ML7069: United but Divided? Exploring German Unification Through Film and Literature

School German
Department Code MLANG
Module Code ML7069
External Subject Code 101135
Number of Credits 15
Level L6
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader Dr Nicholas Hodgin
Semester Autumn Semester
Academic Year 2020/1

Outline Description of Module

To coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of German Unification, this 30 credit module offers students the opportunity to examine in detail shifts in the representation of the GDR since 1989 and key developments in the social, cultural and political life of a united Germany, looking in particular at the ways in which artists (filmmakers, musicians, writers, photographers)  have sought to engage with the topic of German unification over the past three decades.

Organised thematically, the module focusses on, among other things, the memory debates, the politics of nostalgia, the legacy of the GDR and its shifting representation, and examines these in their social and political contexts. Students analyse a selection texts and images from a range of media (primarily film but also television, journalism and literature) in order to deepen their understanding of German post-unification life. Is there more to Ostalgie than mere nostalgia? Why do GDR ruins fascinate? How should we understand East German identity after East Germany?

On completion of the module a student should be able to

  • Analyse a range of media and be able to examine these in their social, historical and political contexts
  • Reading and evaluation of scholarship and of films and texts;
  • Critically understand ways in which artists have contributed to modern German culture, in particular via film and literature;
  • Plan and write an essay analysing cultural, historical and political questions as they are articulated across a range of media
  • Contribute to discussions individually and show evidence of collaborative work
  • Critically create work in the form of either a poster presentation or photo essay.

How the module will be delivered

The module is taught in a double hour, in lecture-seminar-workshop format (in both German and English). Students have opportunities to ask questions and include time in which students are asked to reflect on a proposition, or to react to a particular claim. Film screenings will be arranged at a time convenient to all (films will also be available in the library). Clear instructions and relevant reading are provided in advance of each seminar giving students time to prepare for each session. There will also be some online activities (a discussion forum for some weeks; research tasks etc). Sessions will include group work, film clips, non-assessed mini-presentations, and student-led discussions.

You will receive continuous feedback (both oral and written) throughout the semester. There will be sessions dedicated to understanding assessments so that students feel well prepared. Guidance on how to write a quality essay will be given in advance of the essay and students are encouraged to submit an essay plan for feedback.

Skills that will be practised and developed

The module offers students the opportunity to enhance academic skills and to develop further the kind of skills useful in the workplace. Students will thus practice how to:

•           Communicate ideas effectively and fluently, both orally and in writing

•           Use communications and information technologies for the retrieval and presentation of information

•           Work independently, demonstrating initiative, self-organisation and time-management

•           Collaborate with others and contribute to the achievement of common goals

•           Gather, organize and deploy evidence, data and information from a variety of sources

•           Develop a reasoned argument, synthesize relevant information and exercise critical judgement

•           Present their research to others

•           Reflect on their own learning and make use of constructive feedback

•           Manage their own learning self-critically

How the module will be assessed

Essay: 100% - 1,500 Words, Semester 1

There will formative (group) assessments (including for e.g. compilation of a bibliography) designed to enhance research and presentation skills.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

Students failing the module will have the opportunity to resit an essay (1500 words) to achieve a maximum of 40%.

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Written Assessment 100 Essay N/A

Syllabus content

We will be studying a range of media (mainly films – from cult films to mainstream dramas, comedies to  horror –   but including music, a graphic  novel, stories and other writing) in terms of their narrative structures and formal composition, but analysing also their role in mediating social/political messages and assessing their contribution to unification discourse. The course will draw on a range of theories and disciplines including film studies, history, critical and cultural studies. The study of these diverse texts offers an ideal opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of German society and culture in the period since 1989. By the end of the semester students will have developed their knowledge of some of the key issues in Germany's recent history.

Among the topics we will be examining are:

•           encounters between east and west

•           life in the east German provinces

•           memory debates and curating the GDR

•           mourning and melancholia among the Left

•           the development of Ostalgie and retro pop culture

•           the GDR as lost future and Unification as missed opportunity

Films/TV include some of the following (TBC - indicative only)

•           Alles Lüge (Schier 1992)

•           Barbara (Petzold, 2012)

•           Das deutsche Kettensägenmassaker (Schlingensief, 1992)

•           Deutschland ’83 (TV series 2015)

•           Go Trabi Go (Timm, 1990)

 •          Kleinruppin Forever (Fiebeler, 2004)

•           Lichter (Schmid, 2003)

•           Not a Love Song (Ralkse, 1997)

•           Sonnenallee (Haussmann, 1999)

•           Stilles Land (Andreas Dresen, 1992)

•           Der rote Kakadu (Graf, 2005)

