Winter term 2015
Below you will find all classes taught by staff members associated with the English, Postcolonial and Media Studies in winter term 2014/15.
Prof. Dr. Mark Stein
AOR Dr. habil. Markus Schmitz
Caroline Kögler
Jeyapriya Srieaswaranathan
Felipe Espinoza Garrido
Ismahan Wayah
Prof. Dr. Mark Stein
Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies I
095340 | Thu 14-16 | H 1 | 2 SWS
Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies is a two-part course running over two semesters.
Part I (winter semester) is a lecture course which addresses such questions as: What exactly do we mean when we speak of “literature” and “culture”? For instance, does all literature have to be written, or can it also include oral storytelling, performance poetry, and theatre productions? Does literature proper only include ‘serious’ and complex works of art to be enjoyed by an educated minority, or does it also include popular bestsellers written for a mass market and achieving mainly entertainment? Is the distinction between ‘high culture’ and ‘low culture’ useful? What are the purposes and problems of such distinctions? What is the role of literature and other cultural products in society? How have these concepts changed over time? Are they the same everywhere in the world? And how does representation in print literature differ from representation in other media, such as photography, film, or the internet? How do we approach literature and culture as critics, how do we study them academically? How have literary and cultural studies developed over time? Which methods, theories, and approaches are currently important in this field?
We will also discuss the problems of canon formation, uses of literary history, the ways in which cultural representations (e.g. in literature, visual art, or the media) shape our perception of ‘reality’, and how culture reflects, cements, or subverts existing power structures in society. Approaches which explore these issues include new historicism, Marxism (concerning class), postcolonialism (concerning race and multiculturalism), feminism (concerning gender), and ecocriticism (concerning the relationship between human beings and the natural environment).
Part II (summer semester) will focus on the ways in which these broader theoretical, methodological, and historical considerations can be usefully applied to literature and other media. This requires analytical tools and methods such as genre theory and narratology. This will be illustrated by examples from a variety of primary texts.
Master-level seminar "Nation, Nationalism, Transnationalism"
096532 | Wedn 10-12 | ES 333 | Fri 10-12 | ES 130 | 4 SWS
This course explores a wide variety of texts, issues and concepts which are central to the study of nationhood, nationalism and transnationalism. This is done from an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing especially on the fields of history, the social sciences, as well as literary and cultural theory. Topics include: pre-modern political and cultural (as well as national?) constructs of community; modernity and the nation state; the nation as ‘imagined community’; nation(alism) and colonialism/anti-colonialism/postcolonialism; nation and language; the role of minorities; regionalism; stateless nations; heterogeneity in terms of class and gender; as well as recent transnational developments in the fields of supra-national cooperation (for instance on EU or UN level), economic and cultural globalisation, migration and diasporas. We will explore these general topics by focusing on a number of national/regional case studies from different parts of the world, including the British Isles, America and Africa.
While the focus is on historical, political and theoretical issues, we will also do some case studies of short literary texts and other cultural products (e.g. songs or pictures) in order to see how these wider social phenomena are negotiated in cultural representations.
Betreungsseminar
096810 | Fri 12.30-14 | AE 11 | 2 SWS
Diese Veranstaltung ist auf die Bedürfnisse von Studierenden zugeschnitten, die sich bei mir zum Examen anmelden möchten oder angemeldet haben, oder die bei mir eine Modulabschlussprüfung absolvieren. Die Veranstaltung befasst sich - in getrennten Sitzungen - mit allen Prüfungstypen; es geht es um Modulabschlussprüfungen (mündlich, schriftlich), Klausuren, mündliche Abschlussprüfungen (Staatsexamen/Magister), sowie um die Planung und Begleitung von schriftlichen Hausarbeiten bzw. B.A.- und M.A.-Arbeiten. Spezifische Probleme und Strategien der Prüfungsvorbereitung werden besprochen; Prüfungssimulationen können durchgeführt werden.
TeilnehmerInnen besuchen ausgewählte, für sie relevante, Sitzungen. Für Studierende, deren BA-, MA-, MAed-Arbeit durch mich betreut werden, findet 14-tägig ein Examenskolloquium (Fr., 12-14h) statt. Hier werden Projekte vorgestellt und diskutiert. Details können dem Syllabus entnommen werden (s. Aushang).
