JYM course descriptions

• JYG 3100, 3200: Advanced German Language I, II

  Required, credits: 3

  Developed in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), German language proficiency-based instruction at JYM focuses on increasing grammatical accuracy, expanding subject-specific vocabulary, and strengthening conversational skills. JYG 3100 is offered in the fall (Wintersemester) and JYG 3200 in the spring (Sommersemester).

  Upon arrival in Munich, students are evaluated to determine their level of proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing as defined by CEFR benchmarks (see below). Students are then divided into sections of Advanced German Language with comparable proficiency levels. The goal of instruction is to solidify students' linguistic abilities at the level in which they were first evaluated and then help them achieve the next CEFR proficiency level.

  CEFR – Proficiency level B2

  Can understand the main contents of complex texts on concrete and abstract topics; also understands specialized discussions in his/her own primary area of specialization. Can communicate so spontaneously and fluently that a normal conversation with native speakers is easily possible without a great deal of effort on either side. Can express him/herself on a wide range of topics in a clear and detailed manner, explain his/her position on a current issue and indicate the benefits and drawbacks of various options.

  CEFR – Proficiency level C1

  Can understand a wide range of challenging, longer texts and also grasp implicit meanings. Can express him/herself spontaneously and fluently without having to search for words frequently and noticeably. Can use the language effectively and flexibly in his/her social and professional life or in training and studies. Can make clear, structured and detailed statements on complex topics and apply various means of text association appropriately in the process.

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Presentations (Referate)
  • Essays
  • Four tests
  • Final examination (Klausur)

  Textbooks 📚

  • Begegnungen B1+, Schubert Verlag Erkundungen B2 kompakt, Schubert Verlag Erkundungen C1 kompakt, Schubert Verlag
  • Lehr- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik, aktuell, Hueber Verlag Übungsgrammatik für die Grundstufe, Verlag Liebaug-Dartmann Übungsgrammatik für die Mittelstufe, Verlag Liebaug-Dartmann
  • Ein einsprachiges Wörterbuch, z.B. Langenscheidt Großwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache
• JYG 3110: Written Communication and Expression

  Credits: 3

  This course focuses specifically on developing students' writing skills in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Emphasis is placed on strengthening accuracy, appropriateness and clarity of written expression in German as needed in both academic and non-academic environments.

  Topics covered 📑

  Textsorte	Aufgaben
  Anzeigen und Privatbriefe	Sprachpartner suchen, auf Anzeigen antworten
  Anfragen	E-Mails im Studium schreiben
  Beschreibungen	Bild/Heimatuni/Wohnheimzimmer beschreiben
  Definitionen	Definitionen von konkreten und abstrakten Wörtern
  Zusammenfassungen, Exzerpte, Mitschriften, Protokolle	Zeitungsartikel zusammenfassen, Hörtexte exzerpieren, Protokolle erstellen
  Schilderungen	Erlebnisse schildern
  Erörterungen	Vor- und Nachteile einer Idee/Situation abwägen
  Stellungnahmen und Begründungen	etwas behaupten und durch Argumente belegen
  Berichte	Bewerbungen und Lebenslauf schreiben
  kreatives Schreiben	kreativ schreiben

  Written work requirement 📝

  Written assignments based on the above types of written communication and expression.

  Readings 📚

  Course reader and handouts.

• JYG 4100: Introduction to the Study of German Literature

  Credits: 3

  This is a foundation course for the study of German literature which will be of particular interest to students taking literature courses at LMU Munich. Includes instruction in literary genres, periods and terminology, survey of German literary history, methods of literary analysis and practice with strategies of literary interpretation.

  Topics covered 📑

  • Genre 1: Basic Forms of Narration – Prose
  • Genre 2: Basic Forms of Narration – Lyric
  • Genre 3: Basic Forms of Narration – Drama
  • Literary Technique: Rhetoric and Poetics
  • German Literary History: 1400 to 18th Century
  • German Literary History: 1800 to 1900
  • German Literary History: 20th Century
  • Techniques of Literary Scholarship 1 – Bibliography and Citing Sources
  • Techniques of Literary Scholarship 2 – Term Paper (Die schriftliche Hausarbeit)
  • Theories and Methods of Literary Studies – A Historical Overview
  • Theories and Methods of Literary Studies – Current Trends

  Written work requirement 📝

  Presentations (Referate) term paper (Hausarbeit).

