Unit information: German Bodies: Sex and the Body in Twentieth Century Germany (Level I Special Field) in 2009/10

Unit name	German Bodies: Sex and the Body in Twentieth Century Germany (Level I Special Field)
Unit code	HIST26007
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. McLellan
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None.
Co-requisites	None.
School/department	Department of History (Historical Studies)
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will explore the history of the body and its representations in twentieth century Germany. It takes as the Third Reich as its centre point, but pays close attention to its antecedents and repercussions. What were the origins of a regime which consistently glorified certain bodies whilst condemning and persecuting others on grounds of race and sexuality? And what traces did Nazism leave on Germans' attitudes towards the body? Methodologically, we will ask two key questions: firstly why the state strove to control the bodies of its citizens, and the extent to which it was successful. Were Germans able to maintain the autonomy of their own bodies in this period? Secondly, we will examine the significance of representations of the body, with particular attention to gender, class and race. To what extent was the body used as a way of projecting anxieties about war, politics, and social change?

Aims:

• To place students in direct contact with the current research interests of the academic tutor

• To enable stidemts to explore the issues surrounding the state of research into explore the history of the body and its representations in twentieth century Germany

• To develop students ability to work with primary sources

• To develop students abilities to integrate primary source material into a wider historical analysis

• To develop students ability to learn independently within a small-group context.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the unit students should have:

• deepened their understanding of the history of the body and its representations in twentieth century Germany

• become more experienced and competent in working with a widening range of primary sources

• become more adept at contributing to and learning from a small-group environment.

Teaching Information

• Weekly 2-hour seminar

• Tutorial feedback on essay

• Access to tutorial consultation with unit tutor in office hours

Assessment Information

1 x 2 hour exam

Reading and References

• Ernst Friedrich, War Against War (1923)

• Leni Riefenstahl, Olympia (film and photographs)

• August Sander, People of the Twentieth Century (2002)

• Elizabeth Heineman, What Difference Does a Husband Make? Women and Marital Status in Nazi and Postwar Germany (1999)

• Dagmar Herzog, Sex After Fascism (2005)

• Dagmar Herzog (ed.), Sexuality and Nazism (2004)