Germany

This course focuses on the therapeutic relationship between physician/surgeon and patient, at a time of major socio-economic change, political turmoil, and advent of the clinical gaze in medicine. After a first phase of contextualization, the course is organized in thematic subsections, in which text pertaining to these questions as well as some historical sources is read and discussed. The course examines the economic dimension of medicine and the impact it has on patients’ agency in the therapeutic relationship in a context of competition between surgeons, physicians, and other health practitioners. The course also focuses on the question of pain management and the sensory experience of surgery before the advent of anesthesia. Finally, there is a focus on the doctor/patient relationship in institutional contexts such as hospitals and prisons, with a deeper look at the case of military surgery. The colonial context, while not at the heart of this course, is also included. The question of power dynamics between physician and patients, including questions of in particular of class, race, and gender are present throughout.

This seminar explores several different historical approaches to the abolition of slavery in North America. Abolitionism, centered in the North, was led by social reformers, such as William Lloyd Garrison, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society; and writers like John Greenleaf Whittier and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Black activists included former slaves such as David Walker, Frederick Douglass, and free Blacks alike. In the South, black activists of the Underground Railroad helped slaves escape to the North, Canada, and Mexico. Former slaves ran this secret organization like Harriet Tubman, free African Americans, and white supporters who facilitated the flight of roughly 40,000 people over two decades. At about the same time, religious abolitionists such as the Gileadites took up armed resistance and fought during “bleeding Kansas” against the interests of the slaveowners. The Civil War ended slavery officially, but its effects on the American nation linger on until today.

This course explores philosophical reflections on the structure and purpose of the university and the role of philosophy within that institution as put forward by German philosophers in the 19th century, while also providing a critical perspective on the subsequent history of the university through the 20th century until today. Students read key texts by philosophers such as Kant, Schelling, Fichte, von Humboldt, Schleiermacher, Hegel, Marx, Heine, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Heidegger, to trace how ideas relating to university reform changed and were implemented in the course of the last two centuries, also in light of the most recent European university reform: the Bologna Process in 1999.

This pre-semester course prepares foreign students for academic study at a German university. The focus is on the improvement of oral and written expression as well as grammar and lexical proficiency. The course covers selected topics on German politics and society within a historical context. In addition, excursions are planned to introduce students to German culture. Students work with cultural topics in everyday situations and broaden their intercultural knowledge. They are introduced to independent learning methods and familiarize themselves with typical learning situations at German universities. In this class at the B2 level according to CEFR, students consolidate their knowledge of grammar and study complex structures. They systematically expand their vocabulary and include abstract terms and topics. The course includes exercises to improve oral and written communication such as doing research, structuring, presenting, and discussing. Writing skills are enhanced through different types of academic texts and handouts. The B2 level is split into two courses, the B2.1 course covers the first half of the level and the B2.2 course covers the second half of the level.