Juergen Hahn Faculty Profile
Juergen Hahn
Lecturer (Spanish and German)
Department of Modern Languages & Literatures
- E-mail: juergen.hahn@csueastbay.edu
Juergen Hahn graduated with a B.A. in Spanish, French and German from the University of Michigan. He received a Ph.D. degree in Romance Languages and Literatures at Duke University. Among the many venues where he has taught are major universities such as Duke University, University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, and Stanford University. He has taught in all fields and periods of Spanish language, literature, and culture, from early to modern, including Latin American literature. He has also taught German.
Early on in his studies he developed a special research interest in the most important book in all of Hispanic literature, "Don Quijote," and his research has made a key impact on the understanding of the work. This has earned him an international reputation as a Cervantes scholar, and given his publications prominent standing in the scholarly world.
In his various travels and sojourns in Spain and Mexico he has developed a strong emotional bond with the people and their culture, and looks forward to resuming interrupted contacts.
When not teaching, he pursues his various hobbies: Restoring antique cars, handicrafts, fitness, Zen philosophy, learning new languages, and participating in internet discussions of philosophy, literature, and current events in different languages and countries.
His life philosophy is the classic Greek motto: "'Know Thyself’, because knowledge of self is the beginning of all knowledge". This is also the advice he tries to pass on to his students. His favorite teachingmethod is also Greek: The Socratic Method of continuous questioning to promote critical thinking. His most personal concern is to help keep the Liberal Arts truly “liberal,” that is, truly "free”, in the original meaning of the word.