Course: German Cultural Studies - Lecture

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Course title German Cultural Studies - Lecture
Course code KGN/KP20
Organizational form of instruction Lecture
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study not specified
Semester Winter and summer
Number of ECTS credits 3
Language of instruction German
Status of course Compulsory-optional
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Course availability The course is available to visiting students
Lecturer(s)
  • Krappmann Joerg, doc. Mgr. Ph.D.
Course content
History of German Popular Music The lecture begins with an overview of the development of German popular music under the influence of American and British music in the 1950s and 1960s. Particular attention is paid to the role of popular culture in supporting the processes of democratisation in West Germany following the Second World War and the period of National Socialism. The main focus of the course is the independent development of German popular music from the 1970s to the early twenty-first century (Krautrock, Kraftwerk, Neue Deutsche Welle, techno, and the Hamburger Schule), with particular emphasis on those movements that achieved international recognition. Against the background of political and social developments, the lecture examines changing public responses to popular culture and the emergence of the so-called popular cultural turn in cultural studies at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The lectures will be illustrated with numerous musical examples and video materials.

Learning activities and teaching methods
Lecture, Listening
Learning outcomes
The aim of the lecture is to provide students with an overview of the development of German popular music from the 1950s to the present and its connections with the international music scene. Particular emphasis is placed on the relationships between politics, society, and popular culture, on the role of popular music in the democratisation of post-war Germany, and on the emergence of an independent German popular music scene and its international reception. Students will also become familiar with the significance of popular music as a medium of social and cultural reflection.
Students will gain an overview of the development of German popular music over the past seventy years and its place within the international music scene. They will be able to contextualise major musical movements and artists within their historical, social, and cultural settings and explain their relationship to the political and social development of post-war Germany. They will also develop an understanding of the interaction between popular culture and social change and of the significance of popular music as a medium of cultural reflection.
Prerequisites
No specific prerequisites.

Assessment methods and criteria
Oral exam

Successful completion of an oral examination assessing the knowledge acquired during the lecture.
Recommended literature
  • Eggers, Michael (Hg.). (2024). Literaturpop. Zur pop- und rockmusikalischen Rezeption literarischer Texte. Baden.
  • Hecken, Thomas. (2009). Pop - Geschichte eines Konzepts 1955-2009. Bielefeld.
  • Joch, Markus (Hg.). (2024). Protestpop und Krautrock. Stuttgart.
  • Prescher, Manfred. (2018). Es geht voran. Die Geschichte der deutschsprachigen Popmusik. Darmstadt.
  • Schütte, Uwe (Hg.). (2023). The Cambridge Companion to Krautrock. Cambridge.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): German Philology (2019) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): German Philology (2019) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): German for Translators and Interpreters (2019_24) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): German for Translators and Interpreters (2019) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): German for Translators and Interpreters (2019) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): German Philology (2022) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): German Philology (2019) Category: Philological sciences - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -