German Studies – (M.A.)

Contents

Module details

Please note, some information in this section will change for 2009 entry.

Compulsory course units are: Research Methods I and II. Optional course units available typically include:

* Critical Concepts I and II
* Turkish German Writers
* Jewish Culture in the German-Speaking Context
* German Romanticism
* Holocaust Representations in Visual Culture
* Nations and Nationalisms in Europe
* German Literature and Ideas in the 18 th Century
* Language and Society
* Cultural Politics and Artistic Practice in the GDR
* German Women's Writing of the Classical and Romantic Period
* New German Identities: Turkish-German Culture
* The Holocaust in History
* Wilhelmine Germany
* Key Concepts in Modern European History
* Holocaust Representations in Visual Culture
* Language and Society
* Border Crossings: Comparative Cultures of Diaspora
* Goethe

Teaching and learning All optional course units within the School are taught on a tutorial or seminar basis, with group sizes varying depending on the course unit. Tutorials give the opportunity for intensive scholarly work, with areas of concentration determined by the participants and their individual interests, which can be investigated in considerable depth. Seminars offer more opportunities for developing group work and presentation skills.

By the end of the course students will normally:

* know and understand defined areas of specialist research in Medieval and Modern Literatures and Cultures of Europe, and modern literatures of Latin America. These areas may be author-based ("Goethe", "Memmi and Fanon"), genre-based, ("French Theatre"), historically-defined ("Spanish Literature and History to 1500", "Contemporary Russian Literature") or defined by thematic or theoretical axis ("German Minority Culture", "Women in the 19 th Century Novel")
* show understanding of the development of critical theory or other research methods (e.g. archival research and ethnographic method) as a tool for questioning critical assumptions and the practical relevance of these theoretical debates to the systematic study of modern and/or medieval literatures and cultures.
* demonstrate an in-depth knowledge and critical understanding of a chosen research area in European Languages and Cultures.

Progression and assessment Most course units are assessed by long essays and other marked work, rather than by written examination. Deadlines for assessment are stated in the Course Handbook.

Facilities All postgraduate students in the School can make use of the purpose-designed Centre for Graduate Studies, opened in 2003. The Centre is located in one of the University's most interesting architectural spaces, highlighted in Pevsner's guide to Manchester for its `Corbusian external stairs and a curving rooftop pavilion ... the interior of which is an exciting space with big circular rooflights and very narrow window slits on one side only.' Care was taken to enhance those features while providing state-of-the-art facilities for postgraduate study. These include 30 computers (several with dedicated translation studies software), LaserJet printers, `hot-desk' facilities for around 50 students (including workstation facilities for students with disabilities), and 132 secure lockers. The Centre also houses a collection of past theses and dissertations from all subjects studied in the School at PhD, MPhil and MA level, which students can access to inform their own research and writing.

In addition to the Centre for Graduate Studies, the University has five major computer clusters, together with many smaller clusters. In total there are more than 10,000 PCs and workstations across the campus. All provide access to standard office software as well as specialist programs, and all are connected to the campus network and internet. Every student is registered for email, file storage and internet access. If more demanding computer access is required, our specialist computing division Manchester Computing can provide high-end and specialist computing services.

The John Rylands University Library (JRUL) is one of the best-resourced academic libraries in the UK and is widely recognised as one of the world's greatest research libraries. We also have one of the largest academic IT services in Europe - supporting world-class teaching and research.