Student Work

The Senior Project

The Senior Project is the culmination of your academic work at Bard. The German program typically accepts various types of projects: Literary Analysis, Translation, Combined musical and literary analysis, and Creative Project. Before reading the timeline, get inspired by browsing through a list of past senior projects below.

Recent Senior Projects

From Holy German Art to Degenerate Art: Nazi Ideology and Opera, Jingyi Zhou (2020)
Der Ort des Gedichts / Eine Reise in die »Winterantwort«: Eine Lektüre der Poetik Ilse Aichingers, April Fionn Perin Wogenburg (2020)
How to Be an Artist: An Investigation in Dialogue with Rainer Maria Rilke and Virginia Woolf, Amber Nicole Junker (2020)
Sacrifice and Contradiction: Käthe Kollwitz's Spaces of Memory, Livy Marie Donahue (2019)
Nietzsche and Expressionism: The Neue Mensch in Kafka, Kaiser, and Strauss, Marion Stoll Adams (2019)

Past Senior Projects in German Studies

Select Senior Projects

Hansel and Gretel on the Page and Stage: Literary and Operatic Adaptations of Grimm’s Fairy-Tale (2018)
Author: Meilin Wei

Threads of Memory: Remembrance and Reflection in the Work of Ilse Aichinger (2018)
Author: Isobel Curtin

“Ewig ‘schön’”: Politics and Poetics in the Work and Correspondence of Sarah Kirsch and Helga Novak (2018)
Author: Sophia J. Logan

Revolution Through Disillusion: Heiner Müller’s Die Umsiedlerin and the Enactment of Socialism in the East German Countryside (2017)
Author: Luke Thomas Harrington

Echoes of the Written Word: On the Difficulties of Memory and Belonging in W.G. Sebald's "Die Ringe des Saturn" (2017)
Author: Kaitlynn Theresa Buchbaum

Goethe’s Faust and Nineteenth-Century Music: Liszt’s Faust Symphony (2016)
Author: Mengying Wei

On the Marionette: A Reflection of the Grace, Poetics and Mechanics of Movement in Heinrich Von Kleist's Writing (2016)
Author: Melany Louise Radkai-Dobson

Elek, Petra (2016)
Mauricio Kagel and His Multifaceted Lieder-oper, Aus Deutschland
Project Advisers: Stephanie Kufner, Peter Laki

Radkai-Dobson, Melany Louise (2016)
On the Marionette: A Reflection of the Grace, Poetics and Mechanics of Movement in Heinrich Von Kleist's Writing
Project Adviser: Thomas Wild

Ficsor, Eszter (2014)
The Hair Motif in Paul Celan’s Mohn und Gedächtnis (Poppy and Memory)
Project Adviser Franz R. Kempf

Gause, Catherine (2014)
“Grenzüberschreiterin”: Navigating Cultural Heritage and Political Authority in Terezia Mora’s Seltsame Materie
Project Adviser: Thomas Wild

Shea, Christopher (2014)
A Translation of Der Untergang der Titanic: Eine Komödie by Hans Magnus Enzensberger.
Project Adviser: Thomas Wild

Brinkerhoff, Louise (2013)
“Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated”: Albert Schweizer’s Jesus in German Literature.
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Lee, Frances (2013)
Italy, Writing and Music: A Translation, with Critical Introduction, of Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Italienisches Tagebuch.
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Soursourian, Kerk (2013)
Missverstehbar: Patterns of Understanding in Elias Canetti’s Die Stimmen von Marrakesch
Project Adviser: Thomas Wild

O'Brien, Lianna (2012)
Plattenbau: Between Condemnation and Fascination; Understanding the Turbulent Reception of Industrial Domestic Architecture in Germany since 1900
Project Adviser: Stephanie Kufner

Xu, Xinyi (2012)
“Mephistopheles Rules: Hector Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust,” a study of Berlioz’s Faust with Goethe’s Faust
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Shen, Yiwen (2010)
“Gustav Mahler’s Nirvana: A Study of Das Lied von der Erde,” a scrutiny of the compositional texts from original Chinese through French and German translations to Mahler’s ultimate version
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Minton, Imogen (2007)
“Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,” study of militarization and how it polarizes gendered and sexual behaviors, explored through music and theater
Project Advisers: Florian Becker, Stephanie Kufner

