botanical world even more completely than from the zoological. Animals, it was long presumed, have at least something analogous to our own mental life, whereas plants simply vegetate (think: “couch potato”). But botanists in recent decades have increasingly put this view into question: plants are now recognized to have perception, memory, communication, and even the ability to learn. Conversely, the idea that humans and animals are ontologically superior forms of life has been criticized as a bestial brand of chauvinism that distorts our relationship to the natural world. This course will ask how the ‘vegetable Other’ challenges us to rethink what it means to be human. Starting from the “German theories of vegetable genius” described by M.H. Abrams, we will trace an underground current of botanical thought through romanticism and transcendentalism to contemporary ecology. Special attention will be paid to literary and philosophical representations that problematize the plant/human divide, by either anthropomorphizing plants or describing human activity in botanical terms. Readings by Leibniz, Kant, Herder, Goethe, Young, Novalis, Schlegel, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Whitehead, Döblin, Deleuze, Haraway, Latour, Stengers, Coccia.
Syllabus
LT356 (Re-)Writing a Politics of Belonging in Contemporary American Literature
Module: Writer and World / Literary Movements and Forms
Instructor: Kathy-Ann Tan
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Fri 9:00-12:15
This course is being offered as an OSUN online course and will include students joining from other OSUN universities.
How much has changed in the USA since President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021? While certainly a relief for many following the years of the Trump presidency, have the promises of “repair”, “building” and “healing” the nation made in Biden’s inauguration speech been followed through? In this seminar, we will read a selection of texts from recent US-American literature that seek, through the act of writing, to reconfigure a sense of belonging and collective identity in turbulent times of global pandemic and political struggle. We will also examine how selected works of literature by queer writers and writers of color lay bare and critique the intersectional structures of oppression, exclusion and marginalization that are still prevalent in America. Above all, our goal will be to understand the fraught, creative dynamics of “belonging” in America and the role of literature in shaping the social. Includes readings by Ijeoma Oluo, Cathy Park Hong, Brit Bennett, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Ocean Vuong, Claudia Rankine, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Akwaeke Emezi, Amanda Gorman.
Syllabus
PT241 Feminism and Community
Module: Theories of Literature and Culture / Writer and World
Instructors: Laura Scuriatti and Ulrike Wagner (BCB)
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 14:00-15:30; Students should also keep Thu 9-10:30 free for 3-4 online OSUN sessions
OSUN network course at Bard College Berlin and BRAC University.
As a political project with deep roots in the Enlightenment, feminism has been concerned with the relationship between individuals and their political and social communities from its inception. For centuries women had experienced that the societies they inhabited did not consider them as individuals, citizens and members of the community with equal rights. The course examines a variety of feminist projects as they grew out of these experiences, and took on distinctive shapes, developing practices and theoretical frameworks all geared toward assessing, questioning and refashioning women’s places, voices and legal status in their respective societies, thus also addressing notions of community, collectivity, and democracy. We will also look at today’s globally connected community-building practices and examine how these joint efforts have given way to newly conceived notions of society and community in intersectional feminist theories. Students will examine texts and practices of reading, writing, and conversation ranging from the sociability cultivated by elite women during the Haskala (the Jewish Enlightenment in Germany) to contemporary feminist theories of intersectionality, via the literary and political works of feminist artists and activists through the twentieth century. Amongst the authors read in the course are: Henriette Herz, Rahel Varnhagen, Hannah Arendt, Fanny Lewald, George Sand, Germaine de Stael, Mary Wollstonecraft, Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, Alexandra Kollontai, Virginia Woolf, Georg Simmel, Ferdinand Tönnies, Claudia Jones, Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies, Uma Narayan, Saba Mahmood, Gloria Anzaldúa, Alice Walker, Luisa Passerini, bell hooks, Adrienne Rich, Silvia Federici, Judith Butler, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Amina Jamal, Michael Hart, Antonio Negri, Ann Ferguson, Dubravka Ugresic, and Carmen Gaite. As part of the course, students from both campuses (BCB and BRAC) will work on group assignments throughout the semester, aimed at preparing a course lexicon and online resources together with faculty. The results of the collaborative work will be presented at a final workshop with all participants in Berlin.
