SYLLABUS

Ger 380: The Middle Ages: Well-Being in Pre-Modern German Literature

This course can count toward the Cultural Minor in German Studies or toward the THEMATIC MINOR IN MEDIEVAL STUDIES.

INSTRUCTOR: Prof. Albrecht Classen, Dept. of German Studies, 301 Learning Services Building, Office 318; tel. 621-1395; aclassen@u.arizona.edu; sites.arizona.edu/aclassen/

http://d2l.arizona.edu

OFFICE HOURS: tba, and any other time after appointment (but always feel free simply to stop by at my office, email me, call me to make sure that I am in).

Tel.: 520 621-1395

aclassen@arizona.edu

https://arizona.zoom.us/j/97291834166

CLASSROOM: tba, or online

COURSE OBJECTIVES: The premodern world pursued a different perspective toward the human body, accepting mostly the interconnectedness between the macro- and the microcosm. At the same time, Galenic theory introduced the notion of the four humors from antiquity. Medieval German literature is filled with reference to medical issues, some scientifically oriented, others more fanciful. This course intends to bring students to discussions on well-being in pre-modern German literature by building multi-perspective approaches from the following disciplines: German Studies, Health Humanities, and History of Science.

Students will gain an in-depth understanding of health and well-being in the Middle Ages through the study of the literary discourse.
Students will recognize the value of reading and analyzing literature to explore interdisciplinary perspectives on health and well-being in the Middle Ages from German Studies, Health Humanities, and Religion and History of Science.
Students will explore alternative concepts around health and well-being as formulated in medieval German literary texts.
Students will formulate in writing their critical understanding of pre-modern concepts of health and well-being.
Students will create a portfolio reflecting the medical discourse in the Middle Ages (images, texts, objects, plants, etc.

SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENTS:

Oral presentations on individual writers and their medical procedures
Critical papers with thesis, argument, and conclusion focusing on individual literary works
Portfolio focusing on a medieval hospital, a medical expert, a medical procedure in a literary work, all depending on the student’s particular choice of topic. They analyze in writing a specific literary text, discuss an artwork, and analyze the health implications within the historical context.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Building Connections: Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to utilize multiple perspectives and make meaningful connections across disciplines and social positions, think conceptually and critically, and solve problems.
Writing: Students will demonstrate rhetorical awareness and writing proficiency by writing for a variety of contexts and executing disciplinary genre conventions of organization, design, style, mechanics and citation format while reflecting on their writing development.
WCS: Students will describe, from one or multiple perspectives, the values, practices, and/or cultural products of at least one non-US culture/society; relate how these values, practices and/or cultural products have shaped their social, historical, political, environmental and/or geographic contexts; and reflect on how the student’s own background has influenced their perceptions of other societies and their sense of place in the global community.
Course: Students have gained a deep understanding of the close correlation between pre-modern German literature, health, and religion.

BUILDING CONNECTIONS: Study of German literary texts and the medical discourse in the pre-modern world.

COURSE OUTCOME:

Students engage with pre-modern German literary and cultural productions (in translation) where health and well-being representations emerge. They contextualize these productions in their time and context in the German-speaking world.
Health humanities. Students identify and analyze one major health humanities theme: narrative/storytelling and pain in these pre-modern German literary and cultural texts.
Religion and history of science: Students trace the role of religion and healing in knowledge constructions and history of science. German medieval authors frequently highlighted the need for spiritual healing as the basis of physical healing.