  Readings 📚

  • Course reader and handouts
  • Gutzen, Dieter/ Oellers, Norbert/ Petersen, Jürgen H.: Einführung in die neuere deutsche Literaturwissenschaft. Ein Arbeitsbuch. 6. Aufl. Berlin 1989
  • Metzler-Literatur-Lexikon. Stichwörter zur Weltliteratur. Hg. v. Günther und Irmgard Schweikle. 2. Aufl. Stuttgart 1990
  • Neuhaus, Stefan: Grundriss der Literaturwissenschaft. Tübingen 2003
  • Petersen, Jürgen H.: Erzählerische Texte. In: Gutzen/Oellers, s.o., S. 13 - 34
  • Vogt, Jochen: Einladung zur Literaturwissenschaft. 4. Aufl. Tübingen 2002
• JYG 4200: Contemporary German Culture

  Credits: 3

  This course examines various issues with which the German public see themselves confronted today, from coming to terms with the past to the place of Germany today within Europe and within the European Union. How Germans today see themselves and Germany's role in the world is very much based on their lived experiences. Therefore knowledge of Germany's past since 1945 is necessary for understanding contemporary German everyday culture. Discussion of current events on a weekly basis is central to this course as it allows for contemporary issues and concerns to be placed within larger historical contexts, thus giving students a richer appreciation for "Germany and Germans Today."

  Topics covered 📑 

  • From Zero-Hour to Divided Germany
  • Denazification and Reconstruction
  • Political Parties and Social Market Economy
  • The Berlin Crisis and a Divided City
  • Student Protest Movement 1968
  • Terrorism of the 1970s (RAF)
  • Environment and Politics: the Greens
  • The Turning Point (Die Wende) 1989
  • Immigration and Integration: Foreign Workers, Asylum Seekers, Refugees
  • AfD, Pediga and Identity Movements
  • Coming to Terms with the Past
  • Germany, 30 Years after the Fall of the Wall
  • European Union in Crisis

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Weekly written reports (Themen der Woche - Berichte)
  • Presentations (Referate)
  • Essay final

  Readings 📚

  • Course reader and handouts
  • Wie wir Deutschen ticken. Wie wir denken. Was wir fühlen. Wer wir sind. Hrsg. Holger Geißler, Hamburg 2015
  • Reinhard Barth: Nachgefragt: Deutsche Geschichte. Basiswissen zum Mitreden, Loewe-Verlag, 2005
  • Forum Geschichte, Band 5: Von den 1960er Jahren bis zur Gegenwart, Cornelsen, 2015
  • Wolfgang Welsch: Ich war Staatsfeind Nr. 1- Als Fluchthelfer auf der Todesliste der Stasi, Piper-Verlag, 2015.
  • Immer bunter. Einwanderungsland Deutschland. Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
• JYG 4300: History of Art

  Credit: 3

  The collections of Munich's world-renowned museums, as well as famous architectural landmarks and buildings in and around Munich, provide the primary source material for JYM students to study the history of art from antiquity through the 20th century while in Munich. Methods and criteria of analysis contextualize exemplary works of German architecture, painting, sculpture, and decorative arts in relation to European artistic periods, styles and genres. Instruction takes place at JYM, in many of Munich's famous museums (ex. the Glyptothek, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Alte Pinakothek, Neue Pinakothek, Pinakothek der Moderne, Staatsgalerie der modernen Kunst, Schack-Galerie or the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus), as well as on field trips to landmarks of historical architectural importance.

  Topics covered 📑

  • Epochs and Genres of Art History
  • Factors and Processes of Artistic Production
  • Critical Methods of Analysis of a Work of Art
  • Classical Antiquity, Classicism, Neo-Classicism
  • Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance Architecture
  • Romanesque Sculpture to late Gothic (style and iconography – a comparsion)
  • Gothic Painting and Sculpture (the artist as craftsman)
  • Gothic Panel Painting (e.g. Stephan Lochner)
  • Renaissance Painting (e.g. Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder)
  • Genre Painting from late Medieval to Baroque (still life, portraiture, landscape)
  • 19th Century Painting (Romanticism, Historicism, Realism, Impressionism)
  • 20th Century Painting (Expressionism, Surrealism, Bauhaus)
  • Munich Today (city history of urban development and design)
  • Munich Today (architechtonic modernism)

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Presentation (Referat)
  • Review essay (Rezension)
  • Final examination (Klausur)

  Readings 📚

  • Course reader and handouts
  • Norbert Huse, Kleine Kunstgeschichte Münchens, München, 4. Auflage München 2002
  • Josef H. Biller und Hans Peter Rasp, München. Kunst & Kultur. Stadtführer und Handbuch, München 2003
• JYG 4400: German Drama and Theater

  Credits: 3

  An introduction to the elements of drama and the methods used to analyze dramatic works provide the foundation for critically examining theatrical productions staged in Munich during the course of the semester.