Syllabus
PT320 Discussing Deutschland: What Germans Are Talking About Today (in German)
Module: Writer and World / Literary Movements and Forms
Instructor: Michael Thomas Taylor
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 9:00-12:15
This course engages pressing debates in German media today, asking about the issues and forms of discourse that shape German politics and social life. It is structured around visits to cultural sites, events, and organizations in Berlin, along with topics chosen from current media by the participants in cooperation with the instructor. These may include visits to museums, political parties, NGOs, or media producers. Reflecting the ongoing shift of public life to online venues, we will also examine the virtual presence of these traditionally site-based forms of publicness in relation to old and new media. In addition to the study of current public debates and civic engagement, the purpose of this course is to refine and advance your ability to articulate yourself verbally and in writing through constant vocabulary building.
NB: Students taking the class should have a B2 proficiency level in German or higher
Syllabus
The following class is cross-listed with Art and Aesthetics:
TH310 Bertolt Brecht: The Study and Staging of Epic Theater
Module: Writer and World
Course Instructor: Julia Hart
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Wed 15:45-19:00
Nowhere else can Bertolt Brecht's presence be felt more than in the streets of Berlin. But what is the Epic Theater he is so famous for and what influence does it have on stage in Berlin's current theater scene? This course will not study the plays of Brecht as literature, but students will be in dialogue with Brecht as one of the most revolutionary theatermakers of the 20th Century. This seminar will introduce students to Brecht's theoretical texts on the epic theater such as A Short Organum for the Theater and The Street Scene. Students will not only analyze these provocative theater techniques, but will try to use Brecht's specific acting and directing exercises and devices in rehearsal. Throughout the semester, students will act and direct scenes from two of Brecht's plays: Mother Courage and Her Children and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui to investigate how Brecht and his ensemble worked. This course includes visits to the Bertolt Brecht Archive and several theater productions in Berlin, including the Berliner Ensemble, to question Brecht's footprint on German theater today.
Syllabus
Politics Advanced Modules
PS271 US Foreign Policy
Module: Advanced Topics in Global and Comparative Politics / Public Policy
Coordinator: Aaron Allen
Credits: 8 ECTS credits, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 10:45-12:15
This multidisciplinary course explores the structural evolution of the United States’ role in the world and the institutions shaping elite policy-making. Through an interactive approach, students will be able to contextualize contemporary American foreign policy challenges from their geographic, material, and ideational roots. Furthermore, course activities and assignments are tailored to assist students in becoming foreign policy practitioners fully capable of applying national security decision theories. The curriculum threads together historical cases, international relations scholarship, and security studies in order to provide a holistic understanding of all the constituent parts influencing America’s external posture. How did a nation once known for its relatively isolationist disposition become a global superpower and key enforcer of the liberal international order? What are the unique attributes of American-style foreign policy that have remained consistent across presidential administrations since the end of World War II? A critical appraisal of topics such as hard and soft power, alliances, globalization and multilateralism, bureaucratic politics, and the rise of the military industrial complex offers students the necessary tools to answer these core questions. The complementary emphasis on professional development will allow participants to garner practical skills through simulations, seminar debates, and presentations.
Syllabus
The following courses are cross-listed with Ethics and Politics:
HI307 Science Faces Trial: Early Modern Thinkers and the Roman Inquisition
Module: Philosophy and Society
Instructor: Andrea Ottone
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Wed & Fri 10:45-12:15
During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, Western culture experienced a burst in philosophical and scientific innovation. While the embryonic form of modern empirical science was taking shape, the Roman Church was realigning its ideological and institutional structure in the pursuit of a restrictive definition of moral and religious orthodoxy. The premises and outcomes of these two readjustments clashed repeatedly over time in a process of progressive separation. When collisions occur, the traces that remain can serve the purpose of factual investigation. This seminar will investigate these traces to define the identity of both parties to the conflict, and to outline the nature of the ongoing struggle between them. Ultimately, this will be a tangential way of looking at the process of the secularization of western society. To present the two contenders at play, we will consider an overview of the structure and purpose of the early modern scientific community as well as the structure and function of the Roman Inquisition. We will take both phenomena on their own terms and examine the seriousness and coherence of their irreconcilable approaches. We will then look at a few illuminating cases. Secondary sources will consolidate our understanding of the general framework. Later in the semester we will undertake a close reading of primary sources such as inquisitorial trials and apologetic texts.