COURSE MATERIAL: 1. Gottfried von Strassburg, Tristan; 2. Hartmann von Aue, “Poor Henry”; 3. Hartmann von Aue, Iwein; 4. Hildegard of Bingen: medical treatises; 5. Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival; 6 Arnaud de Villeneuve, The Book of Wine; 7. Heinrich Wittenwiler, The Ring; 8. Trotula; 9. a selection of medical treatises from the Middle Ages; 10. excerpts from Paracelsus (all material will be made available online)

Although it is assumed that you will attend all class sessions, you are informed hereby that excessive absences will have consequences. For details see below in the grading section. If justified circumstances prevent you from attending, please inform me in writing either before or after the event and provide satisfactory documentation (e.g., a doctor’s note). I will use a software called “Top Hat” with which you can register your attendance in each class. This will also allow us to get everyone in class actively engaged through questions and discussion points.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

Each text to be studied will require written responses through in-class activities and paper assignments. Analyzing the various comments on healing processes, such as in Hartmann’s Iwein, will shed important light on different medical thinking in the pre-modern world. Using Top Hat in class will facilitate daily writings of ca. 80-100 words. Students will be asked to submit 3 essays throughout the semester, each consisting of ca. 450 words. The first one can be revised and resubmitted. A portfolio as a final class project will conclude the requirements, consisting of diverse sections asking for written responses to categories. Writing assignments will make up 65% of the grade (Tophat: 5%; 3 papers: 15% each = 45%; portfolio: 15%).

DISCUSSIONS, ACADEMIC BEHAVIOR, EXPECTATIONS:

Please treat each other with respect and tolerance. People do have different views and opinions, but all these can only contribute to the rich learning experience I hope you all will have in this class. You are strongly encouraged to participate in class as much as possible. The two-class meetings per week will only be of profit for you if you respond to my questions and those of your classmates. The class will take place online, in the chatroom set up in D2L. All my previous students have greatly appreciated this format which is very focused, unobtrusive, and engaging.

For information on the University of Arizona Policy on Threatening Behavior by Students, click on this link: http://policy.arizona.edu/threatening-behavior-students

Departmental telephone: (520) 621-7385

Accessibility and Accommodations: At the University of Arizona, we strive to make learning experiences as accessible as possible. If you anticipate or experience barriers based on disability or pregnancy, please contact the Disability Resource Center (520-621-3268, https://drc.arizona.edu) to establish reasonable accommodations. Since this course will be offered online, you should not have any problems.
Academic advising: If you have questions about your academic progress this semester, or your chosen degree program, please note that advisors at the Advising Resource Center can guide you toward university resources to help you succeed.
Life challenges: If you are experiencing unexpected barriers to your success in your courses, please note the Dean of Students Office is a central support resource for all students and may be helpful. The Dean of Students Office can be reached at 520-621-2057 or DOS-deanofstudents@email.arizona.edu.
Physical and mental-health challenges: If you are facing physical or mental health challenges this semester, please note that Campus Health provides quality medical and mental health care. For medical appointments, call (520-621-9202. For After Hours care, call (520) 570-7898. For the Counseling & Psych Services (CAPS) 24/7 hotline, call (520) 621-3334.
Equipment and software requirements: For this class, you will need daily access to the following hardware: [laptop or web-enabled device; regular access to reliable internet signal; ability to download and run the D2L site (chatroom), and Top Hat LMS.
- For lecture recordings, which are used at the discretion of the instructor, students must access content in D2L only. Students may not modify content or re-use content for any purpose other than personal educational reasons. All recordings are subject to government and university regulations. Therefore, students accessing unauthorized recordings or using them in a manner inconsistent with UArizona values and educational policies are subject to suspension or civil action.
- Campus Healthhttp://www.health.arizona.edu/Campus Health provides quality medical and mental health care services through virtual and in-person care.Phone: 520-621-9202Counseling and Psych Services (CAPS)https://health.arizona.edu/counseling-psych-servicesCAPS provides mental health care, including short-term counseling services.Phone: 520-621-3334The Dean of Students Office’s Student Assistance Programhttps://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/support/student-assistanceStudent Assistance helps students manage crises, life traumas, and other barriers that impede success. The staff addresses the needs of students who experience issues related to social adjustment, academic challenges, psychological health, physical health, victimization, and relationship issues, through a variety of interventions, referrals, and follow up services.Email: DOS-deanofstudents@arizona.edu
  Phone: 520-621-7057
  
  Survivor Advocacy Program
  
  https://survivoradvocacy.arizona.edu/
  
  The Survivor Advocacy Program provides confidential support and advocacy services to student survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. The Program can also advise students about relevant non-UA resources available within the local community for support.
  