Reading includes some of the following  (TBC - indicative only)

•           Christoph Dieckmann (extracts)

•           Ulrich Plenzdorf, Ein Land, genannt die DDR (extracts )

•           Karl Otto Conrady (ed.), Von einem Land und vom anderen. Gedichte zur deutschen Wende 1989/1990 (extracts)

Essential Reading and Resource List

Indicative only – comprehensive bibliography available on Learning Central

Anne Fuchs, Mary Cosgrove and Georg Grote, eds German memory contests: the quest for identity in literature, film, and discourse since 1990 (Rochester: Camden House, 2010)

Ben Gook, Divided subjects, invisible borders: re-unified Germany after 1989 (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2015)

Hodgin, Nick Screening the East: Heimat, memory and nostalgia in German film since 1989 (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2011)

Hodgin, Nick and Caroline Pearce, eds (2011) The GDR remembered: representations of the East German state since 1989 (Rochester: Camden House, 2011)

Karen Leeder, ed. From Stasiland to Ostalgie: The GDR Twenty Years After. Special Issue of Oxford German studies. 38.3, 2011

Background Reading and Resource List

'After Twenty Years: Change and Continuity in Unified Germany', Special issue of the German Studies Review, Vol. 33, No. 3 (October 2010)

‘Beyond Ostalgie: East and West German Identity in Contemporary German Culture’, special issue of Seminar: a journal of Germanic studies. 40.3 (2004)

‘Geschichte und Erinnerung’, Online-Dossier der Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung (2008), http://www.bpb.de/geschichte/zeitgeschichte/geschichte-und-erinnerung/

Pertti Ahonen, 'Unity on Trial: The Mauerschutzenprozesse and East-West Rifts of United Germany' in Anne Fuchs, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, and Linda Shortt (eds.), Debating German cultural identity since 1989 (Rochester: Camden House, 2011)

Frank Brunssen, Das neue Selbstverständnis der Berliner Republik. (Würzburg:Königshausen & Neumann, 2005).

Deirdre Byrnes, Jean E Conacher and Gisela Holfter  (eds), German Reunification and the Legacy of GDR Literature and Culture (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2018)

David Clarke and Ute Wölfel (eds): Remembering the German Democratic Republic: Divided Memory in a United Germany (Houndsmills: Palgrave, 2011)

Paul Cooke, Representing East Germany since unification: from colonization to nostalgia (Oxford: Berg, 2005)

Carol Anne Costabile-Heming; Rachel J Halverson; Kristie A Foell,eds,Textual responses to German unification: processing historical and social change in literature and film (Berlin ; New York : W. de Gruyter, 2001)

Gareth Dale, The East German Revolution of 1989 (Manchester University Press, 2006)

Dieter Dettke, ed., The spirit of the Berlin Republic (Oxford: Berghahn, 2003)

Wolfgang Dümcke, and Fritz Vilmar, eds. Kolonialisierung der DDR: kritische Analysen und Alternativen des Einigungsprozesses (Münster: Agenda, 1996)

Jürgen W. Falter, ed. Sind wir ein Volk?: Ost- und Westdeutschland im Vergleich (München: C.H. Beck, 2006)

Glaser, Hermann ed. Die Mauer fiel, die Mauer steht: ein deutsches Lesebuch 1989-1999 (München: dtv, 1999)

Petra Köpping, Integriert doch erst mal uns!: eine streitschrift für den osten (Berlin: Ch. Links Verlag, 2018)

Manfred Görtemaker, Die Berliner Republik: Wiedervereinigung und Neuorientierung (Berlin: be.bra Verlag, 2009)

Sara Jones, The media of testimony: remembering the East German Stasi in the Berlin Republic (London: Palgrave, 2014)

Jennifer A. Jordan, 'Apples, Identity and Memory in Post-1989 Germany' in Anne Fuchs, Kathleen James-Chakraborty, and Linda Shortt (eds.), Debating German cultural identity since 1989 (Rochester: Camden House, 2011)

Anna Saunders and Debbie Pinfold, eds., Remembering and rethinking the GDR: multiple perspectives and plural authenticities (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2013)

Stuart Taberner, Frank Finlay (eds.), Recasting German Identity: Culture, Politics, and Literature in the Berlin Republic (London: Boydell & Brewer, 2013)

Jeffrey J. Anderson and Eric Langenbacher (eds.), From the Bonn to the Berlin Republic : Germany at the twentieth anniversary of unification (Oxford: Beghahn, 2010)

Alexander von Plato, The end of the Cold War?: Bush, Kohl, Gorbachev, and the reunification of Germany (London: Palgrave, 2015)


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