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2020/2021

History of German Culture

Code: 100211 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500245 English Studies OT 3 0
2500245 English Studies OT 4 0
2501801 Catalan and Spanish OT 3 0
2501801 Catalan and Spanish OT 4 0
2501902 English and Catalan OT 3 0
2501902 English and Catalan OT 4 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 3 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 4 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 3 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 4 0
2501913 English and French OT 3 0
2501913 English and French OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Bernd Springer
Email:
Bernd.Springer@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
spanish (spa)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
Yes

Prerequisites

No knowledge of the German language is required.

Objectives and Contextualisation

To develop and deepen the understanding of German culture.
To develop and deepen the critical and argumentative capacity and the relation of ideas.
To develop and deepen the capacity of aesthetic experience.
To develop and deepen the capacity for the presentation of academic subjects.
Linguistic awareness of the student in the receptive window of a text of literary, artistic and cinema criticism.
Give to know strategies for students of a foreign philology.
To give a global orientation to the literary and cinematographic representation of German history.

Competences

    English Studies
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Draw up essays in Spanish, Catalan or German about literature or cinema originally in German.
  • Identifying and relating the major issues of Western literature within German literature.
  • Identifying the basic concepts of history, culture and literature in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret feature films based on literary works originally written in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret literary works originally written in German.
  • Relating the concepts and information from different fields of German literature, and relating these with the concepts and information of human, artistic and social fields in German.
  • Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    Catalan and Spanish
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Draw up essays in Spanish, Catalan or German about literature or cinema originally in German.
  • Identifying and relating the major issues of Western literature within German literature.
  • Identifying the basic concepts of history, culture and literature in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret feature films based on literary works originally written in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret literary works originally written in German.
  • Relating the concepts and information from different fields of German literature, and relating these with the concepts and information of human, artistic and social fields in German.
  • Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and Catalan
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Draw up essays in Spanish, Catalan or German about literature or cinema originally in German.
  • Identifying and relating the major issues of Western literature within German literature.
  • Identifying the basic concepts of history, culture and literature in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret feature films based on literary works originally written in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret literary works originally written in German.
  • Relating the concepts and information from different fields of German literature, and relating these with the concepts and information of human, artistic and social fields in German.
  • Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and Classics
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Draw up essays in Spanish, Catalan or German about literature or cinema originally in German.
  • Identifying and relating the major issues of Western literature within German literature.
  • Identifying the basic concepts of history, culture and literature in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret feature films based on literary works originally written in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret literary works originally written in German.
  • Relating the concepts and information from different fields of German literature, and relating these with the concepts and information of human, artistic and social fields in German.
  • Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and Spanish
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Draw up essays in Spanish, Catalan or German about literature or cinema originally in German.
  • Identifying and relating the major issues of Western literature within German literature.
  • Identifying the basic concepts of history, culture and literature in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret feature films based on literary works originally written in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret literary works originally written in German.
  • Relating the concepts and information from different fields of German literature, and relating these with the concepts and information of human, artistic and social fields in German.
  • Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
    English and French
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Draw up essays in Spanish, Catalan or German about literature or cinema originally in German.
  • Identifying and relating the major issues of Western literature within German literature.
  • Identifying the basic concepts of history, culture and literature in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret feature films based on literary works originally written in German.
  • Mastering the basic concepts in order to understand and interpret literary works originally written in German.
  • Relating the concepts and information from different fields of German literature, and relating these with the concepts and information of human, artistic and social fields in German.
  • Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse a text from different aspects and summarising the results of the analysis in a global interpretation.
  2. Apply research and scientific work planning methodologies acquired.
  3. Apply scientific research and work planning methodologies acquired.
  4. Apply the acquired knowledge in order to improve the general knowledge of linguistic and cultural diversity.
  5. Apply the knowledge and competences acquired in the professional and academic activities related to literature, history and culture.
  6. Apply various methods of analysis and interpretation of texts.
  7. Assess from literary texts the various cultural contexts from a critical perspective.
  8. Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
  9. Demonstrate a master of the specific methods of individual academic work that prepare the student for a postgraduate specialised education in the same or a different field of study.
  10. Demonstrate a sound knowledge about advanced topics related to the study of literature and culture.
  11. Demonstrate mastery of the subject matter exposed positions defending and resolving issues and doubts.
  12. Develop links and researchers working in multicultural and interdisciplinary environments that contribute to international collaboration.
  13. Distinguish between fiction and reality and connecting them.
  14. Distinguish the differences when addressing topics of the Western literature in different times and authors of the German literature.
  15. Distinguish the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarise the contents of films in German.
  16. Distinguish the main ideas from the secondary ones in literary texts in German language and summarise their contents.
  17. Effectively communicate and apply the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  18. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  19. Generate strategies to facilitate the increase and improvement of mutual respect in multicultural environments.
  20. Have criteria in order to assess the aesthetics of a literary work or film.
  21. Identify and interpret the symbolic language of a text.
  22. Identify issues related to the peculiarity of the culture and history of German-speaking countries.
  23. Identify literary genres and currents of great importance to the history of German literature.
  24. Identify the literary speciality of a literary work.
  25. Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the German language.
  26. Identify topics related with the particularity of the culture and history of the German-speaking countries.
  27. Issue rating pertinent criticism supported in understanding the relevant information on issues related to the literature and culture of social, scientific or ethical concern.
  28. Locate and organize relevant information available on the Internet, databases, etc.
  29. Mastering the advanced knowledge and scientific methodologies related to linguistics, literature, history and culture that prepare the student for a postgraduate specialised education in the same or a different field of study.
  30. Practise the critical discourse and implement the argumentative processes.
  31. Recognising the contents and importance of some universal works in German language. 
  32. Recognising the most important aspects of the history of German-speaking countries.
  33. Recognising the most important examples of interdependencies between literature and culture in German and other Western literatures and cultures. 
  34. Recognising theories of other human, artistic, and social areas and applying them to German literature and cinema.
  35. Students must be capable of comprehending advanced academic or professional texts in their own language or the another acquired in the degree.
  36. Students must be capable of precisely arguing ideas and opinions in their own language or another acquired in the degree.
  37. Use new technologies for capture and organize information, applied itself to continuing training and troubleshooting in professional and / or research activities.
  38. Use the specific expressive resources of the essay genre.
  39. Work independently and responsibly in a professional environment or researcher to achieve the previously planned objectives.
  40. Work individually and / or in teams effectively in multicultural and interdisciplinary applying of a culture of peace and own a degree in foreign languages that form the student for intercultural communication environments democratic values.

