Gutenberg International School (GIS) – Courses for Exchange Students

Information on Academic Year 2024/25 (12 July 2024)

Dear exchange student, you can find the the preliminary downloadable version of the list of courses not taught in German in the winter semester 2024/25 here and in the download section of this page. Please mind that it will come to changes in this document, as courses will be added or may change but it can serve you as an orientation. Almost all courses are now also linked to the course catalogue in Jogustine so you can get more information there. Some titles of some topical courses are not yet published and will be added once available. The list will be updated regularly until the begin of the winter semester, once this is possible.

As an information for you: If there is a red dot in front of the title of the course in the course catalogue, it means that this course will be offered online. Yet, please also carefully read the course description, if offered, for more detailed information. As a recommendation: If you are interested in a course from our Germersheim campus and it is offered online, it is usually no problem to attend it. Just contact the colleagues in the International Office Germersheim: intger@uni-mainz.de

The majority of the Gutenberg International School (GIS) course program has been published for the winter semester 2024/25. More courses may be added in the course of the summer.

Important: The registration for these courses CANNOT be made via the GIS (Services) but only via the subjects that offer the individual courses (Exception: the "Conversation Classes German"!!!). Please see the individual course descriptions for more information.

We are very much looking forward to having you in Mainz (soon)!

Info: For an overview of GIS special courses & courses offered in foreign languages in earlier semesters, please look at our archive.

GIS Special Courses in English for Exchange Students - Winter Semester 2024/25 - History & Culture

Course description

Participants
- All incoming students from all academic fields are welcome
- History students from abroad are also invited to join the team
- No specific requirements, just interest in the overall topic and historical work
- Ability to read scientific texts in English

Engagement
- Regular attendance
- Preparation reading and active participation in seminar discussions
- Two homeworks in writing (upload in Moodle prior to the session)
- One classroom presentation to kick-off seminar discussion

This is a special course bringing together students who do not study history to get to know Germany better from a historical perspective. It is not a lecture. In fact, good discussions and results will largely depend on active participation and sharing of different views.
Preparing the sessions properly and getting a good grasp of the reading materials will be key.

Content
During the first half of the 20th century Germany went through various political disruptions and transitions: The powerful Empire in the center of Europe saw an abrupt end with the defeat in First World War. The democratic system of the Weimar Republic fell prey to political unrest and economic chaos which paved the way for the totalitarian Nazi State in 1933. Twelve years later, the future of a German state was totally depended on the decisions of the allied powers. The hybris of nationalism, the devastation by war as well as the fragility of economic welfare as well as democratic system have a lasting mark on the collective memory of the German people.
The seminar is open to incoming students from all academic disciplines and levels. Together we will look at major phases of German history in the period of 1900 to 1950: Why did the German Empire fail to establish a stable position among the nations in Europe? What were the reasons for the collapse of the Weimar Republic? How did the Nazis establish their regime of terror? What were the main reasons for Germany to split into two antagonistic states?
In addition to major political developments, we will also look at underlying social and cultural changes and how the lives of German people changed during this period.

An excursion is planned to Heidelberg (visit of the Friederich-Ebert-Gedenkstätte)

Literature
The course is based on selected sections of the following books:
- Mary Fulbrook, A History of Germany 1918–2014: The Divided Nation, Fifth Edition. Chichester 2021.
- Helmut Walser Smith (ed.): Oxford Handbook of Modern German History, Oxford et al. 2011.
- Helmut Walser Smith: Germany. A Nation in its Time. Before, during, and after Nationalism, 1500-2000, New York 2020.

Grading
Credit points
5 ECTS active participation in class + class assignment + exam (see below)
2 ECTS active participation in class + class assignment, no exam

The number of ECTS can be adjusted individually depending on the requirements of the home university.
Exam
- Option 1: Written exam (60 minutes)
- Option 2: Oral exam (15 minutes)
- Option 3: Term paper (6 – 8 pages)

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: 2 or 5 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by History: Please send an email to mrissman@uni-mainz.de with your name, Matrikelnummer (student ID) and the name of your home university.

Link: to be announced

 

Course description

Participants
- All incoming students from all academic fields are welcome
- History students from abroad are also invited to join the team
- No specific requirements, just interest in the overall topic and historical work
- Ability to read scientific texts in English

Engagement
- Regular attendance
- Preparation reading and active participation in seminar discussions
- Two homeworks in writing (upload in Moodle prior to the session)
- One classroom presentation to kick-off seminar discussion

This is a special course bringing together students who do not study history to get to know Germany better from a historical perspective. It is not a lecture. In fact, good discussions and results will largely depend on active participation and sharing of different views.
Preparing the sessions properly and getting a good grasp of the reading materials will be key.

Content
As a result of the Second World War Germany was cut into two states that belonged to two hostile blocs. The Cold War brought about a divided nation with very different political systems, economic structures, and social experiences. While it appeared more and more unlikely for the two German states to reunite at some point this prospect was never given up. It was to the big surprise of most people, however, when reunification barged its way against all odds. In the wake of the legal unification the process of uniting mentally and emotionally is still ongoing.
The seminar is open to incoming students from all academic disciplines and levels. Together we will look at major phases of German history in the period of 1950 to 2000: How was Germany torn apart during the Cold War? How did the two Germanys live side by side and developed a more pragmatic cohabitation till the mid-1980s? What the reasons for the socialist countries to shed their communist rule? What were the steps to implement the unification? And finally, how is Germany transforming within a uniting Europe?
In addition to major political developments, we will also look at underlying social and cultural changes and how the lives of German people changed during this period.

The course is based on selected sections of the following books:
- Mary Fulbrook, A History of Germany 1918–2014: The Divided Nation, Fifth Edition. Chichester 2021.
- Peter C. Caldwell/Karrin Hanshew, Germany Since 1945. Politics, Culture, and society: London et alt. 2018
- Helmut Walser Smith (ed.): Oxford Handbook of Modern German History, Oxford et al. 2011.

An excursion is planned: e.g to Heidelberg, Osthofen.

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: 2 or 5 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by History: Please send an email to mrissman@uni-mainz.de with your name, Matrikelnummer (student ID) and the name of your home university.

