The Language and Literature of the German-American Experience
GRMN 4200
3 hours
The Language and Literature of the German-American Experience
Course Description
Exploration of the language, culture, and autochthonous literature of German-Americans during the peak years of German immigration to the U.S. in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Central themes include bilingualism, cultural contact, and the duality of identity inherent in the immigrant experience. Taught in German.
Athena Title
The German-American Experience
Prerequisite
GRMN 3010 or permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will gain an understanding of the history of German immigration to the United States, and of the social, cultural, and political institutions established by German Americans in the United States.
Students will gain understanding of the language and literary tradition of German Americans, during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Students will benefit from a broad overview of the theoretical approaches and experimental methods to studying language maintenance or language shift, as caused by language-external factors.
Students will engage with primary demographic sources used to reconstruct contemporary German American social, cultural, and political institutions, including German-language literature, newspapers, travel logs, meeting minutes, court records, and audio corpora that represent contemporary language use; and German-language ego documents (diaries, letters, personal ledgers).
Students will analyze evidence of German English bilingualism, including dialect influence, the effects of standard language ideology, cross-linguistic transfer, and also independent linguistic innovations.
Students will identify and analyze cross-cultural differences between German Americans and their Yankee neighbors, through contemporary literature and meta-linguistic discourse, and apply these historical cultural lessons to modern (cross-)cultural contexts.
Topical Outline
1. Introduction: Emigration and Immigration
2. (European) German Perspectives on America
3. Anti-immigrant Sentiment
4. The World Wars
5. The Temperance Movement
6. German-American Dual Identity: Language and Citizenship
7. Assimilation and Post-vernacularity
8. Modern Analogs: Spanish in the Americas and Turkish in Germany
