GERM2121: Fluid Identities: Gender and Sexuality in the German-Speaking World

• German Language 1A (GERM1011) or German Langauge 1B (GERM1112) or an equivalent qualification to the satisfaction of the Chairman/woman of the Board of Studies of MLAC or his/her representative.

• Modern European Languages, Combined Honours and all Joint and 'with' programmes: German Language 2A (GERM2021) or German Langauge 2B (GERM2152). Others: see Chairman/woman of the Board of Studies of MLAC or his/her representative.

• None.

• To prepare students for more specialised study in final year optional seminars by building strategically on knowledge and skills already mediated through Year 1 German cultural modules.
• It therefore focuses less on genre and more on a theme of general interest, which is exemplified in a wide range of texts and traditions from the 18th century to the present.
• Thus it will both broaden students' reading and informational base in German cultural history and develop understanding of the role of literature, film, and other art forms in reflecting, critiquing and shaping gender identities and gender relations.
• Treatment of the theme will include contrastive analyses of how various texts negotiate questions of gender and sexuality and how they reflect, interrogate or subvert normative conceptions of gender identity.

• This module explores one major social function of literature and other forms of art, namely how they both shape and subvert received notions of gender identity, over several epochs of German cultural history.
• The construction of gender identity, and the critique of sex-gender systems, will be explored in a wide range of texts and other cultural artefacts, dating from the 18th century to the present.
• These texts will be brought in dialogue with key theories of gender and sexuality from across the period studied for this module.
• This module is taught and examined in English and German.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• By the end of the module, students will be familiar with a wide range of representative works in word and image which treat the problem of gender, sexuality and identity and its development over several epochs of German cultural history.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Students will be able to analyse the means by which such works construct, reflect on, critique and shape notions of gender identity in German cultural history.
• Students will also develop key transferable skills of analytical thinking, synthesis, and increased proficiency in delivery of written commentary in English and oral presentation in German.
• Students will increase their proficiency in written argumentation in English, as well as presentation in the target language.

Key Skills:

• Students will develop skills in independent learning, rapid critical reading, synthesis, and analytic thinking.

• The module will consist of plenary sessions, seminars and tutorials.
• Lectures will familiarise students with the relevant socio-historical context and introduce the key theoretical and critical issues raised by the texts under consideration.
• By preparing for seminar presentations, students will develop skills in independent learning, rapid critical reading, synthesis, and analytic thinking, all of which will be further promoted by preparation for seminars on a weekly basis, and by guided discussion in the seminars themselves.
• The module will be taught in both German and English.
• Through presentations in classes, students will thus also increase their oral proficiency in the target language.
• Students will produce two summatively assessed commentaries over the course of the year which will train them to construct coherent, lucid arguments.

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