Eine persönliche Anmeldung ist nicht erforderlich, sie erfolgt in der ersten Sitzung, aber die elektronische Anmeldung in HISLSF ist erforderlich, wenn ihr Studiengang ein Betreuungsseminar erfordert.
Kolloquium "Postcolonial, Transnational and Transcultural Studies"
096752 | Oberseminar | Wedn 14-16 | fortnightly
This is a research colloquium on Postcolonial, Transnational, and Transcultural Studies (PTTS) mainly for PhD-students and postdocs. Each semester we discuss a range of topical essays as well as work in progress of participants. If you are interested in the colloquium, get in touch via email.
AOR Dr. habil. Markus Schmitz
(The End of) Innocence and (Reluctant) Fundamentalism: Cultural Represenation after 9/11
096312 | Seminar | Thu 16-18 | ES 3 | 2 SWS
The September 11, 2001 attacks and its aftermath had (and still have) an immense impact on international politics and global cultural productions. Since terrorists flew airplanes into New York City's iconic towers writers, critics, and artist from within and from outside the US were considering a change of occupation. (Arab) American novelists in particular felt compelled to grasp directly the traumatic events, to reconsider these event's pretext and confront the future implications of that day, thus forming a new sub-genre of post-9/11 literature. In the meantime even musicians, visual artists as well as Hollywood and TV producers seem alert to this discourse.
Drawing on selected works such diverse as the Palestinian American spoken word artist Suheir Hammad’s "First Writing Since" (2001), Don DeLillo’s novel Falling Man (2007), the novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) by the Pakistani transmigrant Mohsin Hamid, the Arab Canadian hip-hop artist The Narcicyst’s music video "P.H.A.T.W.A." (2009), or the television series Homeland (2011-13) this course covers a wide range of historical contexts, scholarly positions, literary topics, and audio-visual representations.
Issues to be addressed are the narcissistic domestication of the post-9/11 crisis in early mainstream American responses, the self-questioning of innocence and self-sufficiency as well as the effects of the so-called war on terror at home (including racial profiling and islamophobic scapegoating) and abroad (including the American led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq) and the transformation of silent terror suspects into (sometimes reluctantly) angry subjects. Going beyond the exclusive focus on works of literature and setting particular emphasis on the existential incoherence of both assimilationist ideologies and essentialist counter-identifications the course introduces into key concepts and critical interpretive tools for studying post-9/11 cultural articulations from a decisively transnational perspective.
Students are expected to give an oral presentation in class and write a research paper.
Introductory readings will be announced before the beginning of the semester.
MA NTS Module Culture Contact, Conflict
Postgraduate Class MA NTS
096570 | Wedn 16-18 | ES 226 | 2 SWS
This is the first of a two-semester postgraduate class (Research Module I) for students of National & Transnational Studies. It is designed to assist students in defining individual fields of interest, topics, and approaches that are appropriate for independent study and that may lead to (or are relevant for) their final Master theses. The class is organized as a combination of presentations and in-class discussions and individual supervision outside the classroom. Focusing on the participants’ needs for their own projects within the MA curriculum it provides a collaborative forum for the critical reflection of provisional research conceptions.
Students are expected to give an oral presentation on a subject of their choice and contribute regularly to discussions in class.
First class meeting: 22.10.2014
MA NTS: Research Module 1
Caroline Kögler
| Seminar | Wedn 14-16 | room: tba | 2 SWS
Seminar: The Queer Postmodern: From Foucault to Conchita Wurst
095780 | Mon 14-16 | ES 3 | 2 SWS
[3rd & 4th semester]
Postmodern theory has been a crucial influence for queer theory. Both have fundamentally changed how we think identity, sexuality, gender, and the body. But what exactly is postmodern about queer theory and literature? What, in turn, is queer about postmodernism? How can ‘queer’ be understood in a global context, and how can the relationship between consumer culture and queer lifestyles be understood? In this seminar, we tackle these questions by engaging with a variety of literary works, theoretical texts, and popular culture. To attend, please read the following novels before the start of term. There will be a quiz on the novels in the first session to make sure you have done your reading.