  This course explores the historical roots of European theater which – since the 18th century – have guided the direction of theater as both a form of entertainment as well as a vehicle to achieve a national and cultural mission. A broad range of German dramatic texts since the 19th century will be discussed in class (ex. from Büchner to Horvath, Brecht, and Jelinek) in connection to their social and aesthetic value.

  The course will provide students with the opportunity to examine new interpretations of masterpieces of German drama, as well as discover contemporary German playwrights and their performances. Students also will be introduced to the many types of theaters of Munich (there are nearly 60 theaters in Munich), and learn about the state-subsidized system of German theater in general. As an integral part of this course, students will attend and discuss five or six theatrical productions offered on the Munich theater schedule during the semester, e.g. performances at the Münchner Volkstheater, Münchner Nationaltheater, Münchner Kammerspiele, Münchner Residenztheater, or Theater im Marstall.

  Topics covered 📑

  • History of European Theater Drama as Genre
  • Aristotle's Poetics
  • Methods of Analyzing Dramatic Works
  • History of Drama in Germany
  • Theater as in Institution in Germany
  • The Theater in Munich
  • The Volksstück
  • Anti-Aristotelean Aesthetics
  • Epic Theater
  • Post-Dramatic Theater
  • Contemporary Socio-Political Theater

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Presentations (Referate)
  • Review essays (Rezensionen)

  Readings 📚

  • Bernhard Asmuth. Einführung in die Dramenanalyse. Stuttgart: J.B.Metzler Verlag, 1980
  • Heinz Geiger and Hermann Haarmann. Aspekte des Dramas. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1979

  In addition to a course reader, six or more dramatic works will be read and discussed in class. The final selection of dramatic texts are coordinated with the current Munich theater schedule.

• JYG 4500: Munich and National Socialism

  Credits: 3

  This course explores the origins of National Socialism, the establishment of Munich as the administrative, symbolic and artistic center of the Nazi movement, everyday life in Munich under the Nazi dictatorship, antisemitism and the holocaust, persecution and resistance, de- Nazification and coming to terms with the past. Includes visits to sites of historical significance in and around Munich, ex. the Dachau concentration camp memorial, and Nürnberg (site of the 1934 Nazi Party rally and stage for Leni Riefenthal's Triumph des Willens).

  Topics covered 📑

  • Hitler and Fascism as Fasinosum
  • World War I and its Results
  • Revolution and Counter-Revolution: Munich 1918-1920
  • The Weimar Republic and the Hitler Putsch
  • Rise of the NSDAP in Munich
  • Munich as Hauptstadt der Bewegung
  • Munich as Hauptstadt der deutschen Kunst
  • Mythos and Cult in the Third Reich
  • The Reichsparteigelände in Nürnberg
  • Everyday Life under the Nazi Dictatorship
  • The Concentration Camp Dachau
  • The Fate of Munich's Jewish Community
  • Resistance in Munich: Die Weiße Rose
  • De-Nazification and Comming to Terms with the Past

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Presentation (Referat)
  • Midterm and final examinations (Klausuren)

  Readings 📚

  • Course reader and handouts
  • Richard Bauer, et. al., München-Hauptstadt der Bewegung (München: Minerva, 2002)
  • Ulrikre Grammbitter u. Iris Lauterbach, Das Parteizentrum der NSDAP in München (München: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2009)
• JYG 4600: Goethe's Italian Journey

  Credits: 3

  In September 1786 Johann Wolfgang Goethe embarked on what would become the most famous journey in the history of German literature. His travels from Weimar to Munich, over the Brenner Pass and on to Verona and Venice would give rise to the genre of Bildungsliteratur and the lofty aspirations of Weimar Classicism. Many years later Thomas Mann would take issue with the personal transformations Goethe reflects upon in his Italian Journey. The inward journey of self-discovery Mann explored in his Death in Venice results instead in a clash of Dyonisian and Appolinian principles that realign the North-South divide within cultural representations of Italy and Germany in the 20th century.

