Study Abroad | Berlin
January Term 2025: Academics

Course Code: Religion/Cultural Studies/Jewish Studies 308

Instruction Language: English

This course follows the complex trajectories linking interreligious and intercultural narratives in Germany today. How does the culture of memory in Germany, with its Christian frame and Jewish focus converge and diverge with more recent narratives of migration that have made Islam a visible presence in Germany? This is the main question this course seeks to address. Students will interrogate this topic through dedicated lectures, workshops, and site visits to museums and other venues. This course is anthropologically inflected and treats the sites as field sites to be explored empirically and analyzed critically. It is well-suited to students who are interested in religious studies, history, the social sciences, and/or more specific fields such as urban studies, ethics or museum studies.

Course Code: History/Cultural Studies 314

Instruction Language: English

As early as 1706 Berlin was referred to as Athens on the Spree as a homage to its burgeoning Prussian culture and museum landscape. Today, Berlin boasts well over 200 museums. In this course, we will explore a number of museums that highlight key aspects of Berlin’s history. The focus will be on the key issues of memory – especially that of WWII – and collecting practices – how did certain objects find their way here? How are such histories displayed and transmitted today? These are the questions that we will address as we explore the museums as dynamic fields that can inform our understanding of how Berlin presents itself both inwardly (in smaller city museums) and outwardly in larger, world-famous museums. This course is anthropologically inflected and treats the sites as field sites to be explored empirically and analyzed critically. It is well-suited to students who are interested in history, the social sciences, and/or more specific fields such as urban studies, ethics or museum studies.

Course Code: Geography/Sociology 31

Instruction Language: English

The aim of this course is to understand and learn about the different challenges European regions are facing, e.g., integration and migration, social exclusion, demographic change, creative milieus, economic decline, shrinking cities and ecological renewal. How is an aging society affecting our rural and urban areas? How are migrants integrated in European cities? Does Berlin have a creative class, and if so, how does it affect the city? These are only some of the questions that will be discussed in the course. The city of Berlin is a hotspot for various regional developments. As a result, several of these aspects will be explored and explained during short excursions and day trips in Berlin (e.g., ethnic businesses and the migration situation in Neukölln, the newly developing zone Tempelhofer Feld). Students of all relevant disciplines who are interested in different aspects of European regional development, including city and regional planning, geography, politics, social sciences and economics, are most welcome to join this course.

Course Code: German 101 or 201

Instruction Language: German

The course focuses on the development of communicative competence in listening comprehension, speaking, reading, grammar and writing.<br/>According to self-assessment and “Sprachpass” placement test, the participants are placed in groups of different language levels. For the best outcome to support the students’ progress, different methods are used according to the level and topics covered in class. According to the level of the participants, there might be a focus on certain exercises, in-class discussions and activities.<br/><br/>The respective schedule and content strongly depend on different aspects such as the course book and reading materials, the background of the students and personal interests in terms of topics. The course can be combined with an English content course above and is suitable for participants who really want to discover Berlin with weekly extra cultural and social activities offered.

Course Code: History/Social Science 330

Instruction Language: English

What motivates people to fight and die? What constitutes power in society? Why and under what conditions do different groups resort to violence against each other? This course invites a reflection on these fundamental questions by considering multidisciplinary debates on social identities. It familiarizes students with different theoretical discussions on the origins and sources of identities (self, group, society, State, and combinations), their reproduction, maintenance, and challengers; as well as the different understandings of what constitutes power (material, institutional and symbolic/ideational) and its consequences (coercion and/or consensus). Alongside the theoretical discussions, current empirical cases will be used to critically assess and debate the significance of social identities in interest formation and power struggles leading to conflict. This course’s objective is to expose students to a heterogeneous discussion of identity, so they can challenge deterministic and essentialist views, and establish its intersection with power relations and war in our times. While it does not privilege an in-depth approach to a single topic, it serves as an entry point, providing crucial building blocks to account not only for the causes of conflict, but also the pillars for peace – in our globalized, interconnected, yet highly fragmented, world.

