Natalie Eppelsheimer
Office
FIC 225
Tel
(802) 443-5238
Email
eppelshe@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
Spring 2024: Monday, 12:30-2:00 p.m., Wednesday, 3:30-5:00 p.m. Please use this link to reserve a time: https://calendly.com/eppelsheimer/office-hours

Natalie Eppelsheimer is a native Rheinländerin. She holds a Staatsexamen in English and Biology from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, an M.A. in German Studies from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in German with emphasis in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Irvine. She joined Middlebury in 2008.

At Middlebury, she teaches German language classes as well as upper-level courses in German and Comparative Literature, focusing on representations and memorialization of the Holocaust, on exile and refugee experiences, on colonialism and racism, and on sustainability. 

Professor Eppelsheimer’s research activities focus on refugee and migration studies, Holocaust refugees in colonial territories, anti-racist pedagogy, inclusive language teaching, (inter-)cultural competence, and sustainability. She regularly presents her work at national and international conferences. Her work has been published in various journals and books. In 2019, her book Roads Less Traveled: German Jewish Exile Experiences in Kenya 1933-1947 was published with Peter Lang, Oxford.

Recent articles include:

“Teaching Karneval: Costumes, cultures, and cultural appropriation.” In Unterrichtspraxis/ Teaching German; published as “early view” May 4, 2023; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tger.12237

“Heimaten, Heimatsprachen und Sprachheimaten bei Stefanie Zweig.” In: Sprache der Migration. Migration der Sprache. Sprachidentitäten und transkulturelle Literatur im Zeitalter der Globalisierungsprozesse. Sonderausgabe des Jahrbuchs für Internationale Germanistik, eds. Max Graff and Sandro Moraldo (2022): 413-422.

“Some had a farm in Africa – Holocaust survivors as settler-colonists in Kenya.” Lessons & Legacies Conference volume XV, eds. Patt Avinoam and Erin McGlothlin, Northwestern UP (2023): 12-29 (in press).

Courses Taught

Course Description

Senior Thesis
A senior thesis is normally completed over two semesters. During Fall and Winter terms, or Winter and Spring terms, students will write a 35-page (article length) comparative essay, firmly situated in literary analysis. Students are responsible for identifying and arranging to work with their primary language and secondary language readers, and consulting with the program director before completing the CMLT Thesis Declaration form. (Approval required.)

Terms Taught

Winter 2021, Winter 2022, Winter 2023, Winter 2024, Winter 2025

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Course Description

Memory Matters
In this course, we look at Holocaust memory cultures that have evolved in the US and Germany and at the processes that have shaped our collective imaginations of the Shoah across time, space and genres. Students will develop critical awareness of the power of stories and the importance of memory work in all of our lives. They will also reflect on their own roles in the transmission of memory and the formation of collective and national memory cultures. We will examine documentary and feature films, read survivors' testimonies and fictional accounts, comics, poetry, theoretical and historical reflections, and examine monuments, counter-monuments and commemorative sites.

Terms Taught

Fall 2023

Requirements

CMP, CW, LIT

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Course Description

Beginning German
Geared toward quick and early proficiency in comprehension and free expression. Grammatical structures are practiced through group activities and situational exercises (e.g., role-playing games and partner interviews). Active class participation by students is required and will be counted toward the final grade. Since this is an integrated approach, there will be laboratory assignments but no special drill sections. Classes meet five times a week. Students take GRMN 0102 as their winter term course. 6 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Beginning German Continued
This course is the intensive continuation of GRMN 0101 which will further the development of your language skills in an immersion-like environment, and will include bi-weekly cultural readings in English. Classes meet for two hours each morning, then lunch at the language tables, in addition to afternoon and evening activities (e.g. film screenings). Completion of this course is a prerequisite to enrollment in GRMN 0103. (GRMN 0101 or equivalent)

Terms Taught

Winter 2022, Winter 2024

Requirements

LNG, WTR

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Course Description

Beginning German Continued
This course is a continuation of GRMN 0101. Increased emphasis on communicative competence through short oral presentations and the use of authentic German language materials. Introduction to short prose writings and other documents relating to contemporary German culture. Five class meetings per week. (GRMN 0102, or equivalent) 5 hrs. lect.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2024