  This course traces the philosophical, aesthetic and literary paths taken by Goethe, Mann and others in their search for German cultural identity in southern Europe, and provides students with a literary-historical context for their own travels abroad.

  Topics covered 📑

  • Goethe – Past and Present
  • From the Goethezeit to the Romanticism of the Grand Tour Goethe – The Film
  • Touring with Goethe (Go Trabbi, Go, 1990)
  • Literary Perspectives of the Grand Tour: From Sturm und Drang to Classicism
  • Gräcomanie in Germany Winckelmann and Beyond
  • Goethe's Die Leiden des jungen Werthers
  • Goethe's Italienische Reise
  • Germans and Death: Tod in Venedig (Thomas Mann, L. Visconti)

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Presentation (Referat)
  • Term paper (Hausarbeit)

  Readings 📚

  • J.W. Goethe, Die Leiden des jungen Werther, dtv: Bibliothek der Erstausgaben (München: 2008)
  • J.W. Goethe, Italienische Reise, z.B., Ch. Beck, Jubiläumsausgabe Thomas Mann, Der Tod in Venedig (Fischer: Frankfurt/M, 1992)
  • J. J. Winckelmann, Gedanken über die Nachahmung der griechischen Werke in der Malerei und Bildhauerkunst (Reclam)
  • Reader: Goethes Italienische Reise: Eine Reise zurück
• JYG 4800: Topics in German Studies – Mountains in German Literature and Film

  Mountains in German Literature and Film

  Credits: 3

  Mount Olympus was the home of the Olympian gods of the ancient Greek world and humans have been captured by the spell of mountains ever since. Although mountains always have been climbed, it wasn't until the 19th century that the golden age of alpinism and mountaineering took hold. When Edward Whymper ultimately reached the summit of the Matterhorn in 1865 (after many failed attempts), mountains were finally conquered and "brought into the middle of civilization."

  During the age of the industrial revolution, mountains were perceived as a symbol of purity and authenticity. The novel Heidi (1880) by the Swiss author Johanna Spyri, was translated into fifty languages in just a few years of its publication. National Socialism used the notion of Heimat and mountains as metaphors to legitimize NS ideology, and even today there are innumerable comics, tv series and films that deal with the Heidi theme.

  This seminar will analyze classical and philosophical references to mountains, German poetry and prose about mountains, as well as the genre of Bergfilme (mountain films) of the 1920s.

  Topics covered 📑

  • Alpinism in the 19th and 20th Centuries
  • Analysis of Johanna Spyri's Heidi (1880)
  • Lebensform and Reformhaus
  • Schrebergarten and Kindergarten in Germany ca. 1900
  • Environmental Policy under National Socialism
  • Theory of the Novella (animal vs artistic)
  • Analysis of Gerhard Falknerʼs Novella Bruno (2008)
  • Nature vs the Metropolis in the Lyrik Poetry of Gerhard Falkner
  • Analysis of the film, Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü (1929)
  • Analysis of the film, Der Berg ruft (1938)

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Written presentation (Referat)
  • Book report
  • Seminar paper

  Primary texts 📚

  • Johanna Spyri, Heidi (1880/81)
  • Gerhard Falkner, Bruno (2008)

  Secondary literature (themes) 📚

  • Bildungsroman: Adalbert Stifter, Der Nachsommer (1875)
  • Parabel: Ludwig Hohl, Bergfahrt (1975)
  • Theater: W.H. Auden & Christopher Isherwood, The Ascent of F 6 (1936)
  • Der heilige Berg: René Daumal, Le Mont Analogue (1952),; Deutsch: Der Berg Analog; Englisch: Mount Analogue: a novel of symbolically authentic non-Euclidean adventures in mountain climbing (Boston: Shambhala, 1992)
  • Nationalismus: Louis Trenker, Berge in Flammen (1931)
  • Nietzscheanismus: Friedrich Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra (1883), besonders Kapitel 56 Lammer, Eugen Gido, Jungborn. Bergfahrten und Höhegedanken eines einsamen Pfadsuchers (1929)
  • Psychologie des Bergsteigens: Paul Hübel, Führerlose Gipfelfahrten (1927) Wandern als Metapher: Eugen Roth, Der Weg übers Gebirg (1942)
  • Berge und Mediation: Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums (1958)
  • Bergfilm: Arnold Fanck: Stürme über den Mont Blanc (1930) und die Entdeckung der Natur im
  • Bergfilm; Leni Riefenstahl: Das blaue Licht (1932) als Mythos; Luis Trenker, Berge in Flammen (1931) und die "Kameradschaft" im Zeitalter des Nationalismus

