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