GER 109 - Sports and Athletic Culture in Germany (W) (1)

This course will examine the history of sports and athletic culture in Germany from roughly the nineteenth century until Germany’s 2014 World Cup victory. With a focus on the gymnastics and nudist movements, the birth of automobile racing and car culture, boxing and masculinity, hiking and skiing, the Olympics in Germany (notably 1936 and 1972, not to mention the controversy surrounding East Germany’s Olympic participation), and Germany’s 2006 hosting of the World Cup, our interest is in understanding not just the nature and history of athletics in Germany, but also important themes in German and transnational cultural, social, and political history, including questions of nationalism and patriotism, race and ethnicity, counter-culturalism, fascism, communism, and gender/sexuality. Not open to students who have previously completed a First-Year Writing Course.
(First Year Writing Seminar (FYW)) (Humanities)