2401-1 Lecture
Choose one out of two Lectures (2401-1a or 2401-1b):
2401-1a Constructing North American History II: From the Civil War to 2001
Monday, 5 - 7 pm, HS 4
Prof. Dr. Olaf Stieglitz
The lecture explores how the unfolding of American history after the Civil War shaped American society and thus the country’s political culture, its institutions, and the different social groups living together in the United States. Topics to be covered include Reconstruction politics in the South, the rise of corporate America, the changing international role of American politics and culture, mass immigration and its impact, reform and civil rights movements, the globalization of American culture, and many more. The course thus integrates global, transatlantic, and international developments to better understand the nature of the American experience and its impact on international affairs.
To get full credit for this class, students must pass a final written exam (in-class or at home test) in form of an essay; the exam usually takes place in the final class meeting.
2401-1b Lecture ” Ethnicity and Diversity in US Culture”
Monday, 11 am - 1 pm, HS 6
Prof. Dr. Gabriele Pisarz-Ramírez
The lectures will discuss key concepts of and developments in race, ethnicity and minority studies as well as explore the cultures and histories of ethnic groups in the U.S., focusing especially on the literatures and cultures of U.S. Latinos/as, African Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans.
2401-2 Seminar: Teaching America – American Literature, Media, and Culture
Choose one out of six seminars (2401-2a-f):
2401-2a/b: American Bodies: Negotiating Power and Identity in US Culture
Tuesday, 9 - 11 am, NSG 321
Dr. Eleonora Ravizza
or
Tuesday, 11 am - 1 pm, NSG 321
Dr. Eleonora Ravizza
Bodies represent a fundamental site where power is negotiated. Looking at how bodies are controlled, regulated, narrated, historicized, weaponized, institutionalized, and theorized can offer critical insights into American culture. By exploring, for example, how differently looking bodies can be constructed as monstrous, how male bodies can be militarized for the benefit of a war narrative, or how non-white bodies can be subjugated or exoticized in a colonial context, we can try to understand the cultural politics expressed in diverse narratives around bodies.
In this seminar, we will examine different conceptualizations of bodies and we will look at how bodies are represented in American (popular) culture through different lenses, such as gender, queerness, race, class, and disability.
The seminar will enable students to deepen their understanding of American film, television, literature, and other texts in US culture as well as to engage with literary and cultural theory in order to analyze a primary text of their choice. The exam for this module is a portfolio exam that will consist of different written components which will showcase what students have learned throughout the semester.
Please note: The seminars in this module are offered alongside five additional workshops. While it is possible to take the seminar (and pass the module) without these workshops, attending them is strongly recommended. The workshops cover key skills that help with the portfolio. We offer the workshops in four alternative time slots.
2401-2 c/d: Digital Dystopias: Surveillance, Simulation, and Identity in US Culture across Media
Tuesday, 11 am - 1 pm, NSG 329
Dr. habil. Sebastian Herrmann
or
Tuesday, 1 - 3 pm, NSG 329
Dr. habil. Sebastian Herrmann
American culture is ripe with texts that envision the dangers of the (digital) technology. At times, these visions of danger stem from how artificial intelligence might surpass that of humans, at times from how data can be used to surveil the individual, and at times from from how the individual might be duped by simulated environments. In all these cases, the digital constitutes a powerful metaphor for these texts to think about contemporary, (post)modern society and its relation to the individual, and about what it means to be a person in the first place. In exploring these texts we will look at how they negotiate race, class, and gender, and at the model of personhood they rely on. Doing so will allow us to think about the more fundamental politics and the cultural work of their dystopian outlook.
Please note: The seminars in this module are offered alongside five additional workshops. While it is possible to take the seminar (and pass the module) without these workshops, attending them is strongly recommended. The workshops cover key skills that help with the portfolio. We offer the workshops in three alternative time slots.
2401-2 e/f: Nature in America: Narratives of Space and Identity in US Culture
Thursday, 9 - 11 am, NSG 315
Dr. Eleonora Ravizza
or
Thursday, 11 am - 1 pm, NSG 315
Dr. Eleonora Ravizza
Representations of nature and the environment loom large in the American imagination, from the Puritan fear of the wilderness to the continuous historical shifting of the frontier westward, from disputes over land and negotiations of space to dichotomies between a ‘rural’ and an ‘urban’ America. These concerns have manifested themselves in various genres and modes of American fiction, such as in binary constructions of nature and technology in dystopian and science fiction as well as in narratives of the unconquered wilderness in the Western genre. Scrutinizing these different narratives of nature, space, and the environment allows us to examine questions of difference, issues of belonging and identity, negotiations of power, and to overall understand the cultural work these texts do.
In this seminar, we will examine narratives, representations, and imaginations of nature and space in American (popular) culture through different conceptual lenses, such as gender, race, sexuality, class, disability, and the body.
The seminar will enable students to deepen their understanding of American film, television, literature, and other texts in US culture as well as to engage with literary and cultural theory in order to analyze a primary text of their choice. The exam for this module is a portfolio exam that will consist of different written components which will showcase what students have learned throughout the semester.
Please note: The seminars in this module are offered alongside five additional workshops. While it is possible to take the seminar (and pass the module) without these workshops, attending them is strongly recommended. The workshops cover key skills that help with the portfolio. We offer the workshops in four alternative time slots.
Workshops:
As an addition to the seminar, workshops in three different slots will be offered: Tuesday 1-3 pm, Tuesday 3-5 pm, as well as Thursday 1-3 pm. The workshops help with developing important skills needed to complete the portfolio exam. The topics covered will include: how to create a research bibliography, how to discuss theory, and how to practice literary and film analysis. To participate, please block time accordingly. Signup procedures will be explained in the first seminar session.
Overall module responsibility: Prof. Dr. Gabriele Pisarz-Ramírez, Prof. Dr. Olaf Stieglitz
Module organization & coordination: Prof. Dr. Gabriele Pisarz-Ramírez, Prof. Dr. Olaf Stieglitz