Link: to be announced

 

Course description

Food is both a basic and a highly fascinating aspect of human existence. We produce, share, discuss, and consume food in countless different ways—not only in order to survive but also to cultivate taste and traditions, honor religious precepts and ethical ideals, and strengthen ties of family, friendship, and community. This course will introduce students to the historical variety and dynamics of European “foodways” by focusing on the early modern period. Studying the centuries between the Reformation and the French Revolution will enable us to tackle key questions: What role did food play in either sharpening or blurring boundaries between different religious communities? How did certain cuisines and dishes accumulate cultural prestige or inform emerging national stereotypes? How did Europeans change their conceptions of what might constitute a healthy diet? How did early globalization impact European ways of eating and cooking?
The course will combine various formats of large- and small-group discussion engaging with secondary literature as well as with primary sources (such as early modern cookbooks, travel accounts, and letters describing banquets or food customs). All readings will be in English. In addition, the course will feature opportunities for students to reflect on how their own eating habits are different from—but also partly rooted in—those of the early modern age.

Empfohlene Literatur:
Carol Helstosky (ed.), The Routledge History of Food (London 2015)
Rachel Laudan, Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History (Berkeley, CA 2013)
Christopher Kissane, Food, Religion and Communities in Early Modern Europe (London 2018)
David Gentilcore, Food and Health in Early Modern Europe: Diet, Medicine and Society, 1450–1800 (London 2016)
Susan Pinkard, A Revolution in Taste: The Rise of French Cuisine, 1650–1800 (Cambridge 2009)
Massimo Montanari, The Culture of Food (Oxford 1996) [this classic work of food history is also available in german (“der hunger und der Überfluss”), italian (“la fame e l’abbondanza”), and spanish (“el hambre y la abundancia”)]

Time: Wednesdays, 10:15 - 11:45
Location: BKM, room SR 06

Credits: 3 ECTS (more possible with additional workload)

How to register

Course offered by History: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

How did people in the early modern era (c. 1500 – 1800) deal with the challenges caused by the advent of religious differences on a hitherto unprecedented scale? How was religious diversity accommodated on a practical level and which arrangements and mechanisms were devised in an attempt to prevent the outbreak of religious violence and to maintain a degree of harmony and social stability? In order to answer these and related question, we zoom in on the practical arrangements that emerged in a variety of countries and regions (both within and outside of Europe, including the Dutch Republic, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Atlantic World) so as to foster a comparative perspective. In addition, several thematic sessions aim to enhance our understanding of particular ways in which religious differences were accommodated (e.g. types of spatial accommodation such as ecclesiastical sharing and ghettos) as well as specific forms of interconfessional interaction (e.g. mixed marriages). Ultimately, we examine the range of responses formulated by early modern communities to the vexing questions posed by religious difference.

Each session will consist of a discussion of primary and secondary sources which the students are expected to have read in preparation. In addition, several suggested readings are offered for those who are so inclined to read more. The module is ungraded and the students are not required to hand in any coursework. Active participation, however, is essential.

Empfohlene Literatur:
Benjamin J. Kaplan & Jaap Geraerts (eds), Early Modern Toleration: New Approaches (Routledge, 2023).
Benjamin J. Kaplan, Divided by Faith. Religious Conflict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Modern Europe (Harvard UP, 2007).
Marjorie Elizabeth Plummer & Victoria Christman (eds), Topographies of Tolerance and Intolerance. Responses to Religious Pluralism in Reformation Europe (Brill, 2018).

Time: Mondays, 10:15 - 11:45
Location: Philosophicum, Raum P210

Credits: 3 ECTS (more possible with additional workload)

How to register

Course offered by History: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Culture Studies I focuses on American history from early settlement to the 20th century while Culture Studies II puts a stronger focus on current topis in American culture. Both courses are offered in several parallel courses. For more information including times and locations please see course catalogue below.

Credits: 4 ECTS for each course

How to register

Course offered by American Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Culture Studies I:  Course catalogue

Link: Culture Studies II: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Culture Studies I & III English Literature & Culture offer an introductory insight into British history and culture. Both courses are offered in several parallel courses. For more information including times and locations please see course catalogue below.

Credits: 4 ECTS for each course

How to register

Course offered by English Literature & Culture: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Culture Studies I:  Course catalogue (Course A) oder Course catalogue (Course B)

Link: Culture Studies III: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Students acquire knowledge of:

• the basic models and concepts of lyric, dramatic and narrative theory, as well as the structural and communicative specifics of narrative, dramatic and lyrical text types and their significance for text analysis and interpretation, text analysis and interpretation (e.g. narrative situation, perspective, focalization, characterization, metrics, prosody, etc.),

• central literary theories and methods across genres and their significance for textual analysis and interpretation (e.g., structuralism, post-structuralism; reception aesthetics; Cultural Criticism; Gender Studies; Postcolonial Literary Theory, etc.).

• the most important epochs of American literary history (early modernism; classicism; romanticism; realism/naturalism; modernism; post-modernism, etc.), taking into account the respective formative literary formal language and rhetorical stylistic devices (conceit, symbol, metaphor, metonymy, etc.) and their relevance for different literary genres and epochs

Time: Tuesdays, 08:15 - 09:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P1

Credits: 2 ECTS

Kursanmeldung

Course offered by American Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

This class is open to everyone, gamers and non-gamers alike! It is meant as an introductory course, merging literary and cultural studies with video game studies. Experience with games is appreciated but not needed for this class. Playing the games on a console/PC is also not mandatory for this class; it is encouraged, however.

All playing and reading materials will be provided via LMS.

Among more traditional media, such as novels, short stories, film and TV-series, another medium has become a staple in North American culture: video games. Video games hereby represent a unique hybrid of narratives, mechanical access, immersive play, and pop-culture. Especially in recent years, video games have also been regarded as a culture in itself, including fandom and streaming cultures, MMORPGs, and more. For this class, we will focus on the analysis of video games as literary and cultural goods.

Here, we will work with questions such as:
·      How can video games be analyzed and interpreted as texts?
·      How are different cultural and literary themes distinctly addressed in
video games?
·      How does video game analysis differ (and why is it important)?

In short, in this class we will discuss video games as literature and/in North American culture, while also acquiring a toolbox of how to analyze and interpret them.

We will begin this class with theoretical approaches to games and gaming, and then turn to specific games to analyze. Some examples of the video games we will work with, are AAA titles such as The Last of Us series (2013-2020), as well as lesser-known titles such as Salem: The Game (2015).

Time: Mondays, 10:15 - 11:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P110

Credits: 4 ECTS

Kursanmeldung

Course offered by American Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

The same way that individuals selectively remember particular events and people of their past, nations respectively communities form their cultural memories by actively selecting WHAT and WHO should be remembered by future generations. One of the most contested aspects of remembering the communal past is the form of HOW the past should be commemorated. Monuments, memorials and museums shed light on the cultural memory particular nations or communities have opted for. However, cultural memory might be challenged due to changing perceptions of the past. Arguably, one of the most well-known debates in the United States has evolved around Confederate statues and the poltical conflicts that ensued in the wake of the planned removal of such a statue in Charlottesville, N.C.
In this course, we will read texts on cultural memory, memory studies and monument studies. Students will explore case studies in individual projects.