Syllabus
PT304 The Soviet Experience: A Postcolonial Assessment
Module: Advanced Topics in Global and Comparative Politics
Instructor: Ewa Atanassow
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue & Thu 9:00-10:30
Why does postcolonial studies privilege Western imperialism, and typically exclude from its remit the historical experience of the Soviet empire? In a search for answers, this course will examine the theory and history of the USSR, and its “replica states” in Eastern Europe and beyond. We’ll begin by probing the social and political theory of revolutionary Marxism, which supplied the ideological foundation of the Soviet regime, and then turn to consider its contested reception and the various dimensions - economic, institutional, scientific, cultural and political - of Soviet life. On our way, we’ll encounter an array of personages: thinkers and artists, scientists and political actors, dissidents and human rights activists, and interrogate their self-understanding and how they envisioned the social and political experiment that was the USSR.
Syllabus
PT358 Critical Human Rights and Humanitarian Advocacy/ Scholars At Risk
Module: Civic Engagement and Social Justice
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Kerry Bystrom
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 15:45-17:15
Scholars, students, and other researchers around the world are routinely threatened, jailed, or punished. Sometimes they are simply trapped in a dangerous place, while in other cases they are deliberately targeted because of their identity or their work. Academic freedom, or freedom of thought and inquiry, is usually considered a basic human right, but its definition and content is essentially contested. This seminar will explore the idea of academic freedom by examining - and attempting to intervene in - situations where it is threatened. In conjunction with the human rights organization Scholars at Risk, we will investigate the cases of scholars currently living under threat and develop projects aimed at releasing them from detention or securing refuge for them. This will involve direct hands-on advocacy work with SAR, taking public positions and creating smart and effective advocacy campaigns for specific endangered students, teachers, and researchers. In order not to do this naively or uncritically, our action-oriented work will be paired throughout the semester with critical reflection on human rights and humanitarian advocacy more generally. Through readings about the historical rise of human rights and humanitarianism as paradigms for creating a better world--as well as the pitfalls of these paradigms--and by engaging with texts that outline the ethical and practical challenges of doing advocacy, we will together work towards creating an intellectual framework that allows us to be more attentive, deliberate and effective advocates for social change.
Syllabus
SC250 Science Communication
Module: Philosophy and Society
This course also fulfills the mathematics and science requirement for humanities students.
Instructor: Maria Avxentevskaya
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 15:45-19:00
This course is being offered as an OSUN online course and will include students joining from other OSUN universities.
Making sense of scientific information has become part of our daily lives. Whether it be questions about digital data, vaccination, or the environment, all of them involve interpreting scientific materials. At the same time, scientists in a variety of fields also need to get their insights across to the public and policymakers. 'Science communication' occurs when society and science meet on common ground. However, that often requires a willingness to consider uncomfortable questions that may arise in democratic debates about specific policies. How to bring society and science into a dialogue for the benefit of mankind? This course will discuss science communication as a process that produces shared evidence and mechanisms of persuasion. We will look at how metaphors help bring astounding discoveries to whole new audiences, how rhetoric can foster and shatter scientific expertise, and how scientific debates help cultural minorities achieve their social and political goals. We will explore contentious socio-scientific issues in genetics, AI automation, and space exploration in a series of case studies that will begin with early modernity and reach into the future of how science communication may help make a difference in people’s lives. We will learn how to craft science stories, create science podcasts, and collaborate with artists to improve mutual understanding between science and society. These skills are also part of the job of a professional in science communication, which has grown in popularity as a branch of public relations. The students will complete their own mini-research projects and work towards online publications in science communication.
