16905

SoSe 22: Green Germany: A Cultural and Political History of Nature and the Environment in Germany

Susanne Scharnowski

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Subject: Germany is often presented and likes to present itself as a country that leads the way in climate protection, in the development of renewable energies, and in waste separation and recycling, in short: as a ‘green’ country, even as the “Greenest Nation”. This perceived ‘greenness’, however, is not an entirely new phenomenon: Since the Napoleonic Wars, Germans have seen and presented themselves as particularly close to nature. The course will examine the evolution of “Green Germany” through history, up to the present moment. Program: We will study key moments in the history of the German relationship to nature and the environment, looking at the role of grassroot movements on the one hand and state policy on the other hand. Among the topics we will discuss are: the movement for nature conservation at the end of the 19th century during industrialisation; the period of National Socialism, when the legal foundations of the protection of the environment were laid; the environmental movement of the 1970s in West Germany; environmental protection in East Germany, and, finally, current debates and conflicts around the conservation of nature and landscape on the one hand and climate protection as well as energy policy on the other hand, looking at government policy and protest movements. We will also examine the specifically German attachment to the forest; accordingly, one session will take us to Grunewald, the large forest in Berlin. Is this course right for you? The course is open to students from all fields. You should be interested in environmental questions in an historical, cultural, and political perspective, and you should be prepared to study and discuss academic and complex journalistic texts written in English. Workload and Assessment: To obtain 5 ECTS credits, you will have to attend the course regularly; have studied the course materials (an average of 15-20 pages of texts in English per week as well as recorded lectures); pass the mid-term test (ca. 1000 words) and the written final examination (ca. 1500 words). close