Content

The Germanic tribes at the time of the Roman Empire.
The beginnings of the German language.
From the end of the Roman Empire to the Holy Roman Empire.
Medieval architecture and literature: Romanesque, Gothic, Nibelungs, Parsifal, Tristany and Isolde.
The Hanseatic League.
Martin Luther, the Reformation and the War of the 30 Years..
Music and Literature of the Baroco.
Illustration, Sturm und Drang, Classicisme de Weimar.

The Ende of the Hoy German.Roman Empire
Romanticism: Literature, painting, music, philosophy.
From the revolution of 1848 to the German unification 1871.
Politics, culture and personalities: Marx, Nietzsche, Wagner.

Architecture and painting in times of the II, German Empire.
The I.World War and the Weimar Republic.

Literature, cinema, psychology, painting, physics and chemistry during the first three decades of the 20th century.
National Socialism, World War II, Holocaust. Artistes and científics in the emigration.
The Cold War, the German division, the fall of the Berlin wall and the german Reunification. Politics, literature, cinema between 1945 and 1990.
Germany and Europe since the fall of the Wall: actuality anf future perspectives.
Long-term mentalities: the northern, the protestant, the critical, the individualist, the romantic, the idealistic and the green mentality.

Cultural key concepts: Bildung, subjectivity, the free autonomious  subject, self-realization, empathy, tolerance. 