Syllabus
SE291 Social Justice and the Body
Module: Civic Engagement and Social Justice
Instructor: Cassandra Ellerbe
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate requirement
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon 12:30-15:30
The lived experience of the human body forms in many ways the cornerstone of human identity. As we move throughout the social world and interact with various human groups, we see that our bodies create, maintain and perpetuate power dynamics. However, certain human bodies are disproportionately exposed to numerous forms of violence and inequalities. In this course, we will explore and critically examine social justice movements from a body-centered perspective, as well as what bodies do in and how they affect such movements. Select case studies from various areas of the Global North and South and historical periods will assist us in this exploration. The goal here is to not only examine the interconnection between various forms of oppression such as colonialism, racism, environmental exploitation, militarized or police aggression, femicide etc., but also to understand the ways in which awareness of the body’s power and limitations (vulnerability or defiance) are experienced in relationship to participation in social justice movements. Utilizing an interdisciplinary and critical analytical approach to knowledge production; we will focus upon and interrogate why certain bodies are ascribed less value, considered to disrupt and question state sanctioned norms, and treated as readily disposable.
Syllabus
SO281 Feminist Approaches to International Law
Modules: Advanced Topics in Global and Comparative Politics
Instructor: Zeynep Kivilcim
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 14:00-17:15
Law as a discourse can have a tendency to privilege certain claims and voices over others. The course aims to read international law through a gendered lens and to search out the sexed and gendered subjectivity in its rhetoric and institutions. It will study the gender divide in international institutions where international law is made, implemented or enforced. The course will then critically approach the lack of participation of women and LGBTQ in international policy, decision-making and in the judicial bodies that have an influence on legal practice and individual and collective circumstances. It will discuss the questions of gender within the international human rights legal framework, gender-related aspects of international refugee protection, the gendered dimensions of globalization and feminization of poverty, as well as the impact of the absence of any explicit gender concerns from international economic law.
Syllabus
The following courses are cross-listed with Literature and Rhetoric as well as Ethics and Politics:
LT309 German Theories of Vegetable Genius; or, Posthumanism before the Anthropocene
Module: Philosophy and Society
Instructor: Ross Shields
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 9:00-12:15
The philosophical definition of the human as a rational animal separates us from the botanical world even more completely than from the zoological. Animals, it was long presumed, have at least something analogous to our own mental life, whereas plants simply vegetate (think: “couch potato”). But botanists in recent decades have increasingly put this view into question: plants are now recognized to have perception, memory, communication, and even the ability to learn. Conversely, the idea that humans and animals are ontologically superior forms of life has been criticized as a bestial brand of chauvinism that distorts our relationship to the natural world. This course will ask how the ‘vegetable Other’ challenges us to rethink what it means to be human. Starting from the “German theories of vegetable genius” described by M.H. Abrams, we will trace an underground current of botanical thought through romanticism and transcendentalism to contemporary ecology. Special attention will be paid to literary and philosophical representations that problematize the plant/human divide, by either anthropomorphizing plants or describing human activity in botanical terms. Readings by Leibniz, Kant, Herder, Goethe, Young, Novalis, Schlegel, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Shelley, Whitehead, Döblin, Deleuze, Haraway, Latour, Stengers, Coccia.
Syllabus
LT356 (Re-)Writing a Politics of Belonging in Contemporary American Literature
Module: Philosophy and Society
Instructor: Kathy-Ann Tan
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Fri 9:00-12:15
This course is being offered as an OSUN online course and will include students joining from other OSUN universities.
How much has changed in the USA since President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021? While certainly a relief for many following the years of the Trump presidency, have the promises of “repair”, “building” and “healing” the nation made in Biden’s inauguration speech been followed through? In this seminar, we will read a selection of texts from recent US-American literature that seek, through the act of writing, to reconfigure a sense of belonging and collective identity in turbulent times of global pandemic and political struggle. We will also examine how selected works of literature by queer writers and writers of color lay bare and critique the intersectional structures of oppression, exclusion and marginalization that are still prevalent in America. Above all, our goal will be to understand the fraught, creative dynamics of “belonging” in America and the role of literature in shaping the social. Includes readings by Ijeoma Oluo, Cathy Park Hong, Brit Bennett, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Ocean Vuong, Claudia Rankine, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Akwaeke Emezi, Amanda Gorman.