  Secondary literature (mountains) 📚

  • Erich Oskar Meyer, Tat und Traum. Ein Buch alpines Erleben (München 1928) Aloys Dreyer, Geschichte des Alpinismus. Ein Abriß (München, 1938)
  • Toni Hiebeler, Die Alpen (Luzern, 1976)
  • Ludwig Merkle, Alte Bergsteigerei (München, 1976)
  • Jost Perfahl (Hrsg.), Die schönsten Bergsteigergeschichten der Weltliteratur (Bergisch Gladbach, 1985)
  • Aurel Schmidt, Die Alpen – schleichende Zerstörung eines Mythos (Zürich, 1990)
  • Chris Bonington, Triumph in Fels und Eis. Die Geschichte des Alpinismus (Stuttgart, 1995) Rainer Amstädter, Der Alpinismus. Kultur – Organisation – Politik (Wien, 1996)
  • Thomas Bubendorfer, Senkrecht gegen die Zeit. Die Eroberung des Unsichtbaren (München, 1997)
  • Friedbert Aspetsberger (Hrsg.), Der Berg. Einige Berg- und Tal- Lebens- und Todesbahnen (Innsbruck, 2001)
  • Peter Grupp, Fazination Berg: Die Geschichte des Alpinismus (Köln, 2008)
  • Emil Zopfi, Dichter am Berg. Alpine Literatur aus der Schweiz (Zürich, 2014)

  Note: JYG 4800 topics courses may change from year to year depending on student interest.

• JYG 4800: Topics in German Studies – Comparative Eco-Politics

  Comparative Eco-Politics/Ökopolitik. Umwelt und Gesellschaft von der Aufklärung bis zu Fridays for Future

  Credits: 3

  Climate change, mass extinction, alternative energy—we cannot understand present-day debates about the future of our planet without looking to the past. This seminar examines the relationships between nature and society in Germany over the past 250 years. Our historical journey will take us from the belching smokestacks of the Ruhr Valley in the nineteenth century, to the protests against nuclear energy in the 1970s and 1980s, to the twenty-first-century wind farms that currently dot the German landscape.

  Students will learn to work critically with a range of historical sources and genres: texts, images, and films, and they will have the opportunity to meet virtually with environmental experts about the initiatives and challenges along the way to a green Germany.

  Topics covered 📑

  • Mensch und Natur im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert
  • Die Eroberung der Natur
  • Industrialisierung, Imperialismus & früher
  • Naturschutz Naturschutz und Nationalsozialismus
  • Kontinuitäten und Brüche: Naturschutz 1945-1970
  • Von Naturschutz zu Umweltschutz
  • Atomenergie & Anti-AKW-Proteste
  • "Waldsterben"– Umweltverschmutzung, Klimawandel und Konflikte um Nutzungsregime
  • Natur & Gesellschaft in der DDR
  • Naturschutz und Protest von der Straße in die Parlamente tragen
  • Umweltschutz wird europäisch – Deutschland in der Europäische Union
  • Green Germany im 21. Jahrhundert – von der Energiewende zu Fridays for Future

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Written presentation (Referat)
  • Seminar paper

