From Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) to Bosnia, from Siberia to Luxembourg, the Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies (CENES) welcomes students into the languages, literatures, cultures, and societies of more than 34 countries — and the vibrant frontiers between and beyond them. This Winter Term 2, we’ll dig into Northern European Epics, 20th Century Russian Literature, Germanic Horror films, Weimar Cinema, Arctic Art and Activism, Lying, Deception, and Disinformation in Ukraine and more.
In CENES (“See-ness”), we want to inspire you to understand Europe’s diverse past and complex present—and to participate skillfully and ethically in shaping Europe’s future role in the world. Our classes are experiential, accessible, ambitious, welcoming, and exploratory. Our research seeks truthful answers to enduring and difficult questions.
The CENES geography—past, present, and future—includes vivid and complex human landscapes: Indigenous (Sámi and Inuit) communities, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, pagan, and atheist traditions, Sinti and Roma communities, and other communities who resist and exceed national borders throughout Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe.
CENES courses pose and answer a range of essential questions, such as:
- What can European histories, literatures, languages, and cultures teach us today, in this place, and in our contemporary world?
- What forms of resistance, critique, action, thought, and joy can we learn about from Central, Eastern, and Northern Europe?
- How do human beings, who have experienced atrocity and violent conflict, survive, remember, and seek justice in individual and collective ways?
- How do Indigenous cultures connect Europe, Siberia, Kalaallit Nunaat, and Canada in a time when climate emergency is making the Arctic a new site of geopolitical struggle?
- In how many different ways can we tell a meaningful story—on film, video, paper, online, and in mixed, multimodal media? What, in turn, impedes such meaningful storytelling—suppression, propaganda, misinformation, violence, intimidation, taboo, erasure?
Come bring your experience to help answer these questions with us! Here are some of our open undergraduate courses in Winter Term 2 2022, open to all without prerequisites.
Northern European Epics
Explore Nordic traditions of epic poetry and what they mean today!
From heroic feats, acts of war, and founding narratives of ethnic peoples, epics captured the imagination of 19th century Europe alongside the emergence of the nation state. Surveying works like the Saga of the Volsungs, The Poetic Edda, the Kalevala, Kalevipoeg, and The Son of the Sun, this course explores the traditions of epic poetry, its use in 19th century nationalism, and what these epic traditions mean today in new contexts.
Russian Literature of the Twentieth Century
Major trends and Russophone writers like Gorky, Blok, Akhmatova, Zamyatin, Bulgakov, and others. Learn the stories they tell.
The 20th century in Russia was a period of unprecedented political transformation and radical artistic experimentation. In this introductory course, we will explore the dynamic and highly innovative literary and cultural scene of 20th-century Russia against the turbulent historical events. We will become acquainted with major artistic trends such as Symbolism, Acmeism, Futurism, and Socialist Realism, and such prominent Russian writers as Gorky, Blok, Akhmatova, Zamyatin, Bulgakov, Tolstaya, Petrushevskaya and others.
Shadows and Screams: Germanic Horror Films
From Expressionism to today, masterpieces of horror in cinema!
We focus on the horror genre in the German-speaking world from its gothic beginnings in late 18th-century literature to contemporary films. On our journey we'll of course examine the 1920s Expressionist masterpieces Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which are among the seminal works of cinematic horror. We'll also discover German-language horror films where and when there aren't supposed to be any --- one featuring a scientist's talking head in a vat, another featuring a giant spider hungry for the blood of young women --- and in the process we'll refute the official narrative that after Nazism the genre disappears in Germany until the 1970s. Add an under-appreciated Austrian serial killer film from the 1980s to the mix, as well as the challenging films of Michael Haneke, and you'll have a weird and at times wild undergraduate film course that you'll find nowhere else.
Sexuality and Weimar Cinema
Major films from the German Weimar era (1918–1913) especially as they relate to gender, desire, and sexuality.
This course explores the political, social, and economic processes that shaped the German "Golden Age" of cinema: the Weimar Era (1918-1933). We will watch some of the most iconic along lesser known, yet impactful films from the period. We will examine the link between postwar anxiety and sexuality, the formation of the German star system with an eye to sexualization, and conceptualizations of childhood with regard to concerns about sex, desire, and sexuality. There are no prerequisites for this course. Readings and discussion are in English and films are available with English subtitles.
Women’s Drama and Theatre in German Cultural History
Focus on women in the development of German drama and theatre, from the 1700s onward.
Arctic Art and Activism
New and unprecedented environmental and economic challenges have brought forth Indigenous resistance efforts, cultural movements, and art in the Arctic
In the face of new and unprecedented environmental and economic challenges in the Arctic, Indigenous peoples have mounted resistance efforts both inside and outside their communities to retain sovereignty over their lands and ways of life. This course explores the neocolonialism of circumpolar regions, and looks at the ways that Indigenous peoples have engaged in resistance and revitalization through collective action and art.
Lying, Deception, and Disinformation from a Ukrainian Perspective
Is lying the same as deception? How does this relate to the current Russian war in Ukraine?
Is lying the same as deception? And what about disinformation and misinformation? Should implying something deceptively qualify as "lying"? Can lies be themselves a custom, tradition, culture, or collective activity? Is lying ever legitimate in politics? Given the current Russian-Ukrainian war, and the global media coverage of it, it is important for us to clarify our personal definitions of truth, falsehood, inaccuracy, and deception and to hone our skills at distinguishing between them. Bring your experiences of these categories, based in a wide range of contexts and questions, to this class to explore. If you are willing to engage a Ukrainian perspective on these issues and compare it with yours, you will enjoy this new class! No previous knowledge necessary.
Interested in these and other CENES courses? Check out our full list of Winter Term 2 courses.
Follow us on social media for updates on events this year on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