  Email: survivoradvocacy@arizona.edu
  
  Phone: 520-621-5767
  
  Crisis Support
  
  Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call 988
  
  Crisis Text Line: text TALK to 741-741
  
  Visit https://preventsuicide.arizona.edu for more suicide prevention tips and resources

The German Studies Major and Minor

The University of Arizona’s Department of German Studies offers a major (B.A.) and a minor in German Studies, with two possible tracks (language and culture). For more information on the German Studies major and minor, see http://german.arizona.edu/undergraduate/courses.

German Studies majors have pursued careers in a wide variety of fields, including engineering, business, government, medicine, law, education, and social services. German Studies has many double majors, who combine German Studies with majors in a wide range of fields, in order to receive a comprehensive undergraduate education and to stand out when applying for jobs or graduate studies.

There is also the option of a Thematic Minor in Medieval Studies.

Tips on Learning Strategies

Course Format and Teaching Methods: Lectures, combined with group discussions, questions to the entire class, combined with web-based assessments.

The German Studies Major and Minor

D2L and other technical details: The D2L website (login) is: http://d2l.arizona.edu

If you have trouble with or questions about D2L, please contact: http://help.d2l.arizona.ed u. Computer help is available at:http://the247.arizona.edu/

If you do not check on a daily basis your d2l e-mail account (automatically assigned to you and already in place), you must set up auto-forward to an account that you check daily. Please go to: http://help.d2l.arizona.edu/students/email#autoforward

For instructions how to upload a file to D2L, see: http://help.d2l.arizona.edu/students/video/dropbox (not necessary this semester)

Health:

If you become ill with the flu or something else, do not come to class until you have had no fever for 24 hours. You are responsible for contacting me via email or phone as soon as you can to let me know you are ill. You are also responsible for any work missed while you are ill. If you miss a quiz for a legitimate reason, let me know, and I’ll see how I can help you. This does not apply to our online class this semester, 2023

DISCUSSIONS, ACADEMIC BEHAVIOR, EXPECTATIONS:
Please treat each other with respect and tolerance. People do have different views and opinions, but these can only contribute to the rich experience I hope you all will have in this class. I have my own opinions and will let you know where I stand if you are anxious to find out (privately). Let me also hear what you think–the University is a place of critical exchanges and the development of new thoughts and ideas. You are strongly encouraged to participate in class as much as possible. The two class meetings can only be of profit to you if you respond to my questions and those of your classmates and engage in our discourse. Moreover, I very much hope to get questions from you, which can trigger a class discussion. Despite the huge class size, we all together can transform it into a communal learning situation.

For the University of Arizona Policy on Threatening Behavior by Students , click on this link.

For the University of Arizona Policy on Disruptive Student Behavior, click on this link.

HONORS CONTRACTS: “Students who enter The Honors College as freshmen may fulfill up to 12 units (maximum 6 lower-division) through contracts. Students who enter the Honors College as sophomores may fulfill up to 9 units (maximum 3 lower-division) through contracts. Students who enter The Honors College as juniors may fulfill six Honors credits through contracts.” See also: “The work assigned as a result of the Contract should not determine the student’s final grade. That is, the fact that the student is working for Honors credit does not guarantee a high grade. Final grades should reflect the quality and content of all of the student’s work in the course.” (http://www.honors.arizona.edu/future-students/honors-credit-across-campus). The honors experience should involve not quantity but quality of further research, allowing a student in the Honors College taking this class to gain deeper and broader understanding of the class material. This might entail the study of some relevant research papers, which should result in an extra paper or oral presentation, or the study of additional material expanding the horizon as aimed for in this course.

SPECIAL NEEDS: Students with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations to participate fully in course activities or meet course requirements must register with the Disability Resource Center. http://drc.arizona.edu/instructors/syllabus-statement. Students need to submit appropriate documentation to the instructor if they are requesting reasonable accommodations.

