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IT IS possible to operate a graduate program in foreign-culture studies at moderate institutional expense and risk. I hope that this report on one small program will stimulate plans at other universities and contribute to the fundamental discussion of culture studies as a field. To avoid a possible argument over the meaning of culture, I should say that I use the term to refer to any aspect of a given society, including its social and economic structure, as well as its highest achievements of thought and the refined arts. Culture studies largely overlap with area studies whose subject—geographic area—may contain more than one culture, successively or even simultaneously.
For some years, graduate training in foreign-culture studies has been regarded as desirable. Although undergraduate curricula have grown beyond language and literature, few faculty members have adequate preparation in the target culture in general, beyond “high” culture on the one hand and aspects of folklore and visitor information on the other. Consequently, there is some demand for young scholars who can teach both traditional and the culture-studies material. Appropriate preparation will help these teachers in their careers. Also, many graduate students now regard nonteaching professions as acceptable and even appealing—careers in which, rightly or wrongly, general cultural knowledge seems more readily applicable than expertise in literary or linguistic scholarship. These employment-related motives reinforce the general trend to discuss literature in its cultural context.
At the same time, several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences are focusing more on breadth and interdisciplinary scholarship. Sociologists, political scientists, and economists, have voiced concern that the popular concentration on methodological issues has left the geographic areas untended. Graduate students in these disciplines are again showing interest in a geographic concentration.
It should not surprise us, then, that graduate programs in foreign-culture studies have been initiated at several universities. Such programs encounter serious obstacles, not the least of which is the chelonian character of the academy itself: slow, self-assured, ready to burrow into the mud and hibernate when the weather changes for the worse. Turtles have resilient shells and grow quite old unless, of course, they are upended.
Few culture-studies programs are now truly inter-disciplinary. Research of the participating faculty members usually centers on only one of the cooperating disciplines. In some cases, instruction is offered by the foreign language departments alone, yet while one can acquire the background—given sufficient time and opportunity—for undergraduate courses in culture studies, the demands of graduate teaching in a new field should present a formidable hurdle for most scholars. Attempts to lower the hurdle by concentrating on disciplines close to our own, such as philosophy or the history of art, often narrow the scope of a program.
Efforts are under way to formulate a first consensus, a profile of culture studies. Culture-studies publications are, and by necessity will be for some time, more programmatic than substantive. Perhaps the practice of culture-studies instruction at any level is not yet sufficiently consolidated to permit a cohesive graduate curriculum. At this time, culture studies constitute neither a discipline nor a professional concentration. By comparison, some programs in nursing or forensic studies are not founded, strictly speaking, on single disciplines either; they can draw strength and a structural principle from their vocational orientation. It is far from certain that a doctoral or master's degree in culture studies will soon be accepted as equivalent to one in an established field or that the training will actually meet the needs of the employment market.
In view of curricular problems, uncertain demand, and the financial depression of higher education, a university administration understandably does not like to commit funds to a degree program beset by questions, no matter how innovative the plan. Long-term commitments are especially hard to justify in unknown territory, but without such commitments graduate programs rarely attain academic respectability. It may therefore be useful to consider new approaches and practical steps that reduce cost and risk without sacrificing standards.
Indiana University is building a graduate program in German culture studies. The program, under the directorship of Eberhard Reichmann, has now entered its second year. Our considerations and experiences may be applicable elsewhere, not in toto, but in part. We had the advantage of an established base, the Institute of German Studies. In research, publication, teaching, and service, the institute fosters cooperation among disciplines; it has a director but no faculty of its own. It offers a Ph.D. minor to candidates in any field but no academic degree. There are only a handful of courses. The institute operates within the Department of Germanic Studies, but it maintains a strong inter-disciplinary focus.
If one cannot offer a regular degree, one cannot expect students to devote several years to culture studies. A one-year concentration appears more appropriate, but because a multitude of fields must be covered in that time students need to be free from competing academic obligations. Arrangements to spread the work over several years, while students attend primarily to the demands of some departmental major program, are likely to be less effective. To be sure, a transfer of new knowledge from culture studies to the major field will readily occur but, within culture studies, where such transfers must play a greater role at the current state of the art, interrupted study may have an inhibiting effect on continuity. Still, such “part-time” arrangements may be easier to establish. In our program they are considered feasible in exceptional cases and may even be more widely permitted in the future.