Time: Thursdays, 08:15 - 09:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P105

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by American Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Raymond Williams’s Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1976) set off a tradition of mostly alphabetical dictionaries and glossaries of assorted vocabularies of keywords and key concepts in cultural studies or Kulturwissenschaften. The tradition is marked in the history and titles of publications, including Martin Jay’s Cultural Semantics: Keywords of Our Time (1998); Cultural Theory: The Key Concepts edited by Andrew Edgar and Peter Sedgwick (2008 [1999]); Mieke Bal’s Travelling Concepts in the Humanities: A Rough Guide (2002); New Keywords: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society edited by Tony Bennett, Lawrence Grossberg, and Meaghan Morris’s (2005); Grundbegriffe der Kulturtheorie und Kulturwissenschaften edited by Ansgar Nünning (2005); Keywords for American Cultural Studies edited by Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler (2020 [2007]); Bal’s “Lexicon for Cultural Analysis” (2012); Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary—The Keywords Project (2018) edited by Colin MacCabe and Holly Yanacek; Posthuman Glossary (2018) edited by Rosi Braidotti and Maria Hlavajova and More Posthuman Glossary (2022) edited by Rosi Braidotti, Emily Jones, and Goda Klumbyte; Very Nünning, Philipp Löffler, and Margit Peterfy's Key Concepts for the Study of Culture: An Introduction (2020); Keywords for India: A Conceptual Lexicon for the 21st Century (2020) edited by Rukmini Bhaya Nair and Peter Ronald deSouza; and Bal’s “Moments of Meaning-Making” (2021–).
We will investigate the thematic, political, historical, generic, methodological, didactic, and theoretical differences between the vocabulay books, look at how keyword and key concept might be distinct, consult critical writing on keywording as method, and consider links to history of concepts or Begriffsgeschichte, standard lexical dictionaries, and corpus linguistics. Autobiographical or autotheoretical variants of keyword and key concept writing are also of interest. We will not read entire dictionaries or vocabulary books but selected entries or essays. In the course of the seminar, you will be asked to develop your own keyword or key concept entry of one to five pages.
For initial information, please see https://keywords.nyupress.org/american-cultural-studies/ and follow the link “Read the Essays,” or check entries for “Keywords” in issues of Key Words: A Journal of Cultural Materialism in the JSTOR database of the UB, or have a look at the webpages of The Keywords Project at https://keywords.pitt.edu. Any dictionary, glossary, textbook or work in a publisher’s book series with “keywords” or “key concepts” in its title--from the hundreds of such publications--is also good for browsing: Besides getting a view of the scope of assorted vocabularies, please look for prefaces or introductions in the books and see if and how they explain the method of keywording or ‘key concepting.’
This seminar is based on the instructor’s recently completed research in “Keywords and Key Concepts among Signs: Semantics as Semiotic Method in Cultural Studies or Kulturwissenschaften,” forthcoming in the collection Semiotiken in den Kulturwissenschaften/Semiotics in Cultural Studies (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024).

Requirements: Assigned Reading (to be announced and provided); Participation; Presentation; Keyword or Key Concept Entry; Final Paper.

Time: see course catalogue
Location: Philosophicum, room P15

Credits: 8 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by American Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: see course catalogue
Location: see course catalogue

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by English Literature & Culture: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: Tuesdays, 16:15 - 17:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P11

Credits: 8 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by English Literature & Culture: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: Tuesdays, 16:15 - 17:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P13

Credits: 2 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Book Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: Tuesdays, 14:15 - 15:45
Location: Am Kisselberg (dormitory Kisselberg), room K6 (Seminarraum)

Credits: 5-8 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Philosophy: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

The seminar will create an online platform to discuss contextual and intercultural responses to the global crises (financial, ecological, medical, social, political, military) from theological and interreligious perspectives. We shall look for models of interpretation provided by the religious traditions and their scriptures, especially biblical texts, and the ethical guidance religious communities offer for coping with the diverse crises. We will also explore imaginative ways that transcend the new normal towards a pantopia that does not return to the pitfalls of the old normal before the Covid-19 pandemic but tackles the injustices that the virus has revealed.
To this aim we will also invite national and international guests to the discourse via webinars. Students will have the chance to interview prominent voices of the intercultural theological scene. They will be enabled to develop critical theological voices regarding the so called New Normal informed by intercultural, interreligious and gender perspectives.

Time: Wednesdays, 16:15 - 17:45
Location: online

Credits: 3 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Protestant Theology: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

There are many contexts to the doing of theology in Germany today: historical, juridical, textual, traditional, cultural, societal etc. The lectures of this series will explore these contexts in an exemplary manner and will show how theology is being done at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz today. Following the negotiation processes in the hermeneutical circle we will take in the particular sessions different entry points from the perspective of the context or text and tradition but will constantly analyse their interplay.

31.10.24: Introducing the People and Topics of Doing Theology at Mainz
07.11.24: Claus Arnold: „From Scholasticism to Modernity. Some Glimpses of Catholic Theology
in Mainz and Germany.”
14.11.24: Ulrich Volp: „The Geography of German Protestant Theology 1517-1918“
21.11.24: Matthias Pulte: „Aspects of Law and Religion in Germany and Europe. A Comparative
Approach”
28.11.24: Thomas Hieke/Sebastian Grätz: „Writing a Commentary on a Biblical Book as a
Research Achievement According to the Standards of the OECD”
05.12.24: Esther Kobel/Andrew Bowden: „But Why in Germany? Benefits and Challenges of
Studying the New Testament in the German Context”
12.12.24: Dorothea Erbele-Küster/Stephanie Höllinger: „Gender Unboxed: Exegetical and
Ethical Explorations in the German(speaking) Theological Context”
09.01.25: Volker Küster/Edith Wittenbrink/Heekyung Jeong: „The End of Multiculturalism -
Intercultural Theology Now!”
16.01.25: Ulrike Peisker/Gerhard Kruip: „Fundamental Questions and Essentials in Catholic
and Protestant (Social-)Ethics“
23.01.25: Britta Konz/Stefan Altmeyer: „Doing Theology from Learners‘ Perspectives: Basics
and Examples for Religious Education (not only) in Germany”
30.01.25: Dorothea Erbele-Küster/Volker Küster/Andreas Lehnardt: „Antijudaism and Racism.
Contextual and Intercultural Perspectives“

06.02.25: Studying Theology in Mainz - How to Make it Happen!