  Primary texts 📚

  • Frank Uekötter: Umweltgeschichte im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, München 2007 (Chapter 1: Enzyklopädischer Überblick, S. 6-38)
  • David Blackbourn: Die Eroberung der Natur. Eine Geschichte der deutschen Landschaft, München 2008 (Chapter 1: Die Eroberung der Wildnis, S. 33-96)
  • Steigerwald, Joan. "The Cultural Enframing of Nature: Environmental Histories during the Early German Romantic Period." Environment and History 6, no. 4 (Nov., 2000): 451–496
  • Dominick, Raymond H. The Environmental Movement in Germany: Prophets and Pioneers, 1871–1971. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992. (Chapter?)
  • Joachim Radkau: Die Ära der Ökologie, München 2011. (Chapter: Umweltbewegungen vor der Umweltbewegung, S. 38-81)
  • Frank Uekötter: Age of Smoke. Environmental Policy in Germany and the United States, 1880-1970, Pittsburgh 2009. (Chapter 2: Modern Times, Modern Problems: Controlling Smoke, 1880-1914, S. 20-66)
  • Joachim Radkau, Frank Uekötter (Hrsg.): Naturschutz und Nationalsozialismus, Frankfurt/New York 2003
  • Frank Uekötter: The Green and the Brown. A History of Conservation in Nazi Germany, New York et al, 2006
  • Sandra Chaney: Nature of the Miracle Years. Conservation in Western Germany, 1945- 1975, New York/Oxford 2008.
  • Franz-Josef Brüggemeier, Jens Ivo Engels (Hrsg.): Natur- und Umweltschutz nach 1945. Konzepte, Konflikte, Kompetenzen, Frankfurt/New York 2005. (Chapter: Frank Uekötter: Erfolglosigkeit als Dogma? Revisionistische Bemerkungen zum Umweltschutz zwischen dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs und der 'ökologischen Wende', S. 106-123)
  • Cioc, Mark. The Rhine: An Eco-Biography 1815–2000. Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002. (Chapter?)
  • Mauch, Christof and Thomas Zeller. Rivers in History: Perspectives on Waterways in Europe and North America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008.(Chapter: Thomas Lekan: Saving the Rhine: Water, Ecology, and Heimat in Post-World War II Germany, S. 110- XX)
  • Katrin Kleemann. "'Moby Dick' in the Rhine: How a Beluga Whale Raised Awareness of Water Pollution in West Germany." Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia (Spring 2018), no. 6. Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society
  • Rucht, Dieter. Von Wyhl nach Gorleben: Bürger gegen Atomprogramm und nukleare Entsorgung. Munich: Beck, 1980
  • Reimar, Paul …und auch nicht anderswo! Die Geschichte der Anti-AKW-Bewegung. Göttingen: Verlag die Werkstatt, 1997
  • Joachim Radkau: Die Ära der Ökologie, München 2011. (Chapter: Vom Atomkonflikt zum "Waldsterben": eine verwirrende Wende, S. 235-243)
  • Bemmann, Martin. Beschädigte Vegetation und sterbender Wald: Zur Entstehung eines Umweltproblems in Deutschland 1893–1970. Umwelt und Gesselschaft, edited by Christof Mauch, Helmuth Trischler, and Frank Uekötter, vol. 5. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co, 2012
  • John Mc Neill / Astrid Mignon Kirchhoff (Hrsg.): Nature Protection and the Iron Curtain. Environmental Policy and Social Movements in Communist and Capitalist Countries 1945-1990, Pittsburgh 2019
  • Tobias Huff: Natur und Industrie im Sozialismus: Eine Umweltgeschichte der DDR, Göttingen 2015.
  • Goodbody, Axel, ed. The Culture of German Environmentalism: Anxieties, Visions, Realities. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002
  • Milder, Stephen. "Thinking Globally, Acting (Trans-) Locally: Petra Kelly and the Transnational Roots of West German Green Politics." Central European History, 43, no. 2 (June 2010): 301–26
  • DM-Ausstellungskatalog: energie.wenden. Chancen und Herausforderungen eines Jahrhundertprojekts, München 2017
  • Frank Uekötter: Deutschland in Grün. Eine zwiespältige Erfolgsgeschichte, Göttingen, 2015
  • Frank Uekötter: Am Ende der Gewissheiten. Die ökologische Frage im 21. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt/New York 2011

  Note: JYG 4800 topics courses may change from year to year depending on student interest.

• JYM 4800: Topics in German Studies – Germany and its East European Neighbors

  Germany and its East European Neighbors – Cultural Perspectives from the Donaumonarchie to the European Union

  Credits: 3

  Taking the Osterweiterung (eastern expansion) of the European Union in 2004 as its point of departure, this course examines the cultural relations of Germany with its East European neighbors today. These relations also will be analyzed within the historical context of the repercussions of the dissolution of the Donaumonarchie (Austro-Hungarian Empire) at the end of the First World War (resulting in a series of new successor states), as well as more recent political developments in eastern and south-eastern Europe since the fall of the "Iron Curtain" in 1989. The course includes visits to the Polish and Czech Cultural Institutes in Munich.

