Discussing Diversity: What a Course on German Literature Can Contribute to a Liberal Education

Abstract

German educators concerned with preparing students for living in a pluralistic, multi-racial society and an interdependent world can contribute a global perspective to these issues through the teaching of German culture and literature. We have the opportunity to play an active role in fostering the appreciation of diversity, in confronting stereotypes, and enriching on-going campus dialogues on racism and prejudice.1 My paper describes two courses designed to do this. German literature preserves a rich record both of attempted integration of minorities as well as of genocide. It addresses questions of ethnicity, race, and gender from the past and the present, much of it written by minority authors themselves. Increasingly in the last decade German curricula have begun to explore intercultural topics and to include minority authors. Most beginning and intermediate texts now feature readings by minority authors or discuss minorities' issues in German-speaking countries.2 Some German departments have instituted upper-level courses devoted exclusively to the topic of minorities. Such courses tend to focus on the post-1945 period to emphasize area studies: postwar immigration, laws on citizenship and asylum, violence against foreigners, and the like. They generally incorporate German-language writings of such diverse ethnic groups as Turks, Afro-Germans, and Jews.3 The courses I have developed take a historical approach and examine how several groups have been depicted in literature and the visual arts over time. Starting with the eighteenth century, the courses trace both continuities and changes in these depictions, thus enabling students to recognize the historical nature of ethnic identities and stereotypes. We learn how the dominant culture has represented outsiders, but also how writers from minority groups have reflected on their own experiences. While the outsider has sometimes been treated as an irritant, we learn to appreciate how voices from the margins can contribute to a society's