Courses
The courses below are offered by the German, Russian and East European Studies department. Courses in other departments may also count toward the majors or minors in our program. For a full list of eligible courses, please see the Vanderbilt undergraduate catalog or YES (enrolled students only).
German Studies
Course Placement
You will be placed in German courses according to your score on the German placement test. After taking the placement test, use the scores list below to determine which course to take.
If you have not taken the test, you should enroll in the course for which you believe yourself to be prepared (students with two years of high school German typically enroll in GER 2201). Recommended placements are given below. If you have not studied German, register for GER 1101.
For questions, please reach out to the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Professor Silke Schade.
| Department placement test | Course to be taken |
|---|---|
| 0-200 | 1101 |
| 201-400 | 1102 |
| 401-600 | 2201 |
| 601-800 | 2202 |
| 800+ | 3201 and above |
Course Offerings
GER 1101: Beginning German I. Students develop basic German language skills in an authentic cultural context. Emphasis on oral communication, basic grammar, and reading short texts from a variety of media.
GER 1102: Elementary German II. Students continue to acquire the fundamentals of German with emphasis on communicative competence, basic grammar and vocabulary, and interaction with a variety of media.
GER 2201: Intermediate German I. Students develop intermediate German linguistic and cultural proficiency. Emphasis on communicative skills, reading short texts, writing essays, grammar review. Topics include German history, culture, film, and current events.
GER 2202: Intermediate German II. Students continue to develop intermediate German linguistic and cultural proficiency. Emphasis on communicative skills, reading short texts, writing essays, grammar review. Topics include geography, literature, art, and current events.
GER 3201: Advanced German. Germany Today. German culture, politics, social issues. News media and current events. Development of advanced written and oral communication skills. Prerequisite: 2202 or equivalent. [3] (INT)
GER 3202W: Advanced German: Reading, Writing, and Analysis. Development of advanced German reading and writing skills. Read a variety of works to develop tools for narration, interpretation, and analysis. Development of writing skills from personal narrative to comics to academic essays. Prerequisite: GER 2202 or equivalent [3] (INT)
GER 3211: German for Professions. Develop linguistic, (inter)cultural and professional knowledge specific to careers related to the German-speaking world. Explore business, engineering, industry, education, medicine, music in German. Project-based course. Prerequisite: GER 2202 or equivalent.
GER 2440: History of German Thought. German philosophers and critical theorists from the Enlightenment to the present. Works by Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx, Freud, Benjamin, Adorno, Arendt, and Habermas as part of a larger exploration of German culture and history.
or GER 2441: Great German Works. Literature as a lens through which to view German socio-cultural history. Great works from the Middle Ages to the present including Goethe, Hoffmann, Kafka, Celan, Tawada and more.
or GER 2443: German Cinema. History of German cinema with emphasis on sociocultural contexts and artistic achievements. Explore how German films of the twentieth century engaged with specific events, developments, and questions of German history.
The content of many of these courses varies by semester. For a sample of past and current topics, see the sample course page.
GER 2444: German Fairy Tales. This course applies a critical lens to the fairy tales of Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, Perrault, Andersen, and explores interpretations and rewritings by Disney and others. [3] (INT)
GER 2555: Topics in German Studies. Aspects of German literature, culture, and civilization through interdisciplinary focus. Topics vary by semester. (Recent Topics: Monuments and Memory, Black German Studies)
GER 2556: Intellectual History. Major trends and figures from the Enlightenment to the contemporary age. Topics vary by semester. (Recent topic: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud) [3] (HCA)
GER 2570: The Holocaust. The history of the Holocaust: its origins, development, and its legacy in the context of Germany and European history. [3] (INT)
GER 2745: Radical Art: The Avant-Garde Revolution. Origins of avant-garde movements, their impact across the arts and literature to the present. Focus on artists and writers of the expressionist, futurist, and Dadaist movements. [3] (INT)
GER 4555: Senior Seminar in German Studies. Capstone course for German Majors. Topics vary by semester. (Recent Topics: Poetry, Berlin, Pop and Protest, Multilingualism, Nature)
Russian Studies
For placement and questions, please contact the Director of the Russian Language Program, Professor Albina Khabibulina
RUSS 1101 and 1102: First-Year Russian Language I and II. Learn the basics of one of the world’s most difficult and most important languages. A new alphabet, six cases, verbal aspect, and more!
RUSS 2201 and 2202: Second-Year Russian Language I and II. Gain fluency, build vocabulary, and delve into the intricacies of Russian grammar. Push your language to the next level.
RUSS 3303 and 3305: Advanced Grammar and Reading or Conversation and Composition. Prerequisite: 2202. [3] (INT)
RUSS 3306: Advanced Russian Language through Culture and Literature. Literature, history, aesthetics, and politics in Russian-speaking cultures. Prerequisite: 2202. [3] (INT)
RUSS 3307: Advanced Russian Language through Visual Culture and Media. Cinema, media arts, visual culture, and media history of Russian-speaking cultures from pre-digital to the digital age. Prerequisite: 2202. [3] (HCA)
RUSS 3308: Advanced Russian Language through Russian Society. Seminal aspects of Russian literature, culture, and civilization through interdisciplinary lenses. Prerequisite: 2202. [3] (P)
RUSS 1500: Introduction to Russian and East European Studies. History and culture of Russia and East Europe, 1700-present. Political history, intellectual history, literature, and culture of region. Russia and East Europe in historical and geopolitical context. [3] (P)
Literature
RUSS 1874: Russian Fairy Tales. [3] (INT)
RUSS 1910W: 19th-Century Russian Literature. [3] (HCA)
RUSS 1911W: 20th-Century Russian Literature. [3] (HCA)
RUSS 2435: Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina and Other Masterpieces. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2438: Tolstoy's War and Peace. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2439: Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2460: Modern Yiddish Literature in Translation. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2485: Russian Crime Fiction. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2537: Vladimir Nabokov. [3] (INT)
Art and Cinema
RUSS 2273W: Russian Science Fiction. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2434: Russian Cinema. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2745: Radical Art: The Avant-Garde Revolution [3] (INT)
History and Politics
RUSS 2600: Women and Resistance in Russia. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2800: Viewing Communism in Eastern Europe. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2810: Revolutions and Post-Communisms in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, 1981-2010. [3] (P)
RUSS 2910: Russia: Old Regime to Revolution. [3] (INT)
RUSS 2915: Russia: The U.S.S.R. and Afterward.[3] (INT)
Religious Studies
RUSS 2890: Russian Religious Imagination. [3] (INT)
Honors Courses
German Studies: GER 4999 Honors Research (Senior Honors Thesis). Open only to honors candidates.
Russian Studies: RUSS 4999 Honors Research (Senior Honors Thesis). Open only to honors candidates.