  Topics covered 📑

  • Historical Cartography
  • The European Union – a History
  • The European Union – Institutions
  • Germany as a Member of the European Union
  • Eastern Expansion of the European Union in 2004
  • Retrospective: The German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire
  • World War I, Revolution, and the Dissolution of the Donaumonarchie
  • The Inter-War Years 1918-1939
  • The Third Reich and World War II
  • East-West Conflict and the Cold War
  • 1989 – the Fall of the Iron Curtain
  • German-Polish Relations – a History
  • German-Polish Relations – Cultural Perspectives
  • German-Czech Relations – a History
  • German-Czech Relations – Cultural Perspectives

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Presentations (Referate)
  • Term paper (Hausarbeit)

  Readings 📚

  • Course reader and handouts
  • Becher, Peter. Zwischen München, Prag und Wien. Essays und Feuilletons. 1990-1995. München 1995. Becher, Peter. "Koexistenz und Konkurrenz. Deutsche und tschechische Kultur in der
  • Tschechoslowakei." In: Hans-Michael Bock, Jan Distelmeyer, Jörg Schöning (Hrsg.): Zwischen Barrandov und Babelsberg. Deutsch-tschechische Filmbeziehungen im 20. Jahrhundert. Redaktion Johannes Roschlau. Edition text und kritik. München 2008

  Note: JYG 4800 topics courses may change from year to year depending on student interest.

• JYM 4800: Topics in German Studies – Aesthetics and Intellectual History

  Aesthetics and Intellectual History

  Credits: 3

  Ästhetik (gr. aísthesis: Wahrnehmung) war bis zum 19. Jahrhundert vor allem die Lehre von der wahrnehmbaren Schönheit. In diesem Seminar geht es zunächst um die Begriffsgeschichte des Ästhetik. Ein weiterer Schwerpunkt wird die Schnittstelle Literatur/bildende Kunst sein. In diesem Kurs soll es aber nicht nur um die klassische Theorie des Schönen, sondern auch um ihr heutiges Erscheinungsbild gehen. Der literaturtheoretische Teil dieses Seminars wird durch Austellungs- und Atelierbesuche, sowie durch Blockseminare von Kunstschaffenden und Schriftstellern ergänzt.

  Topics covered 📑

  • Einführung: Sind die Gebiete des Schönen und der Kunst identisch?
  • Die Theorie des Schönen in der Antike
  • Das Schöne und das Gute
  • Die Macht des Schönen Klassik vs. Avantgarde
  • Blockseminar mit Gerhard Falkner: Probleme des "Über-setzens"
  • Klassik vs. Avantgarde: Goethe und Thomas Mann
  • Blockseminar mit Ugo Dossi: Am Anfang war das Zeich[n]en . . .

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Seminar reports (Berichte und Protokolle)
  • Critical review essays (Rezensionen)

  Readings 📚

  • Ernesto Grassi, Die Theorie des Schönen in der Antike (1962)
  • Werner Jung, Von der Mimesis zur Simulation. Eine Einfuhrung in die Geschichte der Ästhetik, Hamburg (1995)
  • Gerhard Falkner, Bruno (2009), Hölderlin Reparatur (2009)
  • Ugo Dossi, Ecriture Automatique (2007)

  Note: JYG 4800 topics courses may change from year to year depending on student interest.

• JYM 4800: Topics in German Studies – Masterpieces of German Literature

  Masterpieces of German Literature

  Credits: 3

  The historian George Mosse once provoked his students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by saying: "I can't help it if all you want to read is Nietzsche, Marx and Freud. But if you haven't read Nietzsche, Marx and Freud in the original, then you are just children playing with toys." That may be a stretch. Then again, many students come to JYM precisely because they do in fact want to immerse themselves in the words and worlds of Germany's great literary figures while living and studying in Germany.

  This course is intended for those students whose intellectual curiosity is inspired by the slow, arduous process of reading – le plaisir du texte as Roland Barthes called it – close reading, attentive reading, inquisitive reading, and above all enjoyable reading of masterpieces of German literature – in the original.

  Written work requirement 📝

  • Presentations (Referate)
  • Reading journal (Lese-Journal)
  • Essays

  Readings 📚

  Examples of literary works that may be read in this course include:

  • Johann von Goethe (Faust; Lyrik)
  • Friedrich von Schiller (Maria Stuart; Lyrik)
  • Friedrich Hölderlin (Oden, Elegien, Hymnen)
  • Novalis (Hymnen an die Nacht), E.T.A. Hoffmann (Der Sandmann)
  • Stefan Georg (Lyrik)
  • Rainer Maria Rilke (Neue Gedichte, Die Duineser Elegie, Die Sonette an Orpheus)

  The final selection of works to be read will be decided upon collectively by class participants.