Degree programs commonly allow the transfer of course work from outside the discipline. Part of the work in culture studies could count toward a regular degree in a traditional field, but such options are often restricted to the equivalent of less than one semester. This fact, too, favors a one-year limitation on a culture-studies program.
Graduate students in foreign languages expect full financial support. Without such strong inducement we could not hope to attract candidates within our own discipline. Support often takes the form of teaching assistantships, but we judged these less desirable. Training in language teaching, a major reason for employing assistants, was not included in the program. The participants were to devote all their attention and energy to the substantive one-year curriculum. Besides, this department can ill afford to reduce its support for regular students. Some departments may regard a growth in their assistant pool as a side benefit of a culture-studies program, but we considered separate fellowships essential. First eight and now nine full stipends are provided by a foundation, the university, and the department itself, and two partial stipends by a German public agency, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Once the prospect of a sizeable student contingent was established, a request for appropriate courses was extended to other departments: history, economics, sociology, political science, philosophy, fine arts, musicology, and history and philosophy of science. These departments, called “cooperating units,” are asked to offer either regular courses that, after certain adjustments, would be applicable to our concentration or specially designed seminars. They may count the enrollment, which we limit to ten, as their own but receive no direct financial compensation. They gain an opportunity to offer courses that can benefit some of their majors but normally would not attract sufficient enrollment and that enable members of their faculty to teach in specialized areas.
Because there are many cooperating units, they need not commit themselves to repeat a topic annually and, in some cases, even regularly to contribute a course. The foreign language department adds two to three courses, none of them in literature. The director conducts a colloquium on the specifically interdisciplinary aspects of the program. A visitor from a foreign university teaches a half-semester course and participates in the colloquium and in other activities.
We tell cooperating units what kind of student they should expect. The program is intended for graduate students from the related (potentially cooperating) disciplines, including our own, and for persons without any departmental affiliation. Instruction should address students who have at least a bachelor's degree in one of the disciplines, usually in foreign language, but no substantial background in the instructor's own field. More than half of the students are expected to have spent a year or more in a country of the foreign culture, and all must be able to follow readings and lectures in the target language with ease. On the basis of personal statements submitted with applications, we assumed the students are committed to culture studies.
For these first two years of our program, the cooperating units have responded as expected. We have reason to believe that the circle of departments will expand and that the course arrangements will hold for the future. Some of our students are taking half of a course that covers a broader area, such as Western Europe, or that explores the topic in greater depth than one could demand of outsiders to the discipline. Students from the department that offers the course stay for the whole semester, either after ours leave or before ours join the course. Instructors thus gain enrollment but also the burden of having to serve two disparate groups in the same classroom. The following list shows the courses given in 1981–82, with the number of credits in parentheses.
FALL
German Culture I (3)
Western European Politics (2; half course)
Aspects of German Economic and Social History (2)
German History 1848–1948 (3)
Twentieth-Century Art (2; half course)
Colloquium (0)
SPRING
German Culture II (3)
Science and the Scientific Estate in Germany
1800–1945 (3)
The Social Structure of the United States and Germany
(2; half course)
Nineteenth-Century Philosophy (3)
Colloquium (1)
The first group of participants recommended three changes: allow some freedom of course selection, reduce the number of half-semester courses, and strengthen the colloquium.
The diverse preparation and goals within the group justified choice among courses. A history major, for example, should not repeat courses on German history and could instead add work in baroque architecture or in socialist economics since 1945. Yet participants benefit from their common experience, and the group should not be allowed to disintegrate into eight or more individuals going their own ways. Furthermore, without the firm promise of a minimum enrollment, cooperating units could not set up the special courses we need. In order to balance both ends, we have reduced the mandatory core of the program from twelve to approximately eight hours a semester. The remaining three to five hours are determined for each student individually, after consultation. They serve the goals of the program and can be regarded as elective only under this constraint.