Syllabus
PT241 Feminism and Community
Module: Philosophy and Society
Instructors: Laura Scuriatti and Ulrike Wagner (BCB)
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 14:00-15:30; Students should also keep Thu 9-10:30 free for 3-4 online OSUN sessions
OSUN network course at Bard College Berlin and BRAC
As a political project with deep roots in the Enlightenment, feminism has been concerned with the relationship between individuals and their political and social communities from its inception. For centuries women had experienced that the societies they inhabited did not consider them as individuals, citizens and members of the community with equal rights. The course examines a variety of feminist projects as they grew out of these experiences, and took on distinctive shapes, developing practices and theoretical frameworks all geared toward assessing, questioning and refashioning women’s places, voices and legal status in their respective societies, thus also addressing notions of community, collectivity, and democracy. We will also look at today’s globally connected community-building practices and examine how these joint efforts have given way to newly conceived notions of society and community in intersectional feminist theories. Students will examine texts and practices of reading, writing, and conversation ranging from the sociability cultivated by elite women during the Haskala (the Jewish Enlightenment in Germany) to contemporary feminist theories of intersectionality, via the literary and political works of feminist artists and activists through the twentieth century. Amongst the authors read in the course are: Henriette Herz, Rahel Varnhagen, Hannah Arendt, Fanny Lewald, George Sand, Germaine de Stael, Mary Wollstonecraft, Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, Alexandra Kollontai, Virginia Woolf, Georg Simmel, Ferdinand Tönnies, Claudia Jones, Vandana Shiva, Maria Mies, Uma Narayan, Saba Mahmood, Gloria Anzaldúa, Alice Walker, Luisa Passerini, bell hooks, Adrienne Rich, Silvia Federici, Judith Butler, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Amina Jamal, Michael Hart, Antonio Negri, Ann Ferguson, Dubravka Ugresic, and Carmen Gaite. As part of the course, students from both campuses (BCB and BRAC) will work on group assignments throughout the semester, aimed at preparing a course lexicon and online resources together with faculty. The results of the collaborative work will be presented at a final workshop with all participants in Berlin.
Syllabus
PT320 Discussing Deutschland: What Germans Are Talking About Today (in German)
Module: Civic Engagement and Social Justice
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Michael Thomas Taylor
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 9:00-12:15
This course engages pressing debates in German media today, asking about the issues and forms of discourse that shape German politics and social life. It is structured around visits to cultural sites, events, and organizations in Berlin, along with topics chosen from current media by the participants in cooperation with the instructor. These may include visits to museums, political parties, NGOs, or media producers. Reflecting the ongoing shift of public life to online venues, we will also examine the virtual presence of these traditionally site-based forms of publicness in relation to old and new media. In addition to the study of current public debates and civic engagement, the purpose of this course is to refine and advance your ability to articulate yourself verbally and in writing through constant vocabulary building.
NB: Students taking the class should have a B2 proficiency level in German or higher
Syllabus
The following courses are cross-listed with Art and Aesthetics as well as Ethics and Politics:
SE306 Performing Water: Environmental Crisis in Art and Literature
Module: Philosophy and Society
Instructor: Ramona Mosse
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Tue 9:00-12:15
How does water shape our lives? In this course we will explore water as a resource, medium, and metaphor in order to understand how environmental breakdown has become represented in contemporary cultural production. In doing so, we will draw on the UN’s 2010 declaration of water as a human right and the increasing importance of hydro-politics that negotiate water scarcity as well as rising sea levels. Students will be introduced to central discourses in the environmental humanities and models of eco-critical thinking that reformulate the relationship between the human and extra-human worlds; the notion of “thinking with water” will play a crucial role here to identify alternative knowledge practices. Topics will include the nature/culture divide, Anthropocene debates, environmental histories of capitalism/colonialism, cli-fi and dystopia as well as questions of environmental activism in relationship to real-life water crises. The course combines readings on the history, philosophy and politics of water (e.g. Rupert Glasgow’s The Concept of Water; David L. Sedlak’s Water 4.0; Jamie Linton’s What is Water? The History of a Modern Abstraction) alongside artistic engagements with water across literature and the visual and performing arts, including works such as Amitav Ghosh’s novel Gun Island, Jason deCaires Taylor’s underwater sculptures and Olafur Eliasson’s environmental installations, Sabrina Mahfouz’ play The History of Water in the Middle East, the sound art of A.M. Kanngieser, as well as Sarnath Banerjee’s graphic novel All Quiet in Vikaspuri. The course will include field trips and participate in the online guest speaker series "Performing Water", co- organized with Le Mans Université and their digital research platform www.performingwater.org. We will also share discussion sessions with a paired seminar at Le Mans Université. Assessment will be based on active participation in class, a presentation, a midterm essay as well as a creative final digital media project.