Participation at https://bbb.rlp.net/rooms/pat-ubi-a1d-uao/join

Time: to be announced
Location: online

Credits: 2 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Protestant Theology: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

This seminar will draw on a wide variety of material culture, from small objects to monumental architecture, to explore a wide variety of lived experiences in northern Roman Britain – soldiers on the Wall, but also the women, children, and local members of the frontier community. It will provide an overview of the archaeology of Hadrian’s Wall from the first century through Late Antiquity, with case studies from sites along its length. Discussion, presentations, and readings will be primarily in English, though it is possible to submit written work in German.

Time: Mondays, 14:15 - 15:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P210

Credits: 3 or 6 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Classical Archeology: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

In this course, we will delve into the sub-discipline of cultural geography. With its specific interest in the relations between humans and places, mobilities, technologies and the environment it addresses some major issues of our contemporary world. Our major focus will be on paradigmatic turns and key ideas since the emergence of new cultural geography to develop a thorough understanding of the theoretical repertoire of cultural geographic scholarship today. Moreover, in interactive sessions we will relate these core concepts to empirical examples as an ideal preparation for the research seminar in the 2nd semester as well as your dissertation research.

Assignments:  Preparatory readings, active participation in discussions and exercises
Preparation, introduction of a selected publication (approx. 10mins.) & moderation of its discussion (approx. 20mins.) (the selected text needs to be presented to me briefly after class at least one week before the session)

Examination: Submission of an essay (3000 words) on a topic of your choice – further
information will be provided in class. (You are invited to send me an abstract and proposed outline of your essay to receive  feedback on your idea.)

Time: Thursdays, 10:15 - 11:45
Location: Naturwissenschaftliches Institutsgebäude (NatFak), room N239 (02-142)

Credits: 6 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Geography: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

This course aims at introducing students to the current (state-of-the-art) research concerning issues related to non-dominant, less-widely spoken, often marginalized and endangered linguistic communities in different parts of the world. A special focus, though, in the course is paid to regional and minority/heritage language (RMHL) issues in Europe. In the course, students are introduced to different theoretical approaches and research directions concerning minority and heritage languages. In addition, students explore historical, sociopolitical and economic implications for language policies and practices concerning RMHL, and critically discuss the role and symbolic values attached to these languages in different speech communities. The topics of the course include (but are not limited to) language ideologies/attitudes toward minorities, minority language policy and planning, language loss, death and endangerment, language revitalization and reclamation, language shift and maintenance, family language planning, linguistic human rights, among others.

Time: Wednesdays, 12:15 - 13:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P101

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Linguistics: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

GIS Special Courses in English for Exchange Students - Winter Semester 2024/25 - Social Sciences & Society

Course description

Participants will explore interdisciplinary perspectives on various social aspects in Germany, Europe, and beyond.
Students are encouraged to actively share their experiences and ideas, fostering a highly interactive seminar environment. The seminar is application-oriented and includes excursions to governmental and non-governmental organizations, subject to availability.

The course requirements include the completion of a project exposé, a presentation, and active participation.

Time: see course catalogue
Location: see course catalogue

Credits: 5 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Faculty 02: Please add the course to the course registration formular for exchange students and contact your "coordinator" for admission. Your coordinator can register you in Jogustine, or you or the coordinator contact sowiso@uni-mainz.de for registration (we need your student ID/Matrikelnummer therefore). Please state if your registration is for the lecture only or also for the tutorial.

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

This course aims to explore the current political developments in Israel. With five national elections in five years, with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the war in Gaza, tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border and in the West Bank, inner-Israeli disputes expressed through weekly demonstrations, traditional and social media, and new political alliances, and influential court rulings and legislation, it seems Israelis are currently debating their most fundamental beliefs and ideas. In this course, we will explore the system, the players, the issues, and the ongoing events in Israeli politics as they unfold. While the course reading will include theoretical and empirical scientific literature, the consumption of news, movies, television shows, books, podcasts, and social media influencers discussing Israel (including Israeli, German, and international sources) is highly encouraged during the semester.
Time: Wednesdays, 12:15 - 13:45
Location: ReWi II, room HS IV

Credits: 3 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Faculty 02: Please add the course to the course registration formular for exchange students and contact your "coordinator" for admission. Your coordinator can register you in Jogustine, or you or the coordinator contact sowiso@uni-mainz.de for registration (we need your student ID/Matrikelnummer therefore).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

The seminar will be held by Dr. Olesia Zvezdova and aims at giving an overview of the various psychological aspects of political relations, political leadership, conflict and cooperation, psychological influence implementation and methods of countering it.

For this, participants will have a closer look at and discuss the following topics:

- Politics and mental health issues
- Psychology of leadership
- Psychological issues of conspiracy theories
- Psychological aspects of crisis decision-making, especially in international relations
- Mediation as a modern psychotechnology of conflict resolution
- Psychological warfare
- Psychological influence and propaganda
- Psychological operations in the 21st century: comparative analysis
- Psychological safety in Europe
- Consequences of psychological influence

Time: Mondays, 12:15 - 13:45
Location: ReWi II, room HS III

Credits: 5 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Faculty 02: Please add the course to the course registration formular for exchange students and contact your "coordinator" for admission. Your coordinator can register you in Jogustine, or you or the coordinator contact sowiso@uni-mainz.de for registration (we need your student ID/Matrikelnummer therefore).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

This course is designed to introduce the basic theories and concepts of international relations, and to familiarize the students with the way these are applied in the political science context to understanding of contemporary international issues. The course is organized in two parts, the first part concentrates on the main theories of international relations. The second part of the course will focus on case studies, application of the theoretical knowledge on current issues.

Please note: This is not a class in which to learn English; it is a class to learn about International Relations theories and their application. The course is held exclusively in English and directed primarily at native speakers, exchange students and students with a high level of proficiency in English. There will not be any regular translations into German and all course work must be completed in English. The only exception to this rule is the term paper, which you can do in either German or English.

Recommended reading list:
• Baylis, J., Smith, S., Owens, P. 2011. The Globalization of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press (5th edition).
• Dunne, T., Kurki, M., Smith, S. 2010. International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2nd edition).
• Jackson, R., Soerensen, G. 2010. Introduction to International Relations: Theories and Approaches. Oxford: Oxford University Press (4th edition).

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: 3 or 5 or 9 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Political Science: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: to be announced

 

 

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: Wednesdays, 10:15 - 11:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P1

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Political Science: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

The 2024 presidential election in the US take place in a deeply polarized nation. In 2020, the frictions between the presidential candidates as well as the challenges to the outcome of the election eventually resulted in violent protests. Political polarization and lack of political consensus, however, is not a completely new phenomenon in American history. In this class, we will put these recent events in historical context by studying contested presidential elections of the 19th and 20th centuries. We will investigate the constitutional framework for the election of a president as well as the role of presidential elections in resolving divisive political conflicts and shaping the historical development of the United States.

