This biannual course is taught on years 2015-2016, 2017-2018, ....
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Niveau-seuil dit B1 du Cadre Européen Commun de Référence pour les Langues
The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.
The course studies the major cultural, artistic and political trends and developments in the European countries that have German, English or Dutch as a principal language (intellectual life, visual arts, music, architecture, etc.).
General survey of the cultural developments of the German-/ English-/ Dutch-speaking countries. By the end of the course, students are expected to have acquired an understanding of the culture of the European countries where German/ English/ Dutch is a major language.
The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Oral exam. With written preparation of the main question.
Formal lectures. Common discussion at the end based on the preliminary reading of course materials by the students.
The course will study the specificities of the German cultural space since the 18th century. A global approach will be favoured, taking philosophy and literature into account, as well as the relations between culture, politics and society, especially painting and cinema for contemporary times. European contextualization is part of the purpose and the comparative method, notably with respect to the French-, Dutch- and English-speaking cultural spaces, will help as guiding principle.
This year the course focuses on the history of Franco-German intellectual dialogue. Dating back to a well-established tradition in the 18th century, this dialogue was broken by three successive wars and conflicts before it could actually found the bases of a rapprochement (or 'reconciliation') policy, which proved decisive for the process of European integration. The course is inspired by contemporary research methods like cultural transfers, comparative Imagology, the analysis of lieux de mémoire/ sites of memory as well as nation-building processes.
Course materials already available at DUC.
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