Syllabus
Electives
FA107 Ceramics I
Instructor: Joon Park
Credits: 8 ECTS Credits, 4 U.S. Credits
Course time: Mon 15:45-19:00
This studio course covers the broad ceramics-making techniques at the foundational level. It explores a variety of ceramic materials and methods for the production of functional ware and ceramic art objects. Students learn basic skills of clay preparation, clay recycling, wheel-throwing, hand-building, slip casting, glazing, and applying decorations. The selected works will be glazed and fired in collaboration with the Ceramic Kingdom in Neukoelln.
Please note there is a fee of €50 for participation in this course to cover material expenses and firing processes. For registration, please send a brief statement of interest to Joon Park ([email protected]).
Syllabus
FA156 Dance Lab: Body Space Image. Dance and Visual Arts
Instructor: Eva Burghardt
Credits: 8 ECTS Credits, 4 U.S. Credits
Course time: Fri 9:30-12:45
In addition to the ongoing movement training as an essential base, the focus of this course will be in exploring the crossover of dance and visual arts, looking at dance and choreography outside of its usual context, the theatre space. Drawing from contemporary dance and improvisation techniques, students will train their body as an “instrument“, deepening its awareness, sense of presence and musicality, practicing listening to oneself as well as the others. Starting from this inner awareness, we bring attention to our surroundings, making connections to other bodies, objects, space and architecture. Weather permitting, we will leave the dance floor and take our explorations out into the neighborhood to work site specifically. How can we refresh our eyes and reshape experiences of known places with our present body? How can the experience of the surrounding inspire, inform and bring form to the dances within us or create relationships with the environment we live in. How does our body relate to forms, lines, textures, colors, sounds, the history or memories of a place? How does it change our experience of a place as a dancer or spectator? Open score improvisations and tasks will be given to be explored individually and with the group. A final presentation, including sketches, experiments and scores created by the students, will be shown at the end of the semester. Throughout the course, we will look at- and discuss works from artists who had a big impact in widening the understanding of dance and choreography, crossing the borders between dance and visual arts. From postmodern artists Trisha Brown, Simone Forti and Anna Halprin to contemporary artists, such as Tino Sehgal, William Forsythe, Willi Dorner or Anne Imhoff.
Two off-site excursions to performances in Berlin, including discussions and a written reflection afterwards, will be an integral part of the course.
Syllabus
FA188 The Art of Making Videos
Instructor: Janina Schabig
Credits: 8 ECTS Credits, 4 U.S. Credits
Course time: Mon 15:45-19:00
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
This beginners’ introduction course teaches the technical foundations of video making. You will be introduced to different kinds of cameras, learn all about your camera and how to use its manual settings, work with natural and studio lighting, record and design your own sound and learn how to edit in Adobe Premiere. We will look at feature films, documentaries, as well as experimental video art and vlogging to examine a range of different creative shooting styles and will use that for inspiration in hands-on workshops and small assignments throughout the semester. We will work on individual as well as group projects and will create a body of work ranging from short sound pieces to full videos. The goal of this course is to give you an understanding of the various creative choices within the art of making a video and the technical knowledge to help realize your visions.
Syllabus
IS331 Berlin Internship Seminar: Working Cultures, Urban Cultures (Group A)
Instructor: Florian Duijsens
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate requirement
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits (in combination with an internship)
Course time: Tue 14:00-15:30
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. Participation in this seminar depends on successful and timely application for the Internship Program.
Syllabus
IS331 Berlin Internship Seminar: Working Cultures, Urban Cultures (Group B)
Instructor: Asli Vatansever
Fulfills Civic Engagement Certificate requirement
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits (in combination with an internship)
Course time: Thu 14:00-15:30
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. Participation in this seminar depends on successful and timely application for the Internship Program.
