Prospectus

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Berlin mnemotope – from 1890 – present

Course
2010-2011

Admission requirements

Not applicable

Description

The city of Berlin can be seen as site where history and cultural memory are interwoven in complex and multi-layered ways. Throughout the late nineteenth and the twentieth century until the present the metropolis Berlin has witnessed many profound changes, politically, socially, and culturally that have had their effect on a wide range of practices in art and culture. Berlin has been the capital of the German Kaiserreich, the Nazi regime, after which it has been split for some 40 years, before it was reunited again in 1989/1990. In this seminar we will study the cultural domains (art, literature, film, theatre, architecture) of Berlin, their products and crossovers from the late-nineteenth century to the present. Berlin is understood as a ‘mnemotope’ (Assmann 1992 – or: ‘lieux de memoire’ [Nora, 1984-1992], ‘realm of memory’), a place of multiple interacting cultural memories and their cultural products, as site for the production of knowledge and for cultural expression.

Course objectives

What do the students have to know at the end of the course?
Students will

  • understand the relationship between history, cultural practices and memory

  • understand art in diverse contexts

  • know and understand various artistic practices in diverse contexts and the relevant frames of reference.

  • have insight in cultural historical processes, and the way they produce products of art

  • formulate a concise, relevant research question and to write a research paper

  • also be able to present the results of their research in a debate, and in a oral presentation for an audience of peers

Timetable

Timetable
12 weekly seminar meetings of 2 hours; students will get assignments, will have to give an oral presentation and participate in the discussions, also an study trip to Berlin is planned in (mid)week 8 (study week).

Mode of instruction

Seminar

Assessment method

Oral presentation (‘referaat’ + discussion and participation) as midterm assignment to be held in Berlin ( 40 %)
Concluding paper (written – 60 %, 5000 words)

Blackboard

Blackboard is used :

  • To post assignments, texts, visual material.

  • To inform students

  • To build a discussion forum

Required reading

Jan Assmann, Collective Memory and Cultural Identity. In: New German critique (1995), No. 65, pp. 125-134

Didem Ekici, The surfaces of Memory in Berlin. Rebuilding the Schloß. In: Journal of Architectural Education, vol. 61 (2007), No. 2, pp. 25-34

Lutz Koepnick, Forget Berlin. In: The German Quaterly 74.4 (Fall 2001), pp. 343-354

Pierre Nora, Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memoire. In; Representations, No. 26, Special Issue: Memory and Counter-Memory (Spring, 1989), pp. 7-24

Advised background reading on the history of Berlin

David Clay Large, Berlin, New York 2000

Bernd Stöver: Geschichte Berlins, München 2010

Registration

Students have to apply for this course with the registration system of the university uSis. General information about registration with uSis you can find here in Dutch and in English

Contact information

With the lecturers Prof.dr.A.Visser or Prof.dr Kitty Zijlmans
Or the Secretary’s office, Van Wijkplaats 3, : +31 (0)71 5272101;
E-mail: secrlw@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Remarks

For more information, check the website of Inter Cultural Disciplines