Course Code: History/Political Science/Sociology 316

Instruction Language: English

In two world wars Germany tried to dominate the globe and all major decisions were made in the capital Berlin. Why was Germany such an aggressive power until 1945? How did Hitler manage to gain and keep power? Why were many Germans Nazis and deeply racist? How was the life of ordinary people during the war? Why did the Nazis kill millions of Jews and other innocent people in concentration camps? What were the long term effects of World War II? What happened to the Nazis after the war? The course will provide answers to such questions via readings of texts from political science, sociology and history, while also taking the opportunity to explore the locations in which the events between 1933 and 1945 took place. After a brief introduction to the historical and ideological backgrounds which led to the rise of the Nazi Regime we will turn to a detailed analysis of the event history which led to World War II. Finally, we will discuss the effects of World War II, on world history; e.g. the Cold War, European Integration, etc.

Course Code: Religious Studies/Ethics/Law/International Studies 317

Instruction Language: English

Departing from an interdisciplinary perspective the course will give an insight into Critical Human Rights Discourse and Litigation in Germany. On the basis of concrete human rights cases students will learn about the different bodies and instruments of human rights protection in Germany, their practical advantages, challenges and inherent exclusions. By focusing on specific sectors (Gender, Racism and Social Equality) and their intersectional effects students are taught to see the canon of rights protected within the legal system as constructed and thus embedded in social and political processes of deliberations on different levels. With the understanding that strategic human rights litigation is only one of the many tools used to forward social change and justice, we talk about how these legal strategies and instruments can and should be intertwined with grassroots political awareness campaigns, the creation of associations to strengthen visibility, investments in public relations and advocacy for change and justice within social movements. Studies concerning the impact of Strategic Public Litigation will be used in the discussion, potentially with representatives from NGOs involved in some of the relevant Public Interest Litigations. Representative fundamental texts of critical legal theory will be read, discussed and applied to the German context. These are interactive courses that have participants practicing the shifts of perspective proposed by the authors of the texts as acts of resistance to the premises of objectivity, neutrality, reasonableness and universality of contemporary hegemonic law. The courses will be team taught and aim to create a platform for dialogue on equal terms. Class sessions will usually open with lecture and/or discussant presentation, case-oriented inquiry, theoretical exploration and class discussion of the topic/theme for the session. Students will be able to communicate directly with Berlin NGO’s activists and state agencies in the field of human rights and anti-discrimination.

Course Code: Law 315

Instruction Language: English

Multinational companies like Google or Apple self-evidently act on a global stage. But even small businesses participate in international trade today. The integration of national economies and the elimination of barriers of trade no longer allow a solely national view on this development. With the growing importance of international commerce, the need for an "International Economic Law" arises. Numerous regulations and agreements concern international trade and investment, but the legal framework of international economy remains indefinite. In this course common principles of International Economic Law will be examined by analysing leading decisions by international courts. Therefore a substantial part of the course will be dedicated to the discussion of cases and reading materials.

Course Code: Politics/Sociology/Education 324

Instruction Language: English

This course will give an overview of how global governance works in a world of networks, diluted power, fragmented organizational structures, renewed great power competition, and exceeded planetary boundaries. The focus will be on the actors, institutions and ideas of world politics today – from the UN family and Agenda 2030 to Great Powers to thematic alliances such as the OECD. Some hope Germany will take on the mantle of “leader of the free world”. While it is true that Germany has entered a phase of “new responsibility” in its foreign policy and remains strongly committed to the liberal order and global sustainability, it is becoming more and more difficult for such powers to project its influence into the global order. The course will take this German perspective as a starting point to try to understand the state of global governance more broadly. Who are the indispensable nations? Who are the spoilers? What kind of cooperation is needed to save the planet? Whose Global Order is it? How to save the world? We will look at multilateralist and unilateralist behavior of states, and also at recent efforts to bring more sustainability to global governance. We will also identify non-Western visions of global governance. Finally, the course will revolve around the question of how to make the global liberal institutionalist order (and ultimately, our planet) more resilient in the face of new authoritarian challenges – after all, this is what Germany and other countries like it are striving to do.