Germanic Languages and Literatures

Germanic Languages & Literatures News

Symposium: "Black Europe: Formations"

Please join us Friday, November 8 at the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center for a symposium, "Black Europe: Formations," organized by the European Union Center. Charlie Webster, GLL, will participate in the 2:...

Remembering 1989

This account of the “laboratory of radical democracy” in the months before East Germany’s absorption in the West challenges memories of Germany’s reunification. For many, 1989 is an iconic date, one we associate with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. The...

Using Generative AI in Language Teaching

This workshop will explore theoretical and practical aspects of using generative artificial intelligence tools in language teaching. Applications and limitations of particular tools will be discussed. Participants are encouraged to bring their own devices to work with the AI tools. Come join us on...

Congratulations to Prof. Laurie Johnson on her award of a Public Voices Fellowship

Professor Laurie Johnson has been selected for the 2024-25 cohort of the Public Voices Fellowship with the University of Illinois System. The program is a national initiative to help faculty amplify their expertise...

The Health Humanities in German Studies

The first full-length study to bring together the fields of Health Humanities and German studies, this book features contributions from a range of key scholars and provides an overview of the latest work being done at the intersection of these two disciplines. In addition to surveying the current...

Enlightenment Anthropology: Defining Humanity in an Era of Colonialism By Carl Niekerk

In this book, Carl Niekerk probes the origins of modern anthropology in the European Enlightenment, foregrounding how the knowledge transfer between an international array of natural historians and public intellectuals—including Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon; Voltaire; Denis Diderot;...

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Career Paths in Germanic Languages and Literatures

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Comprehensive curriculum in language, culture, and linguistics

In addition to courses in German for the complete immersion experience, we offer numerous classes in English, most of which fulfill General Education requirements. Undergraduates can also pursue study abroad in Vienna or elsewhere in the German-speaking world via Illinois Abroad and Global Exchange, and our graduate students regularly win fellowships to do research at a wide range of universities and libraries in Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia. Join us!

Illinois in Vienna Graduate study and research

GER 465 - Die deutsche Sprache in Österreich

Explore the German language in Austria from a sociolinguistic perspective.

GER 465

GER 473 - Protest Memory: Post-1989 Literature, Film, and Theory

We will discuss a diverse archive of post-1989 literature, film, and memorials in order to reexamine the so-called Peaceful Revolution and the interval year of ’89-90.

GER 473

GER 396 - Babylon Berlin

In 1929, Berlin was known to be a hedonistic city of extremes: corrupt wealth existed alongside destitute poverty and an underground world of wild parties and glamour.

GER 396

GER 201 - German Popular Culture: Tales of Horror

It is hard to overstate how central vampires and zombies, doppelgänger and killers, ghosts and artificial humans—haunted hybrids—have been to the construction of German identity.

GER 201

GER 261 - Holocaust on Film

We investigate literary and filmic representations of the Holocaust.

GER 261

Germanic Department Courses Spring 2025

Check us out in Spring 2025! Some of our courses are highlighted here, and contact Charlie Webster (cwebste@illinois.edu) for more information about our full range of GER and SCAN offerings!

2025 Course Offerings