GERMANY

Digital media are an essential part of the lives of teenagers, as they are crucial elements of the social environment in which children grow up. Undoubtedly, adolescents play a key role in the popularity of various digital media sources and have a great influence on media trends, topics, and forms of expression. The complexity of the development and socialization of adolescents can be better understood when it comes to the influence of digital media, such as television and film, social networks, gaming, and music. This bachelor course approaches “youth” by exploring both how it relates to age and child development, but also how this implicitly evokes specific qualities in terms of gender, sexuality, class, race, ethnicity, nationality, and ability. The course examines digital media through the various types of content and technologies available, and critically examines who produces and consumes such media. The course asks questions about what media young people engage with and why, what media content they produce, how media impacts them, and what responsibility content creators and tech companies have in this regard. The course focuses on helping students develop a better understanding of how youth and other identities, such as gender or sexuality, are socially and culturally constructed, and assess the ways in which they are performed in a variety of youth cultures and subcultures. Each week the students engage with different media content and related digital platforms, and learn to critically examine how we can situate the concept of intersectionality in these. This in turn allows them to have a deep understanding of the roles that youth play politically, economically, and culturally.

This course is intended for students who have no prior knowledge of German. In this class on the A1 level according to CEFR, students learn and solidify basic grammatical structures and systematically build their vocabulary. They train the four skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing in everyday situations and do simple exercises to practice and improve their verbal and written skills. Students are introduced to independent forms of learning and studying. The class covers and reflects on civilization and culture in Germany, Berlin, and at the university as related to everyday life. Topics include personal information, living situation, institutions, traffic, traveling, health, weather, and festivities.

In January 2021 a commission appointed by the federal government released an extensive report on the integration of people with a Migrationshintergrund, or migration background, in Germany. The report set out a concept of integration, discussed integration with regard to a wide range of policy areas, including health and housing, education, and employment, and raised issues like religion and language. Also included in the report were the dissenting positions of several commission members, which underline the extent to which integration remains a contested and controversial idea. The course uses this report as the starting point for an analysis of the concept of integration. The course considers the economic, social, political, and cultural aspects of the concept developed in the report, and compares it with terms like cosmopolitanism and multiculturalism. The course also discusses the implications of integration for employment and education policy.

What does it mean to live in a surveillance society? How does the digital age challenge questions regarding privacy, individuality, and freedom? When does surveillance as care tip over into surveillance as control? And how does the Stasi system of vigilance prefigure contemporary surveillance culture? This course on the one hand examines the impact of surveillance on society by looking at the multifaceted ways technologies, societies, and the arts interact; and on the other hand, reflects on surveillance in a totalitarian context while comparing observation techniques in the GDR with contemporary surveillance methods. The course also explores how surveillance is represented in contemporary literature, film, and popular culture. The course maps out important themes with regards to surveillance and its repercussions (e.g., visibility, identity, privacy, and control). The course provides an overview of the interdisciplinary field of surveillance and covers the latest research in the following major areas: 1. Relationship between surveillance, power, and social control; 2. Histories of Surveillance: GDR and the Stasi (especially in the context of Berlin) 3. The concept of privacy; 4. Surveillance in the arts and popular culture.