GER 391 - German Theory I

Plants and Politics
In the modern era, botany and colonialism have been inseparable. With the rise of European imperialism, plants became big business, and their study and cultivation were as much a part of trade and conquest as scientific inquiry. To create an empire meant remaking ecosystems abroad and at home. Botany has also been a preoccupation of modern artists, poets, and philosophers, who have asked why it is so difficult to represent plants and what it means that flowers are one of the most venerable models of language. In this course, we will explore the intimate relationships between aesthetic and scientific conceptualizations of the plant kingdom from the eighteenth century to the present, looking at works of poetry and prose, photography, and film. We will also consider attempts to envision a postcolonial botany. Authors will include Rousseau, Goethe, Kant, Hegel, Dickinson, Nietzsche, Benjamin, Freud, Rilke, Celan, Mayröcker, Kincaid, and Moten. Conducted in English. Students taking the course for German literature credit will meet in extra sessions.

Introduction to Critical Theory
This course explores the German philosophical tradition since Kant, focusing on the emergence of the modern notions of class, race, and gender. We will be particularly concerned with how these traditional concepts are being rethought in contemporary postcolonial studies, critical race theory, and Afropessimism. In addition to philosophical texts, we will be working with literature, film, and video art. Authors will include Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Benjamin, Heidegger, Arendt, Spivak, Mbembe, and Moten. Conducted in English. Students taking the course for German literature credit will meet in extra sessions.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): For German credit: GER 212
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Repeatable for Credit: May be taken 3 times for credit
Cross-listing(s): LITG 391
Notes: Topics vary. Review schedule of classes for availability.
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.);
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts;
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).