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Intermediate German
GRMN 0201/0202 is a culture-based intermediate language sequence that focuses students' attention on intercultural aspects of language acquisition, vocabulary expansion, reading and writing strategies, and a review of grammar. It moves from a focus on issues of individual identity and personal experiences to a discussion of Germany today (GRMN 0201), explores national identity in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and supplies an overview of cultural history, literary achievements, and philosophical traditions in the German-speaking world (GRMN 0103 or equivalent, or GRMN 0111) 5 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2022

Requirements

EUR, LNG

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Course Description

Literary Responses to the Holocaust (in English)
Can the Holocaust be described in words? Can images represent the horrors of Auschwitz? In this seminar we will explore the literary and artistic representations of the Shoah and its legacies, their mechanisms, tensions, and challenges. We will approach the issues of Holocaust representations by considering a significant array of texts that span genres, national literatures, time, narrative and poetic styles, and historical situations. Readings will include texts on witnessing, memory, post-memory, and trauma by authors such as Bernhard Schlink, Art Spiegelman, Hans J. Massaquoi, Primo Levi, Ruth Klüger, Nora Krug, Paul Celan, Sherman Alexie, and Hannah Arendt. 3hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Spring 2021, Spring 2024

Requirements

CMP, EUR, LIT

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Course Description

Advanced Writing Workshop
The goal of this course is to train students to present their thoughts, ideas, and arguments in correct, coherent, and effective writing. Students will practice writing several text forms that are required in higher education and, during study abroad. Students will also learn about format requirements for writing a longer term paper in German. Some class time will be used for creative, structured, or contemplative writing practice. Students will expand their active vocabulary and aim for a consistently high level of grammatical accuracy. Grammar topics will be covered within the context of writing, through targeted teaching of linguistic structures and peer-editing/peer-teaching sessions. (Formerly GRMN 0304) 3 hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020, Fall 2021

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Colonialism and Racism
Racism, the ideology that humans may be divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called “races,” justified colonial exploitation and was the essence of Nazism. In this course we will examine Germany’s short era of colonialism (1894-1918) and its long lasting legacies. Through our analysis of literary and non-literary texts, interviews, documentaries, museum exhibitions and many more, we will discuss the experiences of Black People and People of Color in Germany – during the colonial period, under the NS-regime, in post-war and post- reunification Germany. We will examine colonial traces in street names, monuments and museums, and critically reflect on racisms inherent in language and educational materials. (GRMN 0202 or placement exam) 3hrs. sem.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2023

Requirements

EUR, HIS, LNG

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Course Description

Exiles, Refugees and Migrants from/in Germany
In this course we will study experiences of exiles, refugees, and migrants and their escapes both from and to Germany. We will focus on two time periods: 1933 to 1945, when people fled persecution from Nazi Germany, and the “refugee crisis” in Germany between 2015 to 2018. Using literary texts, letters, autobiographies, films, current news coverage, and documentaries, we will place flight narratives in their historical contexts, follow escape routes across borders, study post-flight lives of refugees in their reception countries, and learn about international refugee and asylum politics. Taught in German 3 hrs. sem./screen

Terms Taught

Fall 2022

Requirements

CMP, EUR, LNG, SOC

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Course Description

Contemporary Germany & Sustainability (In German)
Already known as the country of poets and thinkers, Germany is becoming a land of ideas for sustainability and environmental innovation. In this course we will take a closer look at the origins of the German environmental movement and explore the three major components of sustainability–economy, society, and environment–in contemporary Germany. We will draw on political, literary, and scientific texts, films, works of art, and online resources while making frequent comparisons with global developments. Texts include Quaschning's Trash Sorters, Muesli Eaters, and Climate Protectors: We Germans and our Environment, and Wagenhofer’s We Feed the World. (GRMN 0202 or placement) 3 hrs lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Spring 2022

Requirements

EUR, LIT, LNG

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Course Description

Open Topics Research Seminar
In this seminar students will develop and pursue a research project on a topic of their choice. After reading and discussing research methodology and building research strategies, students will formally present a research proposal to their peers and the department’s professors. The seminar will culminate in each student completing a research paper, translation, or creative project with theoretical underpinnings. Class discussions, presentations, and research papers will be in German. (One course above GRMN300 or by waiver)

Terms Taught

Winter 2021

Requirements

LNG, WTR

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Course Description

Independent Study
(Approval only)

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2024, Winter 2025

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Course Description

Honors Project
(Approval only)

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Fall 2024

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Course Description

European Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Required)

Terms Taught

Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022, Winter 2023, Spring 2023, Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025

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Course Description

Global Security Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Only)

Terms Taught

Winter 2024, Spring 2024, Winter 2025, Spring 2025

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