Minorities and Migrants: Exploring Multicultural Germany

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Read and evaluate texts by and about minority cultures in Germany and Austria;
• Respond to ethnic and cultural difference in non-reductive ways;
• Be familiar with key political and cultural terminology relevant to the subject of the course;
• Formulate and defend personal judgements clearly and persuasively on the basis of evidence;
• Articulate an informed response to questions of textual and visual interpretation, in both discussion and writing.
• Define, present and exemplify concepts relevant to the task in hand.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The relevance of immigration to processes of identity in post-war German culture;
• The main issues, events and policies that shaped post-war immigrations in Germany;
• The significance of key debates on race, ethnicity and diversity in the light of German history (post-colonialism, post-Nazism, post-unification);
• Techniques for analysing media discourses and cultural productions.

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Participate in and lead group discussion;
• Carry out close analysis of cultural artefacts and reflect on the relationship between socio-historical context and the content and form of the works studied;
• Express your ideas in the form of short reviews, thus combining critical observation with in-depth understanding of a subject.
• Organize relevant material in written and oral discussion in order to communicate in appropriate genres and to required conventions;
• Understand theoretical approaches and apply them to selected material;
• Further develop strategies of independent research and learning;

This course explores contemporary Germany, recent German history and notions of German identity through the lens of immigration and diversity. We begin by tracing the broad developments of post-war immigrations and their close relationship to larger historical developments. The significance of German history for the political and cultural formation of a multicultural society will be addressed throughout the course. The topics explore both significant public debates and discourses, as well as engage with specific issues and communities. These might include:

• Multiculturalism, 'integration' and the idea of a 'leading culture'
• Muslims in the German media
• Notions of 'race' and the relationship between Germanness and whiteness
• postcolonial Germany
• the 'refugee crisis'
• Turkish Germans

The course puts emphasis on working with and responding to a range of scholarly, media and aesthetic texts (including films) and students will continue to hone their critical reading, viewing, reflection and research skills. In engaging with this subject we also want to enhance our awareness of political and social processes of racialization and of anti-racism.

Teaching and learning methods

There will be a double seminar each week. The tutor will introduce topics and provide some brief lecture-style input. Special emphasis will be placed on (small group) seminar discussions of study material and student work. Students will take on role of facilitators of seminar meetings. The aim of the seminars is to establish a collaborative context in which each student can work creatively with ideas, build on the thoughts of others, strengthen their communication skills and develop their research interests. A session on ‘how to write a review’ will prepare the aesthetic text review assignment. A news blog containing student posts on contemporary German news reporting on migration issues will facilitate a news review assignment and produce a shared resource.

Resources & Reading list

Internet Resources

Bundeszentrale politische Bildung, Grundlagendossier Migration.

Textbooks

Ulrich Herbert (1990). History of Foreign Labor in Germany, 1880-1980: Seasonal Workers, Forced Laborers, Guest Workers. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Richard Dyer (1997). White. London: Routledge.

Peter Wade (2002). Race, Nature and Culture. London: Pluto.

Beverly M. Weber (2013). Violence and Gender in the 'New' Europe: Islam in German Culture. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Deniz Göktürk, David Gramling, Anton Kaes (2007). Germany in Transit: Nation and Migration, 1955-2005. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Assessment strategy

Assessment Method

1. Essay [summative]

2. Seminar Presentation [summative]

3. News blog posting [summative]

4. Aesthetic text review [summative]

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External