Methodology

Master Classes
    Oral presentations by the students
    Work in groups in class
    Virtual Campus
    Tutorials
    Reading at home

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Master classes and practical classes (presentation and discussion) 50 2 25, 23, 7
Type: Supervised      
text writing, classroom assessment activities 25 1 1, 6, 34, 38
Type: Autonomous      
Readings 56 2.24 25

Assessment

The use of electronic devices (mobile phones, laptops and others) in class is not allowed! Notes are made on paper. It is obligatory to bring the texts (just read) to class every day when their reading is the subject of the class according to the updated schedule.


Active participation in class is required. If physical presence is not possible, the student has the responsibility to independently procure the material that the teacher has presented in class and has the obligation to demonstrate with written assignments and under the supervision and control of the teacher that he/she has worked the matter in question autonomously. Absence in class of more than 20% of the classes (or of more than 20% of the written works on the classes with absence) must be compensated with an extra work on a subject of history or literature German of an extension of about 5 pages. With an absence of more than 40% of the classes (or the respective assignments) the conditions for an evaluation of the student are no longer given and the mark will be "non-evaluable".

The final note consists of the following parts:

• Summary of the texts of a dossier: 10%

• An essay on Stefan Zweig's book: Castellio vs. Calvino. 20%

• An essay on Safranski's book. Romanticism. 20%

• A 15-minute exhibition on a theme from the history of German culture. 25%

• An essay: What have I learned in this subject. 25%

Each part of the evaluation must be passed with a minimum grade of 5 (out of 10). As this minimum requirement is not met, the test must be repeated in the recovery weeks. The tests are done on the date indicated or in the weeks of recovery.


On carrying out each assessment activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.


Presentations must be done on the day foreseen in the updated programme (i ti sconstantly updated!), presentations cannot be presented outside the historical or cultural context. If the presentation is not presented on the scheduled day, this part of the evaluation must be retrieved by means of a 15-page text on the same subject in the weeks of retrieval.

All parts of the evaluation must be done, delivered and approved.

To be entitled to recovery, it is necessary to have an average grade of 3.5 and, in addition, it is necessary to have passed with a minimum grade of 5 (out of 10) 60% of the evaluation activities. If the percentage of the suspended parts exceeds 40%, the subject is suspended. In the recovery, also, each of the assessment parts must be passed with a minimum grade of 5 (out of 10), otherwise the subject is suspended.


The class languages are Spanish and Catalan.
The languages of the exhibitions are Spanish, Catalan and English.
The languages of the written works can be: German, Catalan, Spanish, English, French, Italian.

VERY IMPORTANT: The total and partial plagiarism of any exercise will automatically be considered a SUSPENSE (0) of the plagiarized exercise. If the situation is repeated, the entire seminary will be suspended. PLAGIAR is to copy from unidentified sources of a text, be it a single phrase or more, that is posing as its own production (THIS INCLUDES COPYING INTERNET PHRASES OR FRAGMENTS AND ADDING THEM WITHOUT MODIFICATION TO THE TEXT PRESENTED AS OWN) and is a serious offense. It is necessary to learn to respect the intellectual property of others and to always identify the sources that can be made to serve, and it is essential to take responsibility for the originality and authenticity of the text itself.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
A 15-minute exhibition on topics from the history of German culture 25% 4 0.16 1, 6, 36, 35, 14, 13, 16, 15, 25, 23, 21, 24, 22, 26, 33, 34, 7
An essay on the book of Safranski "Romanticism" 20% 5 0.2 1, 6, 25, 23, 34, 38, 7
An essay on the book of Stefan Zweig "Castellio against Calvin" 20% 2 0.08 1, 6, 23, 38, 7
An essay: What have I learned in this seminary? 25% 6 0.24 3, 2, 4, 5, 36, 35, 11, 10, 29, 9, 12, 27, 18, 17, 8, 19, 28, 39, 40, 37
Summary of texts from a dossier 10% 2 0.08 1, 6, 36, 35, 20, 14, 13, 16, 15, 30, 25, 23, 22, 26, 32, 31, 33, 34, 38, 7

Bibliography

Compulsory readings:

Excerpts from texts compiled in a Dossier: Huizinga: The Autumn of the Middle Ages; Burckhardt: The Renaissance in Italy.
Stefan Zweig: Castellio versus Calvino.
Rüdiger Safranski: Romanticism.