Course Catalogue

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This course will improve students' knowledge of contemporary German culture and language as we examine recent texts by German-speaking women writers. Discussing these texts will develop students' awareness of contemporary issues including gender politics and cultural diversity.

20x1hr sessions over both semesters as scheduled in MyCampus.

This is one of the honours options in SMLC and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into German, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes.

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Two x 2,000 word Essays (one in each semester) - 50% each

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course will provide the opportunity to:

■ gain understanding of the diversity of contemporary culture and written language in German-speaking countries, taking account of the impact of different nation states as well as of different political systems and of immigrants now living in Germany;

■ reflect upon our own lives as gendered subjects by discussing contemporary literature;

■ develop skills of literary analysis appropriate to Honours level;

■ apply gender studies perspectives, focusing on gendered experiences of work, relationships and the work-life balance in different historical and political contexts, as well as on gendered inflections of aesthetic forms.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ analyse recent German-language literature from a variety of different German-speaking contexts in terms of gender studies perspectives;

■ understand contemporary German written language, culture and political systems more effectively;

■ analyse gendered experiences of work, relationships and the work-life balance in different historical and political contexts; 

■ formulate their own critical arguments through class discussions and assessed essays.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.