WARNING: If you use secondary material for your papers, make sure that you indicate clearly where you took it from. Plagiarism and cheating violate the Code of Academic Integrity. For further information, see:

http://www.library.arizona.edu/help/tutorials/plagiarism/index.html

and:

(http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/policies-and-codes/code-academic-integrity

Do not ever copy from the work produced by published authors, by your classmates, by other students who might have taken this course in previous semesters, or by yourself in a previous or parallel class. If you receive help in writing your papers, make sure that the final outcome still represents your own work. You can discuss your papers with your fellow students, but at the end they need to consist of your own ideas and words! Be advised that the Web is a great search tool, but never, never copy from there without identifying very clearly what you used (and then only sparingly). At this point the scholarly value of web-based material still is not totally reliable, and the chances that you might stumble upon a most dubious webpage with untrustworthy information are very high. When you quote from a secondary source, clearly identify the quote and tell the reader in a footnote where you quoted it from. Every year more than 800 students at the UA are caught having committed the crime of plagiarism, resulting in penalties that could be as severe as expulsion from the University! You are smart enough not to copy from other people.

If there is any doubt in your mind whether you might commit plagiarism, see:

http://www.turnitin.com/research_site/e_faqs.html

Plagiarism and the Web

If you commit plagiarism, you could either receive a 0 on your specific assignment, or an F for the entire course. Depending on the gravity of the case, you might even be expelled from the University.

Help with writing: The Writing Skills Improvement Program offers a number of valuable workshops at 1201 E. Helen Street. Please consult with them if you have a need to improve your writing skills (no walk-ins). For perhaps more immediate help, see the Writing Center: http://thinktank.arizona.edu/tutoring/writing (walk-ins allowed). Tel.: 621-5849

Writing Center: The Writing Center is a free resource for UA undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty and staff. At the Writing Center, a trained peer consultant will work individually with you on anything you’re writing (in or out of class), at any point in the writing process from brainstorming to editing. Appointments are recommended, but not required. For more information or to make an appointment, visit their website at http://wsip.arizona.edu/, stop by at 1201 E Helen St., main level, or call (520) 626-0530.

WRITING ATTRIBUTES:

1. Oral presentations on individual writers and their medical procedures

2. Critical papers with thesis, argument, and conclusion focusing on individual literary works

3. Portfolio focusing on a medieval hospital, a medical expert, a medical procedure in a literary work, all depending on the student’s particular choice of topic. They analyze in writing a specific literary text, discuss an artwork, and analyze the health implications within the historical context

GRADING: (1000 points total):

1. Attendance and Participation: 15%

2. 3 papers: 15%, 15%, 15% = 40%

3. 1 final essays-based exam: 30%

4. 1 portfolio: focus on a medieval (nothing beyond 1400, and nothing pertaining to the Renaissance!) cathedral, a major artwork (cathedral, sculpture, stained glass window of a major kind, wooden carvings, or a major manuscript illumination) (15 pts), write ca. 400 words describing the details (40 pts), provide a good color photo (10 pts), examine the background, give dates, location, function, and your appreciation (25 pts), along with some bibliography (ca. 5 studies specifically addressing that work, 10 pts). Put everything together in one file and upload to D2L: 15%

Each paper will be graded as follows:

Must be typed, with at least 1″ margin on all sides, at least 12 points letter size. Bring the print-out to class when paper is due. Submit also in electronic form to the dropboxes in D2L, though only the paper copy will count. Keep in mind that each paper will be automatically examined as to the degree of similarities with other papers (turnitin software!). When there is suspicion of plagiarism, I will call you in for a conference, and the consequences for plagiarism might be very harsh. Do not write your paper together with a classmate, though you can, of course, discuss the topics with him/her. If you copy from another paper/chapter/article in print or online, without acknowledging the author and without indicating the extent to which you have copied by means of quotation marks and references, you commit plagiarism.

