2025-2026 Academic Catalog

Jun 27, 2025

2025-2026 Academic Catalog

IDND 220 - Vienna, 1890-1938: Capital of Tradition, Innovation, Promise, and Peril

From the latter nineteenth century through the 1930s, Vienna was a cauldron of crucial
developments. It was a space of dynamic achievements in music, modern art, architecture,
urban planning, psychoanalysis, and popular culture, as well as a vital cultural crossroad
for migrants and refugees, in particular Jews, from Eastern and Central Europe. Vienna
was also an important site for the evolution of political movements of the right and the
left, leading ultimately to the Nazi disaster starting in 1938.
This interdisciplinary seminar will explore the interactions of art, culture and the
politics that emerged in Vienna from the turn-of-the-century through 1938. We will bring
various critical lens to bear on these issues and also consider how these developments
continue to impact our contemporary world in a various, sometimes surprising ways

Guest speakers will visit our seminar (virtually) during the semester. As a culmination
of the semester, our guest speakers and additional scholars share and discuss their
research as part of a scholarly symposium on campus. The students in the seminar will
have the opportunity to participate in this conference and bring their ideas and
perspectives to the discussion.

Anticipated Terms Offered: Bi-annually