It is strongly recommended that students have attended a survey class on American history before enrolling for this class.

Recommended reading list:
Baker, Paula, and Donald T. Critchlow, editors. The Oxford Handbook of American Political History. Oxford University Press, 2020.

Critchlow, Donald. American Political History: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2015.

Kazin, Michael et al., editors. The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History. Princeton University Press, 2010.

Time: Mondays, 08:15 - 09:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P110

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by American Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: Wednesdays, 14:15 - 15:45
Location: Philosophicum, room P109a

Credits: 8 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by American Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Topics to be covered:

  • Sport Governance and definitions
  • Decision making in management
  • Agency Theory: Understanding conflicts and interests
  • Game Theory: Understanding decision dilemmas and politics
  • Rational-Choice Theory and bounded Rationality: ethical challenges
  • Human Resource Management
  • Managing Legacy  of Sportevents
  • Marketing: Ambush Marketing
  • Corruption in sport organisations
  • Managing sustainability at sport organisations and events
  • Managing Corporate Social Responsibility in sport & Greenwashing

Recommended reading to prepare exams
Mason, D.S., Thibault, L., Misener, L. (2006). An Agency Theory Perspective on Corruption in Sport: The Case of the International Olympic Committee, Journal of Sport Management, 20(1), 52-73.

Additional reading

Bosscher, V. de, Shibli, S., Westerbeek, H., & van Bottenburg, M. (2015). Successful elite sport policies: An international comparison of the sports policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success (SPLISS 2.0) in 15 nations. Maidenhead: Meyer & Meyer Sport.

Breuer, M., & Forrest, D. (Eds.). (2018). The Palgrave handbook on the economics of manipulation in sport. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Frawley, S., & Schulenkorf, N. (2017). Critical issues in global sport management. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, New York, NY: Routledge.

Hoye, R., & Parent, M. M. (Eds.). (2017). The SAGE handbook of sport management. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington, DC, Melbourne: Sage reference.

King, N. A. (2017). Sport governance: An introduction. London, New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

O'Boyle, I., & Bradbury, T. (Eds.). (2013). Sport governance: International case studies. London, New York: Routlege Taylor & Francis Group.

Parent, M. M. (Ed.). (2015). Routledge handbook of sports event management. London: Routledge.

Time: Tuesdays, 10:00 - 12:00 & Wednesdays, 14:00 - 16:00
Location: Sports faculty, room S2 (00-123)

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Sports: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

not available

Time: Wednesdays, 12:00 - 14:00
Location: Sports faculty, room S3 (01-123)

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Sports: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

Course description

Approaches to social openness and closure can be traced back to Max Weber's concept of open and closed relationships. Weber distinguishes between traditional (e.g. family), affective (e.g. romantic love relationships), value-rational (e.g. religious community) and purpose-rational (e.g. markets) relationships. Each of these different forms refers to a different social field, each with its own social relationships and processes of openness and closure. Although Weber laid the foundation with this conceptual differentiation, a true theory of social closure did not emerge until the works of Frank Partin, Randall Collins and Raymond Murphy in the 1980s. Murphy defines the process of social closure as a process in which one group monopolizes the advantages it possesses in such a way that this allows members of other groups, who are considered inferior, to be excluded from social opportunities (cf. Murphy 1988: 88). In the seminar, we will first discuss the conceptual and theoretical foundations of social closure theory before moving on to more recent theoretical applications, including the phenomenon of intercultural and transcultural openness. This constitutes the first block of the seminar.
In the second block, we will focus on reading empirical studies that test the assumptions of the theoretical explanations. Here we turn to the four types of relationships distinguished by Weber as examples and consider to what extent and in what form social closure processes can be found in traditionally, affectively, value-rationally and purpose-rationally structured relationships. Finally, the third block deals with empirical studies that examine the extension of the concept of social closure to intercultural and transcultural relationships.

Time: Tuesdays, 12:15 - 13:45
Location: Georg-Forster-Gebäude (GFG), room 01-721

Credits: 7 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Sociology: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Every year since 2002, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has published its list of the ten technologies it predicts will have the greatest innovative impact long-term. For 2024, these are: AI for everything, Super-efficient solar cells, Apple Vision Pro, Weight-loss drugs, Enhanced geothermal systems, Chiplets, The first gene-editing treatment, Exascale computers, Heat pumps, Twitter killers. Such lists are created annually; some technologies prove to be just bubbles, others exceed all expectations eliciting challenging societal debates such as the current ones about energy transition technologies, e-mobility or Industry 4.0. However, one issue is beyond all question: Technology changes society, and, vice versa, societal institutions and organisations shape and influence technologies as „social projects“ by fostering, funding, enabling, producing, limiting and preventing them.
Connecting technologies to application, utilisation, deployment and exploitation contexts, i.e. what we call innovation, provides additional social dynamics. Besides technological innovation targeting new commercial products and processes, social innovation applying new organisational structures gains in increasing importance. Often, technological innovation and social innovation meet such as with digitalising public sector services. New technologies and innovations are „radical game-changers“: they have the potential of changing the world we live in quickly and drastically. However, as future objects they are neither predictable nor accessible; with these characteristics they challenge the institutions concerned with societal planning, policymaking and coordination.
This lecture introduces to Sociology of Technology and Innovation – the field, which analyses social phenomena around the production, the structures and the consequences of technologies and innovation. The lecture will provide a brief history of both, Sociology of Technology and Sociology of Innovation. Then, major concepts in both areas will be discussed. For technology, issues will be addressed such as: technology as actor, socio-technical systems, technology and social structure, technology assessment, emerging technologies, techno-futures, technology and foresight, technology and ethics, technology and gender etc. For innovation, introductions will be provided to concepts such as innovation models, innovation systems, technological innovation, social innovation, open innovation, innovation networks, responsible research and innovation, Nexus innovation etc. The lecture will suggest a joint approach to an integrated Sociology of Technology and Innovation using some illustrative examples from recent developments in Artificial Intelligence to demonstrate why this is a useful perspective for understanding the complex social dynamics in technology and innovation.
Finally, the lecture will address governance issues around technology and innovation and connect their sociological analysis to complexity-adapted methodologies in the social sciences.Learning outcomes:
This course comprises basic texts and programmatic contributions of central scholars in Sociology of Technology and Innovation. It provides an overview of the field and a first introduction to its concepts, debates and state of the art.

Course Requirements and assignments:
For this lecture, no pre-class preparation or class presentation is required. Students will receive an agenda with literature references in the first session of the course, and can obtain a slide deck of the lecture after each session.

