Dr. You Kyung BYUN

English B2

Monday 16-18 c.t.

This course aims to explore, critically analyze, and comprehend the history of migration and the recent development of migrant economies in Berlin with a particular focus on migrant food entrepreneurship. The first half of the course deals with theoretical concepts. In the second half, participants will develop an individual or group project about Berlin's food entrepreneurs. Through interactive and collaborative exercises, participants will develop genuine perspectives in living together in a multicultural city.

Shelley ETKIN 

English B2

Wednesday 12-14 c.t. 

This course situates questions of planetary change through the study of Berlin as a diverse and complex ecosystem, focusing on several urban gardens. Asking “what can a garden be?” we will study relations between the many human and nonhuman communities that compose each garden. The course proposes ecological thinking as a frame for engagement with the multiple disciplines that inform the field of ecology 

ranging from environmental and economic, to social and political, artistic and spiritual. 

Samuel PEREA-DÍAZ / Banu TÜLÜ

English A2

Wednesday 10-12 c.t. 

This weekly course explores Berlin’s sonic perspectives with an approach to architecture, urban planning, human and social sciences as well as art in our everyday life. From the urban sonic perspective, every city and every urban space has a particular sonic identity for every individual. What is the sound of Berlin? Which sonic elements in architecture, urban planning, art and cultural events have shaped Berlin? We respond to these questions through interdisciplinary collective listening exercises. 

Banu TÜLÜ

English B1, German A1

Wednesday 14-16 c.t. 

Berlin is considered a multi-layered urban lab and contradictory landscape. The focal point of this course is an examination of the changes associated with urban development in Berlin and “counter actions” as urban social movements. This interdisciplinary course explores Berlin through urban activism with several lenses, including: housing and gentrification, urban environmental activism, community gardening, political power relations in the city, social justice and the right to the city. 

Dr. Stefanie RINKE

English B1, German B1

12-16 c.t. 

Berlin is called the most sexually open capital of Europe today. In clubs, bars, workshops and festivals a broad range and mix of sexual orientations are created What does liberal sexual culture exactly mean? What kind of historical roots are important to analyze, e.g. the anonymity of the big city, the homosexual movement and the golden twenties? We will discuss these issues by reading texts, discussing important places, and watching films. Students will develop their own research questions and projects. 

Dr. Deniz Güneş Yardımcı 

English B2, German A1

Monday 12-16 c.t.

The labor migration from Turkey to Germany had an important socio-economic and socio-cultural impact on both countries and influenced their film cultures. Berlin (especially Kreuzberg) has always been one of the favorite settings in migration movies. This interdisciplinary course crosses the academic fields of migration studies, film studies, and cultural studies. Students will gain knowledge about film analysis, writing a screenplay, German immigration history, and theoretical concepts dealing with migration, diaspora, stereotype, culture, and identity.

Azakhiwe HÖHLING

English B2

Monday 10-12 c.t. 

This interdisciplinary course introduces students to the status and experience of the pre- and post-colonial African Diaspora in Berlin. We will endeavor to understand how Africans are perceived in Berlin. This course is designed to provide students with both a specific and a general view of the status in citizenship, sense of belonging, and experiences of Black people in Berlin. We will explore the role these debates play within the African diaspora’s sense of belonging, as well as how different forms of citizenship are experienced and negotiated on an everyday basis in Berlin. 

Dr. Russell ALT-HAAKER

English B2

Tuesday 10-12 c.t.

Over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Berlin has been home to a heterogeneous Jewish community. Drawing on selected essays, satirical writings, newspaper reports, memoirs, poems, photographs, and graphic novels, this course will explore how Jewish identity has been negotiated over the past century against the sociopolitical backdrop of the German capital. Special focus will be placed on examining first-hand how the city’s urban spaces and sites of memory have played a role in this process.

Dr. Victoria BISHOP KENDZIA

English B2

Tuesday 14-18 c.t.

This interdisciplinary course will focus on issues of Self and Other constructions as attested in museums and exhibitions. The aim of the course is to use anthropological methods to explore the sites and critical analyzes to reflect upon them. It is based in empirical social anthropology, especially in terms of theoretical framework and methodology. It does, however, involve a historical overview of the Jewish narrative in Germany from just before 1933 to the present and an overview of migration issues. 

Dr. Olga GNYDIUK

English B2

Tuesday 12-14 c.t. 

Imagine yourself as a child or a teenager, who lives in Berlin during the First or the Second World War, or when the city was divided between the East and the West. By looking from the children's perspective, the course raises the topics of war, racism, eugenics, humanitarianism, victim/perpetrator dichotomy, displacement, child welfare politics. We will discover a variety of children’s experiences, read personal stories and testimonies, analyze historical documents, watch movies, contrast and compare child policies and politics during war and peacetime. 

Carolin SIBILAK 

English B1, German B2

Thursday 10-12 c.t. 

During the 28 years of its existence the Wall, being a heavily guarded military border isolating half a city as well as an icon of the national and global post-war era, had inspired all kinds of artistic involvements. How has the Wall been interpreted in art? The seminar will mainly focus on German literature but also look into music, visual and performing arts. It traces connections between sociopolitical developments and art and addresses topics like artistic purpose, responsibility, freedom and censorship. 

Benjamin WILCK 

English B2, German A2

Wednesday 16-18 c.t. 

This course explores philosophical reflections on the university and the role of philosophy within that institution as put forward by German philosophers in the Prussian Berlin of the 19th century. We will trace how ideas relating to the structure and purpose of the university changed and were implemented in the course of the last two centuries. Moreover, the course puts particular emphasis on the impact of philosophical ideas on politics, religion, and education, as well as on literature, visual arts, and architecture in Berlin past and present.