Dr. Betiel Wasihun

English B2

Friday, 10-12 c.t.

Room: 0323-26, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7 

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 will on the one hand examine the impact of surveillance on society by looking at the multifaceted ways technologies, societies and the arts interact; and on the other hand, reflect on surveillance in a totalitarian context while comparing observation techniques in the GDR with contemporary surveillance methods. We will also explore how surveillance is represented in contemporary literature, film and popular culture. The course will map 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) 2. The concept of privacy; 3. Surveillance in the arts and popular culture.

Dr. George Athanasopoulos

English B2
German A2

Monday 10-12 s.t. (10:00-11:30)

Room: 0323-26, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7 

The aim of this seminar series is to introduce students to the techniques and methods necessary for fieldwork in transcultural ethnography, ranging from remote tribes in Papua New Guinea (i.e. the BenaBena tribe) all the way to one of the most vibrant capital cities in Europe: Berlin. Conceptual, ethical, and methodological issues are discussed, and a substantial practical component is included. Students will learn how to collect qualitative data in settings of their choice within the city of Berlin, which may vary between Berlin cafés, the Berlin nightclub scene and concert halls, the Studentendorf Schlachtensee, and migrant community centers. Course projects must include a substantial fieldwork component involving human participants of any background and in any setting in relation to the experience of living, working, and creating in Berlin. The course will enable students to develop their social skills, gain knowledge of contemporary ethics procedures regarding fieldwork research, get to see the city of Berlin itself through the eyes of people who call it their home, and acquire a solid methodological tool pack for present and future endeavors in the field of transcultural and ethnographic explorations.

Samuel Perea-Díaz

English B1

Tuesday 10-12 c.t.

Room: 0323-26, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7 

The course focuses on mapping and listening to acoustic territories in Berlin.  It allows academic research to explore and understand the city by sensing aural environments. Structured in theory and practice, the central questions of the course are: which sonic elements can we encounter in navigating historical and contemporary maps? Which methods of research and practices exist in the act of mapping with sound? How can we generate sound maps? The course reflects the city's cultural, social, and political dimensions from a transdisciplinary approach through analyzing and creating maps by listening. It aims to allow students to explore auditory territories, gain strength, and develop knowledge and individual perspectives on cultural and urban studies. The mapping methods are practice-based on field recordings, soundwalk, and sound diagramming exercises. The academic readings and discussions will introduce the student to the field of sound studies. 

Pablo Santacana López
Zoe Ritts

English B1

German A1

Thursday 10-12 c.t.

Room: 0323-26, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7  

In a city so deeply marked by its history, the institutionalized processes of collective memory have faced continuous challenges from anti-, non-, and para-institutional forces. Who and how decides what needs to be publicly remembered? How do these decisions shape our understanding of Berlin's past and present? This course explores the dynamic interplay between activism, art, and public remembrance in Berlin from 1989 to nowadays. Through mixed methods and practice-based research, the course delves into the spatial politics that shape the social significance of public spaces in relation to our collective past and analyzes the current strategies employed by different organizations to contest official memory practices up until today. The course includes planning site visits, engaging with present organizations and initiatives, and producing a critical reflection on our role as active participants in shaping public memory.

Dr. Margareta von Oswald
Diana Mammana

English B2

German B2

Friday 12-18 c.t. 
Please note the individual session dates: 
20.10.  12-14 c.t.

10.11.  12.14 c.t.

17.11.  12-18 c.t.

01.12.  12-18 c.t.

15.12.  12-18 c.t.

02.02.  12-18 c.t.

09.02.  12-16 c.t.

Museums are political spaces, because they always include some, whilst excluding others. Whose history is told in the museum? Who feels comfortable, at ease there? Who even goes there? In this seminar, we want to explore how museums in Berlin respond to the request that they should be more ‘inclusive’, ‘diverse’, ‘participatory’, or ‘democratic’. Put differently, we will explore Berlin’s museum landscape in order to understand how museums negotiate the relationship with their outside, how they resonate with society. By visiting different museums, encountering people who work there, we will ask: How is curatorial work defined? How do museum workers understand and work with key practices like participation, mediation and education? Which methods do museum workers employ? 