Assignment: Exam
The only assignment of this lecture is a written exam as post-class work (Klausur).

Time: Thursdays, 12:15 - 13:45
Location: Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät (NatFak), room N6 (01-421)

Credits: 3 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Sociology: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Social Simulation is a type of modelling for social scientists which has been gaining interest as a result of extremely affordable computing power and a rising interest in complex systems methods and approaches to understanding the world. Social simulation helps to develop a deeper understanding of social and economic issues and problems, centering on “complexity” ideas: evolution, adaptation, nonlinear behavior, emergence and self-organization. These approaches have become essential tools for social scientists in a wide range of fields, sociology, economics, cognitive psychology, organizational theory, political science and geography.

Social simulation can be supported by participatory modelling methodologies, where different stakeholders involved on the social reality that wants to be simulated take part in the modelling process. Participatory modelling allows modellers to better understand the social dynamics by representing them in a simulation. Moreover, social simulation can be used with the participant stakeholders to evaluate possible future scenarios, and doing so new situations and solutions are reached. Thus, this approach is also useful for participatory policy making purposes.

This seminar offers an introduction to participatory modelling and the methods used in it.

Learning outcomes:
Students will be introduced to participatory modelling and a range of techniques aimed at addressing problems of public interest from this perspective.

  • Students will have a clear idea of the objectives and scope of the participatory modelling perspective in addressing problems of public interest related to new technologies and socio-ecological problems.
  • Students will have the basic knowledge about how to implement participatory systems mapping (including fuzzy cognitive mapping), serious games and computational modelling to address problems of public interest related to new technologies and socio-ecological problems.

Time: Wednesdays, 12:15 - 13:45
Location: Georg-Forster-Gebäude (GFG), room 01-721

Credits: 6 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Sociology: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Social mobility and social reproduction are terms from social inequality research that deal with the question of the extent to which there is stability or change in inequalities in generational change. Reproduction and mobility processes can be examined both with regard to structural positioning, for example with regard to the extent of mobility processes in educational attainment or in occupational positioning. However, it is also possible to look at the cultural level if cultural preferences, practices, or values are the focus of interest.
In the seminar, we will first deal with a precise definition of the terms and discuss what exactly social mobility and social reproduction mean. Following this conceptual specification, we will discuss different theoretical approaches that make predictions about the extent to which institutions influence social mobility and reproduction processes, for example with regard to the role of educational institutions. Once we have acquired the conceptual and theoretical tools, we will turn our attention to empirical research. Here, we first look at the extent to which historical and international similarities and differences can be identified with regard to the extent of intergenerational reproduction from a comparative perspective.
Finally, we will discuss research that empirically tests the explanatory theories we have previously learned about.

Time: Tuesdays, 14:15 - 15:45
Location: Georg-Forster-Gebäude (GFG), room 01-721

Credits: 6 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Sociology: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Social Simulation is a type of modelling for social scientists and computer scientists which has been gaining interest as a result of extremely affordable computing power and a rising interest in complex systems methods and approaches to understanding the world. Many approaches to simulation are now accessible to social scientists with some programming skills who seek to develop a deeper understanding of social and economic issues and problems, centering on “complexity” ideas: evolution, adaptation, nonlinear behavior, emergence and self-organization. These approaches have become essential tools for social scientists in a wide range of fields, sociology, economics, cognitive psychology, organizational theory, political science and geography, and are now also part of the toolbox for computer scientists interested in distributed artificial intelligence and multi-agent technologies. Of primary concern are multi-level simulation models that allow simultaneous consideration of multiple levels of systems and processes of interest (social, economic, environmental), and have users alternate between views on macro and micro behaviors, and possibly levels in between. The most common approach to multi-level simulation, agent-based modelling, allows for hetero­geneity in simulated behaviors of the “agents” on the lower levels (representing, for instance, individuals, groups, organizations or networks). This provides to scientists the opportunity for (much) higher degrees of detail when observing “in silico” complex evolutionary phenomena, as opposed to some very abstract mathematical models.

This seminar offers an introduction to common approaches in Social Simulation. It opens up questions with regard to opportunities and limitations that characterize the state-of-the-art for each simulation method (on its own, but without disregarding the projects that seek to develop “hybrid” modelling techniques across strands of simulation research, building first and foremost on agent-based approaches). It will also assist in developing appreciation for the common elements of Social Simulation workflows, for instance: the theoretical discussion of a model’s conceptual framework, the data-to-model links, and communication of results of simulation research.

Time: Wednesdays, 14:15 - 15:45
Location: Georg-Forster-Gebäude (GFG), room 02-731

Credits: 6 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Sociology: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: Tuesdays, 18:15 - 19:45
Location: Philosophicum, roomP110

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by English Literature & Culture: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

To this day, colonial logics continue to shape the dynamics of migration as well as the responses of states to those (or their ancestors) who were not born on this territory. While migration studies, in general, has been slow to engage with colonial histories in making sense of migratory phenomena today, multiple parallel approaches, including those coming from Anthropology, have already contributed to researching migration beyond ‘the state’, ‘culture’ and ‘society’.
In this course we will systematically deal with the question of whether, in what respect and how migration research can or should be decolonized. We will deal with the historical and contemporary entanglement of coloniality and racialization and the representations of the figure of the migrant. We will also engage with the lived experience and insights of people who are recognized as ‚migrants’ and ‘refugees’ and whose presence, on certain territories, is under a temporalized embargo while living under the conditionality of ‘integration’. We will search for alternative forms of research and representation that deal with human mobilities in other ways, linked to indigenous concepts such as hospitality, sanctuary and solidarity. Finally, we will also examine the changing foundations of academic knowledge production, which currently risks using the decolonial turn as the fig leaf of an idealized Enlightenment exercise that obscures the neoliberal and (neo)feudal dimensions of our hegemonic research agenda.