  Note: JYG 4800 topics courses may change from year to year depending on student interest.

• JYG 4900: Undergraduate Research Project

  Credits: 3

  Do you need to write a senior thesis? Complete a capstone research project? Are you working on a DAAD scholarship proposal or planning to apply for a postgraduate fellowship?

  Whether your interests include art and literature, contemporary history and politics, theater and film, international business and science, sustainable energy, the environment or urban planning, JYM can help you design a unique research project as a central component of your study abroad experience.

  Under the guidance and personal supervision of our resident director, we'll make sure that your research project consists of something you simply could not do back home. You'll be guided in your research and help you gain access to many of Munich's famous libraries and archives.

  Some of the research projects completed by JYM students include:

  • Art Restoration
  • Structural Transformation in the Industrial Ruhrgebiet
  • Restoring the City: German Urban Planning in the new Länder
  • The Politics of Derestoration: The Königsplatz Forum
  • Challenges for Global Managers
  • In the Footsteps of Theodor Storm
  • The North and South in German Literature
  • Politics in Goethe"s Wahlverwandschaften
  • Georg Simmel"s Philosophie des Geldes
  • The JYM Experience in Film
  • Stainglass Windows in Germany (Die Mayersche Hofkunstanstalt)
  • Fürst Pückler's English Garden in Görlitz
  • German Rap Music
  • Utopia in Michael Ende"s Social Criticism
  • Lou Salomé, Nietzsche and Feminism
  • Another Discourse on Method: Proof and Creativity in the Sciences
  • Ecology in Germany: Der grüne Punkt
  • Alternative Medicine in Germany Today
  • Physics in Germany Today: From Max Planck to Nanoscience
  • "Naturschutzgebiete in den neuen Bundesländern nach der Wende"
  • "Die Uminterpretierung von Karl May während drei großer Epochen deutscher Geschichte: Die Nazizeit, die Nachkriegzeit, und die Zeit nach der Wiedervereinigung"
  • "Polnische Künstlerinnen in München von 1828 – 1914"
  • ""I leave, julia, your country": Ausgewählte Übersetzungen der Werke von Gerhard Falkner"
  • "Umweltschutz in Deutschland: Geschichte, Struktur, Kontinuitäten (1798-1945)"
  • "Martin Heidegger: Brief über den Humanismus"
  • "Der Begriff der "Übersetzung" in den Werken von Gerhard Falkner"
• JYG 5890: Overseas Internship

  In today's competitive job market, experience matters. The Junior Year in Munich Program can provide you with overseas internship experience through our extensive international network of business and public sector partners. If you are interested in obtaining internship experience while in Munich, JYM offers you several options.

  Cultural Vistas internships

  Credits: 3

  JYM has formed a partnership with Cultural Vistas that allows students to integrate credit-bearing internship experience with their academic schedule of coursework during the second semester (SoSe). Under this arrangement, students earn credits for completion of JY 5890. Open to full-year and second-semester students only.

  Other internships

  Credits: 3

  Many full-year students only decide once they are in Munich that they wish to take advantage of internship or service-learning opportunities. In such cases, JYM's extensive network of contacts has allowed us to help students find learning experiences in the fields of marketing, publishing, education, the automotive industry, health care, e-commerce, government, foreign service, international trade, urban planning, economic development consultancy and more.

  This option is only available to students on the full-year program and consists of two modules. As part of the curriculum, students hone their language skills during the first semester and meet regularly with the resident director to plan their internship project and application strategy. During the second-semester students complete the practical part of their internship project, including the production of an Internship Portfolio (see below).

  View examples of past internships

  Requirements for awarding credit

  JYM does not award credit for the internship experience, but rather for written academic work completed in conjunction with the internship. To receive a grade for JYG 5890: Overseas Internship, students must submit an internship portfolio to the resident director.

  View internship portfolio requirements

  Readings 📚

  • Greg Nees. Germany. Unraveling an Enigma. Yarmouth: Intercultural Press, 2000
  • Publications of American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University
  • Collin Randlesome. The Business Culture in Germany. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann, 1994
  • Steven Hill. Europe's Promise. Why the European Way is the Best Hope in an Insecure Age. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010
  • Thomas Geoghegan. Were you Born on the Wrong Continent? How the European Model can Help you Get a Life. New York: The New Press, 2010
  • T.R. Reid. The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy. New York: Penguin, 2004