THE GRADUATE SCHOOL

Degree Types: PhD

The Department of German offers training in German-language literature, culture, and thought from the mid-eighteenth to the early twenty-first century. Our faculty provide teaching and mentorship in a wide range of areas related to modern German-language literature and culture, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary work in the fields of critical theory, philosophy and literature, literary theory, intellectual and cultural history, media theory, and the intersection of literature and religion. Graduate students in the program are encouraged to pursue innovative and original projects according to their individual interests, developing their skills as creative thinkers and researchers while receiving a solid grounding in German literary and cultural history and the practices of textual analysis.

In line with its commitment to interdisciplinary research, the program collaborates closely with other departments and programs at Northwestern, including Comparative Literary Studies, Philosophy, Jewish Studies, Spanish and Portuguese, English, Asian Languages and Cultures, Science and Human Culture, and History, as well as with the various networks of interdisciplinary graduate clusters at Northwestern. (For more information on the graduate clusters and how you can have a second intellectual “home” outside of the department, please visit the Interdisciplinary Clusters page). The program also maintains strong ties with the Northwestern Paris Program in Critical Theory, as well as with universities and institutions in Germany and Austria (including Frankfurt, Münster, Vienna, and the ZfL Berlin), where students often choose to spend their second fellowship year, and/or secure additional fellowship funding beyond the five years provided by The Graduate School.

The program is also committed to fostering graduate students’ pedagogical training. In addition to its tenure-line faculty, the department includes award-winning professors of instruction and experts in second-language acquisition who work closely with graduate students as supervisors and mentors to develop their professional skills and teaching portfolios.

Additional resources:

• Department website
• Program handbook(s)