Dr. Victoria Bishop Kendzia

English B2

German not required, but an asset

Thursday 12-16 c.t. 
Weekly 4hour sessions 19 October – 14 December 2023 (no class on 26 October)

Room: 0323-26, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7 

Berlin’s rich museological landscape lends itself to in-depth exploration of Germany’s difficult heritage: How are the upheavals of the 20th and 21st centuries, especially, remembered and represented? This course aims to enable the students to get to know a number of Berlin museums focusing on Memory and Post-WWII migration using anthropological methods and to critically analyse them within larger theoretical frameworks of “self” and “other” constructions. The aim is to explore the role of museums in rendering such constructions visible and therefore debatable. In addition to visiting the sites, there are scholarly readings and in-class discussions.  The discussions will be based on the museum visits and the students’ questions on the readings.

Azakhiwe Nocanda

English B2

Tuesday 12-14 c.t.

Room: 0323-26, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7  

How do our unconscious biases impact the way we view people within the African Diaspora? The course aims to explore intersectional inequalities of citizenship and the politics of Belonging and how our unconscious biases impact the way we view (Black) Africans and people within the African Diaspora. The relationship between migration, social cohesion, and national German identity has become an increasingly contentious political issue. Historically, the settlement of migrant groups and the formation of minority ethnic groups have changed the socio-cultural, political, and economic fabric of receiving societies. We will explore the relationship between racial and ethnocultural diversity. We will consider the relationship between colonialism and white supremacy in Germany, whilst examining the ongoing debate around how German (Anti-) racism has been influenced by earlier colonial ideology and practice. We will turn to the resurgence of colonialism as a theme in recent literature and historiography and examine the state of play in contemporary (international) debates about the colonial past.

Julia de Freitas Sampaio
Marco A. Trejo Picazo

English B2

German A1

Tuesday 16-18 c.t.

Room: 0323-26, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7 

The phrase “Germany is not a country of immigration” has been said by German officials multiple times, and yet, Germany is the second most popular destination for immigrants (just after the USA). But how has this country, which less than 100 years ago was home to one of the most racist and xenophobic regimes that have ever existed, is now home for so many immigrants? In this class we will explore the history and the laws behind it and, even more, we will hear the stories first hand from immigrants living in Berlin. As the course takes place in Berlin, the city will be our study case. From tours organized by refugees, walks in the diverse Berliner neighborhoods and interviews with immigrants, this class aims to give a more in depth, first hand insight on the condition of immigrants living in Germany. That, without forgetting to take history, law and geography into account, for a richer understanding of the processes that have transformed this city (and country) over and over again.

Dr. Marita Meyer

German B2 

English B2 (optional)

Tuesday 14-16 c.t.

Room: 0323-26, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7 

From the Enlightment up to the present Berlin has been a preferred home for poets, novelists, playwrights, journalists, and creative writers of any kind. Their stories and visions not also represented but also shaped the idea of the city. This course includes selected works of literature (and some works of visual art as well) written in different periods in Berlin. The works are contextualized to the dynamic and multilayered history of the city and are connected to the urban spaces of today. Enhanced as well through excursions, our readings and discussions help students gain insight into the rich cultural history and the current discourses in and about Berlin. This course will be taught mainly in German. You will have the opportunity to improve your academic German skills. We will read texts in German, and difficult vocabulary will be introduced. 

Flávia Scóz

English B2

Thursday 14-18 
Weekly 4hour sessions October-December

Room: 0323-26, Hausvogteiplatz 5-7  

Is nature an invented concept? Is the concept of nature the same in Germany and the Global South? How has art influenced the idea of ecology and nature? Looking at recent history, since at least the mid-1800s, German art has often explored the conflict between nature and culture. Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) is known for his crucial role in reflecting on the relationship between humans and nature. From a different perspective, in the mid-1900s, Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) connected art and politics by founding the Green Party, discoursing in favor of the environment, and creating concrete artistic works, such as “7.000 Eichen”. Even today, the city of Berlin has several art projects that reflect the role of art in ecology and the relationship between culture and nature. The aim of the course is to investigate this relationship, focusing on the German perspective, but without neglecting the "foreign" experiences brought by the international students on the course. To this end, we will also analyze a few ecological art proposals developed in the Global South.