The Germanic languages and literatures collections support a full program through the graduate level in the literatures and culture of German-speaking Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day.
The program offers undergraduate major and minor degrees through the Germanic Studies section of the French and Francophone, Italian, and Germanic Studies (FIGS) Department in the School of Arts & Sciences. The graduate program in Germanic Languages and Literatures is offered through the FIGS Department, as are other humanities programs in the School of Arts & Sciences that draw on German, Dutch, Scandinavian, or Yiddish literature and culture. The department offers a Certificate in German, a Business German program, and language courses in German, Dutch, Swedish, and Yiddish. Faculty expertise covers the full range of German literature from medieval to modern times, as well as history of the book, popular culture, film, cultural history, the environmental humanities, travel writing, gender and postcolonial studies, Jewish studies, musicology, anthropology, religious writing, art history, and philosophy.
The field of German Studies is strongly interdisciplinary, reaching into areas such as history, philosophy, art history, and political theory. Courses on the history of German film are also taught regularly. Faculty research addresses all periods of German literature and culture from medieval times to the 21st century.