Thesis: Concisely developed, clear concept, well-formulated (avoid paraphrase!). Always provide a title that captures your thesis. 20 pts

Argument: Good use of original text to illustrate the thesis; complex argument based on a solid knowledge of the text; convincing organization. 50 pts. If you do not engage with at least one critical secondary source, loss of 15 points, if only fleetingly or superficially, loss of 10 points.

Conclusion: Convincing connection with the thesis, good summary of the argument, final comment on the outside source (negatively or positively), concise formulation; 20 pts.

(Not this semester!) Outside Sources: You must engage with at least one pertinent outside source for each paper, i.e., a critical study of recent vintage (preferably not from prior to 1970!). Bring in the author’s opinion and use it either to support your own argument or demonstrate why you believe that the other opinion misreads the text.

Format: Write down your first last name, SI, class, instructor, term, year on the top of your paper. Next follows the title. Next the thesis in bold.

At the end of your paper write a statement and sign it that this is your own piece of work and that you did not receive outside help.

Stylistics: 10 pts: Correct use of grammar and diction, sophisticated use of vocabulary, complex sentence structure.

LENGTH: Each paper should consist of ca. 700-800 words.

Always submit to Assignments in D2L! Bibliography: See, for instance, my Handbook of Medieval Studies, ed. A. C. (Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2010; online in the library). Familiarize yourself with the various research sources in our library (MLA, JSTOr, etc.). Your outside sources do not necessarily have to engage with the same text, but they must focus on medieval culture at large. The studies that you will consult cannot be from prior to 1960.

How to cite your secondary source/s :

Trumpener, Katie. “Memories Carved in Granite: Great War Memorials and Everyday Life.” PMLA 115 (2000): 1096-103. – this is a journal article

Hanks, Patrick. “Do Word Meanings Exist?” Computers and the Humanities 34 (2000): 205-15. – this is a journal article

Kurlansky, Mark. Salt. A World (New York: Scribner’s, 2001). – this is a monograph!

Niiranen, Susanna. “At the Crossroads of Religion, Magic, Science and Written Culture.” Mental Health, Spirituality, and Religion in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age, ed. Albrecht Classen. Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture, 15. Berlin and Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2014. 290-313. – this is an article in an edited volume

“Selected Seventeenth-Century Events,” Romantic Chronology. Ed. Laura Mandell and Alan Liu. 1999. U of California, Santa Barbara. 12 November 2003 <http://english.ucsb.edu:591/rchrono/>. (last accessed on Month, date, year) – this is an online source.

TEACHING PRACTICE:

The class will be run like a seminar, with every student being strongly encouraged to engage with the texts and the classmates’ opinions.
Through their writing assignments, students can critically assess their own learning experience and interpret the individual texts with regard to the medical issue addressed there.
Personal experiences by the students and their responses to the texts assigned as homework will allow a critical examination of current and past medical procedures and methods.

SEMESTER PLAN

Week 1: intro., theoretical discussion

Week 2 and 3: History of medicine in the pre-modern world (reading assignments)

Week 4 and 5: the mystical approach: Hildegard of Bingen

Week 6: Hartmann von Aue: Iwein (excerpts)

Week 7: Hartmann von Aue: Lord Henry

Week 8: Wolfram von Eschenbach: Parzival (excerpt)

Week 10: Arnaud of Villanova: Wine and medicine

Week 11: Charms and medicine: Old High German charms

Week 12: Early modern charms and medical tracts

Week 12: The practice of bleeding: Marie de France

Week 13: A jump to the early modern world: Paracelsus

Week 14: Paracelsus

Week 15: Presentation of portfolios, final discussion:

Possible Changes: The information contained in the course syllabus, other than the grade and absence policies, may be subject to change with reasonable advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.

Final Grade Review: If there might be a problem with your grade, you can ask me for a review until: date to be determined (shortly before finals week is over). Beyond that, there will not be any opportunity to revisit your grade.