GER 358 - Representing Genocide

This course asks how film and literature can help us recognize, explain, and respond to genocide, a crucial feature of twentieth-century history. In the first half of the semester, we will focus on representations of the Holocaust, asking questions such as: How do authors and filmmakers grapple with events that shatter traditional forms of perception and comprehension? How do they portray human agency in an age of bureaucratically administered mass destruction? In the second half of the semester, we will compare the Holocaust to other cases of genocide and mass violence, including American slavery and the genocides in Turkey, Cambodia, and Rwanda. Throughout, we will explore a wide range of genres and media, including testimonies, memoirs, fiction, graphic novels, and feature films. We will also discuss the representation of victims and perpetrators, different forms of witnessing, and the aesthetics of shock and horror. 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)
Cross-listing(s): LIT 340
Not offered: 2024-25
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).