Teaching Global German Using German-Language Cosmopolitan Tradition(s)

This article argues that vital resources for teaching the relationship of German and the global to advanced undergraduate language students can be found in a critical approach to the rich tradition of cosmopolitanism in canonical German-language texts. One especially rich vein of this tradition is the historical depiction of relationships between Europe and the "Orient" from the time of the Crusades, through modernity, and into intersections with the contemporary realities of migration, global capitalism, and multinational crises. A distinctive feature of the German tradition is the attempt not only to present and problematize the contrast between "Occident" and "Orient" but to explore - even in literary texts - theoretical approaches to cultural difference. These approaches retain their validity today as conversation partners as we develop our own strategies for navigating a world caught between competing visions of the "local," the "national," and the "global." By emphasizing the tension between the canon's complicity in constructing stereotypes and identities, which still haunt us today, and its advocacy for a utopian cosmopolitanism, students in these courses are prepared for both a critical appreciation of German-language traditions as well as a historically-based German perspective on current events.