Half-semester courses tend to compress a whole semester's work into fewer hours and thereby overload the instructional format or to treat part of a larger subject instead of all of a smaller one. Because they must accommodate both the half-semester participants and the regular students of the cooperating unit, they sometimes end up serving neither group adequately. Their role in the core curriculum has decreased, with one exception: because of differences in the academic calendar, the course taught by the foreign visitor must end by the middle of the fall semester. Fortunately, the course is intended primarily for the program group, a relatively homogeneous audience.
The colloquium had the crucial task of tying together what the participants gathered from the various fields. If culture studies are now held together by little more than their geographic, ethnic, or political frame, they do refer to a discernible cluster of interests; and even though curricular ties among the disciplines involved may not be strong at first, they can grow over time. An interdisciplinary colloquium can help develop these ties. Special topics and the presentations of invited specialists began to crowd the colloquium agenda, however, and notwithstanding their value to the program, the additions threatened to deflect the colloquium from its primary purpose, in part because the number of credit and meeting hours had been cut in favor of other courses.
To strengthen the role of the colloquium and to profit from the practical experience of all students and instructors, the colloquium has now been given twenty-three percent of the required load and an equivalent share of time. Participants will be asked to relate the work of their various courses and to present to the group reports from their electives and from previous studies. In an effort to apply their course work and broaden their understanding, they will regularly study foreign newspapers and other periodical publications in the colloquium. Instructors from cooperating units and the visiting professor will participate in the discussions. In addition to its instructional effect, this practice is expected to benefit current courses, program planning, and our understanding of culture studies in general. To underscore the desired teaching mode, the whole program is commonly referred to as a seminar: the year-long graduate seminar in culture studies. The course plan for 1982–83 reflects the experience of the first year:
FALL
German Culture I (3)
Aspects of German Economic and Cultural History (2)
Colloquium (2)
German Views of America (3, elective)
Twentieth-Century Art (2, half course, elective)
Contemporary Western Europe (2, half course, elective)
(Other electives)
SPRING
German Culture II (3)
the Social Structure of the United States and Germany (3)
Colloquium (3)
German History 1848–1948 (3, elective)
(Other electives)
It had been hoped that the seminar would attract students enrolled in advanced-degree programs, to which they would return one year later, but because graduate enrollments are low at most universities, departments were reluctant to release candidates, and students hesitated to interrupt their regular studies. Instead, the seminar enrolls mostly students who have not yet entered an advanced-degree program, although they may already be admitted to one. Internal applicants are considered but not given preference. Only one member of the first group and three of the second came from our institution.
Nearly all the participants have undergraduate majors in our discipline, with second majors in history, English, mathematics, music, fine arts, or another foreign language. There is one bachelor of arts in political science and one bachelor of science in foreign service. A few participants hold master's degrees.
With one exception, the members of the first group are continuing in graduate school here or elsewhere, in history, West European studies, library science, or German. They will be able to count most of their program credits toward their degrees. Incidentally, they were not given official certificates. If the seminar becomes permanently established, we will seek authorization for such a diploma after the introduction of at least a comprehensive examination.
A structured overseas stay of one or two months is being contemplated and probably can be added if funding becomes available. But the seminar can continue without it. In fact, the only essential financial support is the fellowships. They are not ensured more than one year in advance, but that time suffices to adjust the schedule of classes in case of a loss. The program requires little investment from the university and entails no long-term financial commitments. The department contributes administrative support and the teaching time of the colloquium, a mere five credit hours for the year.
The visiting professorship is supported by the DAAD. The guest teaches not only in the seminar but also in at least one other department and acts as consultant to scholars in his or her discipline. The visiting professorship is not an absolute necessity for the program, but the benefits of a visitor bringing current views and information from the target area are obvious.
In the cooperating units the seminar fosters interest in the cultural area. Courses dealing with Central Europe are taught more frequently, and new ones are contemplated. The presence of the seminar participants enlivens and shapes class discussion. In our own department, graduate courses on culture are now offered every year, three in 1982–83 alone, and courses on literature seem to deal with the cultural and the general historical background more extensively than in the past. The non-traditional outlook of seminar participants adds flavor to departmental life, even though the seminar maintains its separate group identity.
A slightly modified version of this paper appears in Monatshefte (Fall 1982), and it is reprinted here with permission. The author is Chairman of the Department of Germanic Studies at Indiana University.
© 1982 by the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages. All Rights Reserved.
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