Time: Tuesdays, 10:15 - 11:45
Location: Forum Universitatis (entry 6), room 00-691 (Kleiner Übungsraum)

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Anthropology & African Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

Im Kontext aktueller Debatten der Politischen Ethnologie und der Feministischen Ethnologie, setzen wir uns in diesem Blockseminar mit ethnologischen und ethnografischen Perspektiven auf das Zusammenspiel von Gewalt (violence), Geschlecht (gender) und Zeugenschaft (witnessing) auseinander. Den Formen, die Gewalt im Kontext menschlichen Zusammenlebens annehmen kann, widmen sich Ethnolog:innen seit Jahrzehnten. Vor dem Hintergrund dieses lange gewachsenen Wissenskorpus einer Ethnologie der Gewalt, zentrieren wir im Seminar besonders Herangehensweisen und Einblicke, die die Rolle von Geschlecht in Gewaltkontexten thematisiert. Dabei betrachten wir Differenzierungen, die bspw. zwischen alltäglicher geschlechtsbezogener Gewalt (gender violence) und Geschlechtsbezogener Gewalt (GBV, Gender-Based Violence) als (geo)politischer Kategorie unterscheiden. Die multiplen Dimensionen der Praxis von Zeugenschaft (witnessing) sowie die Möglichkeiten für ethnografische Zeugenschaft (ethnographic witnessing), bringen diese Auseinandersetzungen auf einer weiteren Ebene selbstreflektierend ins Gespräch mit Fragen von Ethik und Verantwortung, die die Rolle der Ethnograph:in und der Ethnologie als Disziplin methodologisch kritisch ausloten.

Empfohlene Literatur:
Abu-Lughod, Lila, Rema Hammami and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian (eds) (2023) The Cunning of Gender Violence. Geopolitics and Feminism. Duke University Press.

Das, Veena (2008) Violence, Gender, and Subjectivity. Annual Review of Anthropology 37: 283-299.

Fay, F. (2023) The Weight of Witnessing: Commitment, Expectation, and Responsibility in Child Protection Ethnography. Public Anthropologist 5: 232-254.

Hinton, Alexander (2022) Anthropological Witness: Lessons from the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. Cornell University Press.

McGranahan, Carole (2020) Ethnographic Witnessing. Or, hope is the first anthropological emotion. Journal of Legal Anthropology 4(1): 101-110.

Merry, Sally Engle (2008) Gender Violence: A Cultural Perspective. Hoboken, NJ/Boston/Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Mookherjee, Nayanika (2014) The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Memories, and the Bangladesh War of 1971. Duke University Press.

Reed-Danahay, Deborah (2016) “Participating, Observing, Witnessing.” The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Anthropology. Ed. Simon Coleman, Susan B. Hyatt and Ann Kingsolver. Routledge Handbooks Online.

Talebi, Shahla (2019), Ethnography of Witnessing and Ethnography as Witnessing: Topographies of Two Court Hearings. PoLAR, 42: 226-243.

Stephen, Lynn (2018) Gendered Violence and Indigenous Mexican Asylum Seekers: Expert Witnessing as Ethnographic Engagement. Anthropological Quarterly 91(1): 325-362.

Thomas, Deborah and Leniqueca A. Welcome (2021) Abstraction, Witnessing, and Repair; or, How Multimodal Research Can Destabilize the Coloniality of the Gaze. Multimodality & Society 1(3): 391-406.

Wright, M. W. (2011). Necropolitics, Narcopolitics, and Femicide: Gendered Violence on the Mexico-U.S. Border. Signs, 36(3), 707–731.

Time: see course catalogue
Location: Forum Universitatis (entry 7), room HS 14 (01-715)

Credits: 4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Anthropology & African Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

We critically engage and reflect on current concepts and theories of globalisation and development. Students learn to differentiate and contextualise the role of different actors and perspectives (e.g., national policies, supranational institutions, non-governmental activists, civil society, etc.) on global phenomena. Students also learn how to transfer theoretical and epistemological ideas to “real world” issues by discussing current utopias and dystopias that are at stake.
Informed by conceptual key readings students will approach and discuss different ideas (e.g., of climate justice, geo-engineering, the sustainability paradigm, postcolonial studies, etc.) in role games, round table discussions etc. to develop a critical understanding for a multi-scalar and multi-perspective argumentation for current global topics and crises.
Participants learn to visually illustrate complex topics and to present them in a poster.
Acquired skills must be demonstrated in an oral examination at the end of the term.

Time: Wednesdays, 10:15 - 11:45
Location: Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät (NatFak), room N239 (02-142)

Credits: 6 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Geography: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

We will focus on spectacular projects that mirror sustainable utopias//utopian sustainabilities, reaching from early ideas such as Arcadia (Greek mythology) or Biosphere 2 (Arizona), to most recent visions like Neom/ The Line (Saudi Arabia). We will look at their references, initial ideas and inspirations, the master planning and the de facto realisation (or their achieved stages) in the according historical embeddedness and in their media or cinematic representation (e.g. Elysium, Wakanda Forever, Shangri-La).
Each participant will choose and present one utopian project (imagined, staged in form of sci-fi productions, digitally mediatised, in process of planning, realised etc.).Against the background of key readings about the different translations of utopia (in literature and media) as well as sustainability (from philosophical to political and ecological definitions) we will critically engage in debating the heterotopian potential and representation of these projects.The aim is to analyse theoretical flaws, empirical limitations or auspicious anticipations of possible futures to come.

A specific focus will be on power-structures between the involved parties and actors of these imagined, planned, and (partly) realized utopias, e.g. the dual use of technological knowledge production for military and scientific use; the demonstration of power and capital; the question of humanity; the ambigious roles of socialism vs.capitalism as framing ideologies, etc.

Time: Mondays, 12:15 - 13:45
Location: Naturwissenschaftliches Institutsgebäude (NatFak), room N239 (02-142)

Credits: 6 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Geography: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: Tuesdays, 18:00 - 19:30
Location: Naturwissenschaftliches Institutsgebäude (NatFak), room N239 (02-142)

Credits: 6 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Geography: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

This course is aimed at students who wish to pursue an international career. It offers practical insights into various international professional fields and provides students with professional support, networking opportunities and personalised mentorship to enhance their career planning in an international work environment.

Key components of the course:

a) Profile Building: At the beginning and end of the course, students will have dedicated sessions to define and refine their career goals. These sessions will enable students to reflect on their aspirations, identify their strengths, and further develop their professional profile throughout the semester. By actively engaging in profile building, students can make the most of the practice lectures and mentoring opportunities.

b) Experience reports: The course features social scientists working in international professions who will share their career paths and provide valuable tips. These guest speakers will present various career opportunities in international organizations, foundations, companies, and development cooperation. By attending these practice talks, students will not only gain knowledge and insights but also have the chance to start building an extensive international professional network.

c) Mini-Mentoring: Each participant will have the opportunity to establish a strategically valuable connection with a mentor working in their preferred international professional field. The mentorship includes at least one meeting where students can seek individualized advice and guidance from their mentor. The mentorship agreement serves as evidence of the mentoring relationship and ensures a structured and fruitful experience for all participants.

