Germany is a 21st-century world leader in engineering, economy, and exports. At the center of contemporary Europe, Germany’s prominence in the European Union draws on its rich and complex cultural heritage to imagine innovative solutions for the future.

Why German & German Studies at Sewanee?

Studying German at Sewanee is more than just learning a language, it is the complete immersion into the diversity of German life, culture, and history. You can take courses ranging from a focus on global icons like the Volkswagen Beetle, to an exploration of German unification through graphic novels, and questions of identity and the German colonial past in film and literature.

Studying German at Sewanee will take you really far. German is the most widely-spoken language in the EU and the German economy is the world’s fourth strongest. With more than 1,100 companies in German-speaking countries contributing over 700,000 jobs in the U.S., the outlook is rosy for the modern German-speaker. By pairing that with opportunities for study abroad, internships, and research available in German-speaking countries, you will have a wide range of opportunities open to you from medicine, to business, to nearly any global industry out there. Our goal is to enable every student to study abroad and the Jackson Cross Scholarship for students of German offers significant funding to help with the financial costs: every single student who participated in our summer program Sewanee in Berlin received funding.

FIRST DESTINATIONS: GERMAN & GERMAN STUDIES MAJORS

Sewanee graduates secure positions in a variety of fields. Some you would expect, others, are a bit of a surprise. Sewanee prepares you for your profession and your passion. Below is a sampling of recent graduates' first job.

  • Research Assistant, Nexus Institute, Berlin, Germany.
  • Trade Marketing Analyst, Sage Tree, Chicago, IL.
  • Study/Research Grant, U. S. Department of State/Fulbright Fellowship, Berlin, Germany.
GRADUATE SCHOOL & PREPROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS: GERMAN & GERMAN STUDIES MAJORS

Sewanee graduates enjoy extraordinary acceptance rates to top graduate and preprofessional programs–about 95 percent to law school and over 85 percent to medical school. Below is a sampling of where Sewanee grads continue their education.

  • M.A. in Translation & Interpretation, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
  • M.A. in International Relations, University College Dublin.
  • M.A. in Modern European History, University of St Andrews.

A Sampling of Courses

Summer in Berlin
German & German Studies

This course offers a three-week program of language study at the DiD German language institute in Berlin, where students take classes along with other international students. After appropriate placement according to their language skills, enrolled students receive language instruction through DiD while the accompanying Sewanee faculty member provides culture instruction and area excursions.

GRMN 280
The Fairy Tale in German Literature and Culture: From the Brothers Grimm to Kafka and Hesse
German & German Studies

An examination of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm (e.g., Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstilzchen, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood) and their role in German literature and culture along with a study of the literary fables and fairy tales of such writers as Lessing, Goethe, Tieck, Hesse and Kafka. This interdisciplinary approach to fairy tales from the 18th century to the present will also cover their operatic and cinematic versions

GRMN 310
From the Beetle to Berlin
German & German Studies

This course examines German society and culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. Focusing on the Volkswagen Beetle and the city of Berlin as key sites for exploring political, social, and economics transformations, this course studies German society from 1945 to the present through its mass media, literature, cityscapes, and industrial products. This course is taught in English.

GRMN 354
Borders, Margins, and Identities in German Culture
German & German Studies

From the recruitment of Turkish "guest workers" to the ongoing refugee crisis, Germany has emerged a "multicultural" nation of shifting and contested borders and identities. This course investigates how national, ethnic, racial, and religious identities are perceived and constructed in film, literature, and news media and how those identities intersect with, and are complicated by, class, gender, and sexual identities. Students engage critically with concepts such as migration, assimilation, hybridity, citizenship, diaspora, "majority" culture, and authenticity. This course is taught in English.

GRMN 358
View All

German & German Studies

Programs of Study

Requirements for the Major and the Minor in German and German Studies

Contact

Liesl Allingham
Associate Professor of German

lialling@sewanee.edu

Gailor Hall 209, Ext. 1262

Connecting the Dots

Language Houses
Themed Residence Halls

To create an immersive learning experience, Sewanee has several language houses (French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Italian) that simulate real-world language and cultural encounters. The head resident is a native speaker, and students speak their house language while “at home”. Events throughout the year showcase educational and recreational aspects of the language house and the culture it represents.

Learn More
International & Global Studies, Major & Minor
45 professors, 14 departments

International & global studies at Sewanee stretches far beyond the gates. Involving faculty members from departments across the college, the program spans disciplinary and thematic boundaries. The rapid pace and complex nature of our world require dexterity to navigate. At Sewanee, you will study the ever-changing political, economic, and cultural issues that characterize our world today. Here, experiencing the real world begins in the classroom.

Learn More
Study Abroad
Engaged citizens solving global problems

At Sewanee, we pledge to offer each student an opportunity to study abroad. And at Sewanee, we keep our promises. Travel, learn, and cultivate your knowledge by communicating across cultures and acquiring a sensitivity to other ways of life. Apply social scientific methodologies to various frameworks. Learn to formulate solutions to global problems and apply those theories at home in a local context.

More about Study Abroad