GERM 239 - Introduction to German Cultural Studies for Majors

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

Students in this course attend the same seminar meetings as in GERM 235 but do the readings in the original, attend a separate discussion class, and take separate exams.

Topic for 2014/15b: Atrocious Science: German Biopolitics and its Consequences. Scientific racism, forced sterilization, euthanasia, genocide, death camps, and medical experimentation on prisoners-these atrocities represent some of the consequences of Nazi efforts to translate biologistic ideas into policies that transformed the boundaries between bodies, lives, and states. But the efforts to apply “biology” to society began long before the Nazis, and their implementation encompasses more than the Nazi era. This course aims to develop a keener understanding of biopolitics in the German context, as well as its continuing relevance to politics, medical ethics, law, and culture-both inside and outside Germany. As well as exploring the roots of biopolitical discourse in Germany, we examine more recent critical theories from the work of Giorgio Agamben, Hanna Arendt, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas, among others. We also study the important role that literature and film has played in promoting, contesting, or condemning biopolitical theory and practice. All readings and discussions in English. Mr. Trump.

Prerequisite: GERM 230 or the equivalent or permission of the instructor.