Extended Senior Project List

Johnson, Walter James (2015)
Three Essays on Social and Economic Repercussions of the Unification in Germany
Project Advisers: Olivier G. Giovannoni and Thomas Wild

Perez-Castells, Ariana Gabriela (2015)
The Transformation of Vier Letzte Lieder
Project Adviser: Tatjana Myoko von Prittwitz und Gaffron CCS ’99

Inkpen, Perceval Jack (2014)
‘At Once Everyone Seemed to Come Alive’: Hessian Mercenaries Gain Autonomy and Self Define during the American Revolution, 1776–1783
Project Advisers: Franz R. Kempf, Christian Crouch, and Gregory B. Moynahan

Jarrett, Melissa (2014)
Berlin Was a Woman: Fassbinder’s Appropriation and Reconstruction of Fontane’s Anti-Heroine Paradigm
Project Advisers: John Pruitt and Daniel Mendelsohn

Jones, Ethan Mindlin (2014)
Imagining the Slamily: Community in Berliner Slam Poetry.
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf and Andrew Eisenberg

Kantor, Adrienn (2014)
What Happens to a Poem When It Is Set to Music?
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Pastore, Katrina Michelle (2014)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Representations of Germany in In a Year with 13 Moons
Project Adviser: Thomas Wild

Peng, Wei (2014)
Hugo von Hofmannsthal & Richard Strauss: Elektra
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Von Eckstaedt, Alexander Gerald Vitzthum (2014)
“Eichendorff and Schumann: The Text and Music of Liederkreis, Op. 39,” an analysis and performance of the work
Project Advisers: Franz R. Kempf and Rufus Müller

Khleifi, Tyme (2012)
“Nura: A Lebanese Woman in Germany,” a translation with a critical introduction of Jusuf Naoum’s novel, Nura: Eine Libanesin in Deutschland
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Rakova, Renata (2012)
Self-Help Therapy: A Critical Introduction to Ruediger Dahlke’s Shadow Therapy
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Fischer, Anna (2011)
Between Nation and State: Examining the International Romani Union’s Claim to Nonterritorial National Recognition
Project Adviser: Florian Becker

Lasseron, Sarah (2011)
Avoiding the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline through Socialist Education: The Case of the GDR
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Liu, QiZhen (2011)
Schopenhauer as Music: Tristan und Isolde
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Murphey, Thomas (2011)
Elfriede Jelinek’s Babel: A Translation
Project Adviser: Florian Becker

Shiman, Mary (2011)
Fairy Tales from Malula: Translation and Analysis of Three Stories by Rafik Schami
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Slocombe, Thalia (2011)
The Wall: A Translation, with Critical Introduction, of Marlen Haushofer’s Novel Die Wand
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Allison, Leslie (2010)
Cultural Work and Working Culture: The Notion of Cultural History in the German Volksbildung Movement
Project Adviser: Florian Becker

Hedinger, Nicole (2010)
Breaking the Magic Spine: Women under the Editing Thumb of Wilhelm Grimm
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Iacobucci, Andrew (2010)
“The Center of Europe? National and European Identity in Germany”
Project Adviser: Elaine Thomas

Behr, Ori (2009)
“The Final Solution to Germany’s Forced Labor Question: Wiedergutmachungspolitik in the 21st Century,” critique of the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation and the Remembrance and Future Fund’s Berlin scholarship program
Project Adviser: Matthias Goeritz

Crichton, Willis (2009)
“The Fire-Bringer in Flux: The Relevance of Prometheus and Rebellion in Goethe, Kafka, Brecht, and Müller”
Project Adviser: Matthias Goeritz

Engle, Kaja (2009)
Pistols for Two, Champagne for One: Honor, the Duel, and the Ideology of Total War in Imperial Germany
Project Adviser: Gregory Moynahan

Fishkin, Daniel (2009)
Forgetting Is the Oar, Memory the Rudder: Methods of Aspiration in Goethe’s Faust
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

McKeen, Aya (2009)
“The Androgyne: A Cultural History of the Weimar Republic,” exploration of the republic’s quintessential cultural expression, with a concentration on cabaret and visual arts
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Ozince, Duygu (2009)
Insan Posasi: From Human to Pulp, a Translation from the Book ˙ Insan Posasi into English, ‘Human Pulp,’ with a Critical Introduction'
Project Adviser: Justus Rosenberg