Syllabus
Language Courses
GM101 German Beginner A1
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time:
Group A - Instructor: Adelaida Ivan: Mon & Wed & Fri 9:00-10:30 Syllabus
Group B - Instructor: Aleksandra Kudriashova: Mon & Wed & Fri 9:00-10:30 Syllabus
Group C - Instructor: Aleksandra Kudriashova: Mon & Wed & Fri 10:45-12:15 Syllabus
Group D - Instructor: Manuel Gebhardt: Mon & Wed & Fri 10:45-12:15 Syllabus
Group E - Instructor: Julia Gehring: Mon & Wed & Fri 14:00-15:30 Syllabus
Group F - Instructor: Ariane Faber: Mon & Wed & Fri 15:45-17:15 Syllabus
GM151 German Beginner A2
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time:
Group B - Instructor: Julia Gehring: Mon & Wed & Fri 15:45-17:15 Syllabus
GM201 German Intermediate B1
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time:
Group A - Instructor: Ariane Friedländer: Mon & Wed & Fri 9:00-10:30 Syllabus
Group B - Instructor: Ariane Friedländer: Mon & Wed & Fri 10:45-12:15 Syllabus
Group C - Instructor: Christiane Bethke: Mon & Wed & Fri 14:00-15:30 Syllabus
Group D - Instructor: Christiane Bethke: Mon & Wed & Fri 15:45-17:15 Syllabus
GM251 German Intermediate B2
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time:
Group B - Instructor: Florian Scherübl: Mon & Wed & Fri 9:00-10:30 Syllabus
GM301 German Advanced C1
Instructor: Ulrike Harnisch
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed & Fri 15:45-17:15
Syllabus
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.
GM150 German Conversation
Instructor: Tabea Weitz
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Wed & Fri 9:00-10:30
The course is designed to help students boost their speaking skills and communicate in German with ease and confidence. Understanding and responding to what people speak on the street and in everyday situations poses challenges for many language learners; the course will tackle these challenges hands-on and from multiple angles, always with an eye toward what is most useful for students stepping beyond the “English language bubble” on campus. Classes will be structured around topics of student interest and combine vocabulary building and pronunciation exercises with the creation of various speaking scenarios where students practice expressing themselves spontaneously and explore dialects, accents and modes of intonation. The course is open to students who have completed A1 or have at least a basic understanding of the German language; the objective of the course is to create a comfortable speaking environment for beginners to advanced learners.
Syllabus
LT329 The Writing Life
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Martin Widmann
Credits: 8 ECTS Credits, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Mon & Wed 10:45-12:15
This course is designed for students who are interested in the various and multiple intersections of literary studies, creative writing and the publishing world. To find out how the literary scene works and develops in Berlin and elsewhere, we will examine lines of tradition and current trends in German writing, both literary and other. Students will learn to engage with literature beyond the page by exploring questions such as: how do manuscripts get published and/or become books? What role do journals and magazines play, both corporate and independent, in the literary scene? How do writers make a living and what are the functions of literary awards, fellowships etc.? Where do the German and international literary communities interact? And how do writers and publishers respond to the challenges of the digital era? Areas to be covered by the reading material include translation, non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobooks and the book market. In addition to seminar discussions there will be field trips to literary institutions, publishing houses, magazines and events, such as readings and talks during the internationales literaturfestival berlin (ilb) in September. Guest speakers will include professionals from the world of publishing: editors, translators, journalists and writers.
NB: Reading material and discussions will be both in German and English; students should therefore have B2 level competence of German.
Syllabus
PT320 Discussing Deutschland: What Germans Are Talking About Today (in German)
Fulfills Transnational Media and Journalism Certificate requirement
Instructor: Michael Thomas Taylor
Credits: 8 ECTS, 4 U.S. credits
Course time: Thu 9:00-12:15
This course engages pressing debates in German media today, asking about the issues and forms of discourse that shape German politics and social life. It is structured around visits to cultural sites, events, and organizations in Berlin, along with topics chosen from current media by the participants in cooperation with the instructor. These may include visits to museums, political parties, NGOs, or media producers. Reflecting the ongoing shift of public life to online venues, we will also examine the virtual presence of these traditionally site-based forms of publicness in relation to old and new media. In addition to the study of current public debates and civic engagement, the purpose of this course is to refine and advance your ability to articulate yourself verbally and in writing through constant vocabulary building.
NB: Students taking the class should have a B2 proficiency level in German or higher.
Syllabus
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