Faculty Profile
Kamaal Haque
Associate Professor of German (2008)
Contact Information
Bosler Hall Room M6
717-245-1283
Bio
His research interests include German film, the literature and culture of the German-speaking Alps, and environmental humanities. He has published on such diverse topics as the German mountain film, Swiss literature, the poetry of Goethe, and Muslim minorities in Germany today. In addition to courses at all levels of German language and culture, he has taught recent courses such as The Mountain in the German Cultural Imagination, Minority Cultures in the German Context and Modern German Film.
Education
- B.A., Drew University, 1997
- M.A., Washington University in St. Louis, 2000
- Ph.D., 2006
2024-2025 Academic Year
Fall 2024
GRMN 101 German in Everyday Life
This course is an introduction to the German language and culture of daily life. It focuses on the acquisition of language skills, such as speaking, reading, writing, and listening and does so while also learning about aspects of every-day cultures in German-speaking countries. Classes are small and emphasize communication. After successfully completing German 101 and 102, students are expected to have reached a basic level of intercultural and cross-cultural competence, that is, to be able to communicate with members of German-speaking cultures with an awareness of differences in language and culture.
GRMN 251 Grmn & Austrian Cult/Pol/Hist
Music videos are a popular form of entertainment. In this course, however, we will treat selected videos as something more: as texts that reveal insights into German and Austrian culture, politics and history. For decades, musical artists have used videos to address the cultural and political issues of the day. In this course, we will discuss some of these issues as relating to German and Austrian culture. Topics may include the legacy of the Holocaust, immigration to Germany, discrimination, and current politics. Artists studies may include Hubert von Goisern, Advanced Chemistry, Ok Kid, K.I.Z. and more. Course is in German.
Spring 2025
GRMN 202 Int Grmn II: Mediated Grmn Clt
What was occupied Vienna like in post-WWII Central Europe? How does a film convey fear? Is German academic writing different from how I write papers at Dickinson? Posing these or similar questions, this course builds students’ basic intermediate level of cultural and linguistic skill and explores the challenges of understanding and communicating with various media in colloquial, academic, and professional contexts. As it does so, students will acquire a better understanding of contemporary and historical issues, anxieties, and desires in the German-speaking world. There will be a special focus on writing in different modes, as this is a writing in the discipline (WiD) course. Prerequisite: 201, or permission of the instructor.
GRMN 400 Mtns in German Cult Imag
In this course, we will examine how mountains are transformed from places of terror in the pre-modern period to places of pleasure and leisure today. We will consider how the presence of mountains informs German, Austria and Swiss self-identity and will talk about the ecological, economic and touristic challenges facing mountains in general and the Alps in particular. Topics will also include: how the Nazis appropriate the mountains for their propaganda purposes, how and why a Himalayan mountain has come to be known as "Der Schicksalberg der Deutschen," and the discovery of the iceman "Ötzi" in the Alps. We will look not only at non-fiction texts, but the mountains in fiction, film, music and visual art, as well.