Quinlan, Theodore (2009)
Women, Witches, and Magic: How the History of Witchcraft Shaped the Grimm Brothers’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen
Project Adviser: Stephanie Kufner

Tiroch, Alexandru (2009)
Kurzegschichten als Zeugen des Nachkriegszeitgeistes Eine Analyse der deutschen Schuld
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

Jordan, Ellen (2008)
Searching for Ideals: An Exploration of Three German Expressionist Dramas
Project Adviser: Florian Becker

Bush, Nathan (2007)
Stone Documents: Ideological Function and Contradiction in Nazi Architecture
Project Adviser: Stephanie Kufner

Carrow, Olivia (2006)
“One Cool Rock Chick Listening to Neu!” exploration of historical, sociocultural, aesthetic, and technological implications of West German psychedelic rock music, 1969–75
Project Adviser: Florian Becker

Green, Nathan (2006)
Thomas Hirschhorn, Andreas Gursky, Carsten Höller, and the Problem of the Historical Avant-Garde
Project Adviser: Florian Becker

Weeks, Katherine (2006)
The Scars of War: World War I and Early German Cinema
Project Adviser: Franz Kempf

The Timeline of the Senior Project

The first major challenge in doing the project is selecting a topic. This will typically take place during the first month of your work in your senior year, although you may know what you want to do when you begin. In selecting a topic, you should attempt to work in an area or problem in which you have already had some preparation in a previous course or upper-college seminar. This will make your task much easier, as you will have some context for your work. Also, you should select a problem in your adviser's general area of competence and knowledge. This will allow your adviser to provide you with more informed guidance. There are a few instances in which the student can change advisers after the first period of work, especially when there is a better fit between the project topic and the new adviser's area of expertise.

Your work on the senior project will be accompanied by weekly meetings with your project adviser. They will be the core component of the advising process.

In addition, a collaborative workshop meeting in December will offer you a chance to share your work with, and get feedback from fellow students as well as from faculty of various programs. For the Midway Workshop, you will submit a strong ca. 15 pages section of your project to your advisor as well as to fellow presenters who will prepare thoughtful and productive peer reviews. This draft should introduce the topic of your project, its guiding question(s), and your main sources and materials. You're asked to share your excitement about your project with the readers, and offer your findings, insights, and prospective steps of your analysis for discussion. Following this workshop, you will debrief with your adviser about the feedback you received; you will also prepare a specific work plan for the winter intercession and the spring semester.

All drafts of chapters should be submitted to the advisor two weeks prior to the actual project due date, so that there is adequate time for feedback and revision.

The final project must be submitted to the members of the board on or before the general project due date, which is set by college-wide policy and is generally three weeks before the end of the semester. By college rule, late projects are subject to a mandatory and substantial grade penalty. On the project due date, you must also submit three library copies as well. For general information on senior projects at Bard, see the most recent version of the Bard College Student Handbook. You should receive A Brief Guide to the Preparation and Presentation of the Senior Project from the Dean’s office during your second semester of work on your project. General Guidelines for the Format of Senior Projects are posted on the library's website for students and the Student section of the Office of the Dean of the College.

Timeline	Guideline
September	Select a topic in coordination with advisor Present topic and guiding questions to fellow senior project students
End of September	Submit a brief writing report of your research topic
Early December: Midway Workshop	Present a strong first chapter draft
Last three weeks of the fall semester	De-briefing of midway workshop with advisor Develop work plan for second semester
January break	Make headway on further reading, writing, or researching
Two weeks prior to project due date	Submit all drafts to your advisor
Project due date (end of April)	Submit project to board and three copies to library

Hannah Arendt

Fellowships at the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities

Hannah Arendt (14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a German-born Jewish American political theorist. She escaped Europe during the Holocaust, becoming an American citizen. Her works deal with the nature of power and the subjects of politics, direct democracy, authority, and totalitarianism.

The Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College (HAC) cares for and makes available the Hannah Arendt Library, which houses nearly 5,000 books from Arendt’s personal library, many with marginalia and notes. The Center oversees a variety of programs—the Courage to Be, Campus Plurality Forum, and the Virtual Reading Group, among others—that combine courses, symposia, blogs, and oral histories to bring Arendt’s fearless style of thinking to a broad audience.

Bard students have the opportunity to work with the Center as fellows, serving in the Courage to Be Program, the Campus Plurality Project, and as media and communications interns. Students also contribute to the Center's annual conferences.

Student Fellowships at HAC