GMST 020. Topics in German Studies I

This fifth semester course explores the uneasy relationship of humans with technology, including the most prominent forms of artificial intelligence present throughout centuries of cultural production in German-speaking territories: golems, alrauns, homunculi, automata, clones, cyborgs, artificial humans. Students will learn that many of the current challenges posed by technological developments, and particularly by artificial intelligence, are not unique to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Class discussions, as well as short class presentations, will support students’ efforts to learn and correctly use the necessary vocabulary. Weekly language games will help students retain vocabulary, review grammar, and learn new structures. Students will learn how to write an essay by producing several drafts and improving them. Students will engage literature, music, visual art and media, as well as current newspaper articles. This course serves as the introduction to the interdisciplinary field of German Studies.

Fall 2020 Topic: Homunculi, Golems, Robots, Clones: Artificial Humans in German Culture

Fall 2021 Topic: Literature and Immigration

Prerequisite: GMST 008 or equivalent placement score.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Eligible for GLBL-Paired
Fall 2020. Staff.
Fall 2021. Staff.
Catalog chapter: Modern Languages and Literatures: German Studies
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/german-studies

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