Time: Wednesdays, 16:15 - 17:45
Location: Georg-Forster-Gebäude (GFG), Raum 02-617

Credits: 3 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Faculty 02: Please add the course to the course registration formular for exchange students and contact your "coordinator" for admission. Your coordinator can register you in Jogustine, or you or the coordinator contact sowiso@uni-mainz.de for registration (we need your student ID/Matrikelnummer therefore).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: 2 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Faculty 02: Please add the course to the course registration formular for exchange students and contact your "coordinator" for admission. Your coordinator can register you in Jogustine, or you or the coordinator contact sowiso@uni-mainz.de for registration (we need your student ID/Matrikelnummer therefore).

Link: Course catalogue

 

Course description

In this course (3 ECTS), exchange students learn the ABC for successful social science studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University. Participants will be able to meet the formal requirements of academic work in terms of literature research, oral presentations and term papers. The course offers you a flying start and equips you for a successful semester abroad at JGU.

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: 3 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by Faculty 02: Please add the course to the course registration formular for exchange students and contact your "coordinator" for admission. Your coordinator can register you in Jogustine, or you or the coordinator contact sowiso@uni-mainz.de for registration (we need your student ID/Matrikelnummer therefore).

Link: Course catalogue

 

GIS Special Courses in German for Exchange Students - Summer Semester 2024 - Learning German

Course description

The ISSK offers German courses on the level A1-C2 along with the studies for students in the following study programs:

  • Erasmus+
  • International exchange programs (international partnership programs)
  • English study programs
  • Study programs with exemption from the DSH and German language requirements
  • Other international students in B.A. and M.A. degree programs
Courses on level A1-B2

The ISSK German courses that can be taken parallel to the various courses of studies are addressed to students who are already enrolled in a study program at Mainz University (JGU).

Classes at levels A1, A2, B1, B2.1, B2.2 meet twice a week for a total of 4 or 6 academic units per week and run throughout the semester teaching period.
For every course which you have successfully completed you can obtain 4 or 6 ECTS credit points.

Prerequisites for a graded course certificate and 6 ECTS credit points are the following:

  • regular attendance
  • active participation
  • preparation of homework tasks
  • plus some additional shorter tests and a successful final exam.

Times & locations: here (once available)

Credits: 4 or 6 ECTS (see individual course - ECTS are not based on examination type!)

How to register

Please find information on registration here: https://issk-en.uni-mainz.de/registration-for-the-german-courses/

Link: ISSK

 

Courses on level C1-C2

SB1: German C1 courses accompanying the studies (SB = “studienbegleitend”)

Prerequisite for admission: good knowledge of German at an advanced level (i.e. with completed B2.2 level)
Target groups:

  • Students who have passed the DSH exam with the result DSH-2 and achieved between 60 and 67% in one or more sections
  • Test-DaF graduates with the result 4xTDN4, 3xTDN4 and 1xTDN5, respectively
  • Erasmus+ students or ‘program students’ (= participants of study courses with mandatory language requirements) who have reached C1 level in the placement test or in a previous course

Course offerings include independent modules of 2-4 semester hours (SWS) each that have to be taken successively.

 

SB2: German C2 courses accompanying the studies

Prerequisite for admission: very good knowledge of German (i.e. a high or completed C1 level)
Target groups:

  • Students with a DSH score of 75% or TestDaf with score TDN 4455
  • Erasmus+ students or program students who have reached a high C1 level or a C2 level in the placement test or in a previous course

The focus of these courses (with 2-4 semester hours per week) is academic German or German for Specific Purposes.

Times & locations: here (once available)

Credits: 2-6 ECTS (see individual course - ECTS are not based on examination type!)

How to register

Please find information on registration here: https://issk-en.uni-mainz.de/registration-for-the-german-courses/

Link: ISSK

 

General information

Der Kurs richtet sich an ausländische Studierende auf Masterniveau, Promovierende, Postdocs, Gastwissenschaftler*innen und Mitarbeiter*innen der JGU mit einem abgeschlossenen B1-Niveau.
Da das Ziel des Kurses eine erste gezielte sprachliche Vorbereitung auf den Berufseinstieg für Akademiker in Deutschland ist, ist der Kurs für Teilnehmende vorgesehen, die nach dem Studium oder der Promotion einen berufsbezogenen Aufenthalt in Deutschland planen.

Inhaltlich liegt der Fokus deshalb auf Themen wie Studium/Promotion in Deutschland, Arbeitswelt, Bewerbungstraining, Interkulturelle Kommunikation im Studium und Beruf.
Im Bereich der Grammatik werden die wichtigsten Inhalte der Basisgrammatik A1-B1 wiederholt und gefestigt sowie neue grammatische Phänomene der B2.1 Stufe eingeführt.

Times & locations: here (once available)

Credits: 6 ECTS

How to register

Please find information on registration here: https://issk-en.uni-mainz.de/registration-for-the-german-courses/

Link: ISSK

 

Course description

The conversation class German is aimed at exchange students of all subjects who have completed at least A2 level, who wish to improve their oral expression in German and who are willing to participate regularly in class. Otherwise, students cannot benefit from this course.

The focus is on free speaking, which is practiced using current and regional topics.

Recommended literature:
Working materials will be distributed in the course of the semester.

In order to take part in the A2/B1 course, you must have completed at least level A2; in order to take part in the B2/C1 course, you must have at least level B2. If your language skills do not correspond to at least A2, you will unfortunately not be able to take part in the conversation class as you do not have the appropriate qualifications.

In the first course session, the course instructors will check once again whether your language skills match the corresponding course. If this is not the case, you could be placed in the other course. If the check determines that your oral level is lower than A2, you will unfortunately not be able to take part in the course.

Important: Course registration is only possible by e-mail to gis@international.uni-mainz.de and NOT!!! via the "Course registration for exchange students" form. Please send an e-mail with your certified German level (if available) and the following information: Last name, first name, country of origin, home university, subject of studies, German level, matriculation number (if already available), e-mail address. Please also indicate whether you have already taken part in a conversation course at JGU. If you want to take the A2/B1 course, please indicate which of the two you would like to take or whether both time slots would be okay (the latter gives us some flexibility and increases your chances to get in a class).

 

Completed A2 or B1 Level - Course A

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: 1-4 ECTS

 

Completed A2 or B1 Level - Course B

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: 1-4 ECTS

 

Completed B2 or C1 Level

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: 1-4 ECTS

 

How to register

Course offered by GIS in cooperation with German Studies: to be announced

Link: to be announced

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: 1-4 ECTS

How to register

Course offered by German Studies: Please use the form "Anmeldung Lehrveranstaltungen für Austauschstudierende" (after immatriculation).

Link: to be announced

 

Course description

to be announced

Time: to be announced
Location: to be announced

Credits: (max) 4 ECTS

How to register

to be announced

Link: to be announced

For an overview of special courses for exchange-students in earlier semesters, please visit our archive.