Please read:
Sarah Walter’s Tipping the Velvet (Virago, 2012 edition)
Jeanette Winterson’s Stone Gods (Penguin, 2008)
Raj Rao’s Hostel Room 131 (Penguin, 2012)
Übung: Communicating Texts and Theories - Focus on Postmodernity
095718 | Mon 16-18 | ES 2 | 2 SWS
[3rd & 4th semester]
In dieser Übung werden die im Grundlagenmodul erworbenen Grundkenntnisse und Fähigkeiten in Spezialisierungsgebieten differenziert und gefestigt. Die detaillierten methodischen Kenntnisse werden zur Anwendung gebracht, indem sie auf historisch oder systematisch definierte Themen aus den Bereichen British, American und/oder Postcolonial Studies bezogen werden. Somit sollen die Studierenden lernen, eigene Forschungsfragen über britische, amerikanische und postkoloniale Literatur- und Kulturphänomene zu formulieren.
To attend, please read the following novels before the start of term:
Graham Swift’s Waterland (Picador, 2010 edition)
J.M. Coetzee’s Foe (Penguin, 2012 edition)
There will be a quiz in the first session to make sure you have done your reading.
Jeyapriya Srieaswaranathan
Master-level seminar "Nation, Nationalism, Transnationalism"
096532 | Wedn 10-12 | ES 226 | Fri 10-12 | room: ES 130 | 4 SWS
This course explores a wide variety of texts, issues and concepts which are central to the study of nationhood, nationalism and transnationalism. This is done from an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing especially on the fields of history, the social sciences, as well as literary and cultural theory. Topics include: pre-modern political and cultural (as well as national?) constructs of community; modernity and the nation state; the nation as ‘imagined community’; nation(alism) and colonialism/anti-colonialism/postcolonialism; nation and language; the role of minorities; regionalism; stateless nations; heterogeneity in terms of class and gender; as well as recent transnational developments in the fields of supra-national cooperation (for instance on EU or UN level), economic and cultural globalisation, migration and diasporas. We will explore these general topics by focusing on a number of national/regional case studies from different parts of the world, including the British Isles, America and Africa.
While the focus is on historical, political and theoretical issues, we will also do some case studies of short literary texts and other cultural products (e.g. songs or pictures) in order to see how these wider social phenomena are negotiated in cultural representations.
"Fight the Power!": Resistance, race and space in popular culture
095670 | Fri 12-14 | ES | 2 SWS
Communicating Texts and Theories: Group III + VIII
095699 | Thu 10-12 | F 041 | 2 SWS
095741 | Thu 14-16 | ES 226 | 2 SWS
Felipe Espinoza Garrido
Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies I
095340 | Thu 14-16 | H1 | 2 SWS
Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies is a two-part course running over two semesters.
Part I (winter semester) is a lecture course which addresses such questions as: What exactly do we mean when we speak of “literature” and “culture”? For instance, does all literature have to be written, or can it also include oral storytelling, performance poetry, and theatre productions? Does literature proper only include ‘serious’ and complex works of art to be enjoyed by an educated minority, or does it also include popular bestsellers written for a mass market and achieving mainly entertainment? Is the distinction between ‘high culture’ and ‘low culture’ useful? What are the purposes and problems of such distinctions? What is the role of literature and other cultural products in society? How have these concepts changed over time? Are they the same everywhere in the world? And how does representation in print literature differ from representation in other media, such as photography, film, or the internet? How do we approach literature and culture as critics, how do we study them academically? How have literary and cultural studies developed over time? Which methods, theories, and approaches are currently important in this field?
We will also discuss the problems of canon formation, uses of literary history, the ways in which cultural representations (e.g. in literature, visual art, or the media) shape our perception of ‘reality’, and how culture reflects, cements, or subverts existing power structures in society. Approaches which explore these issues include new historicism, Marxism (concerning class), postcolonialism (concerning race and multiculturalism), feminism (concerning gender), and ecocriticism (concerning the relationship between human beings and the natural environment).
Part II (summer semester) will focus on the ways in which these broader theoretical, methodological, and historical considerations can be usefully applied to literature and other media. This requires analytical tools and methods such as genre theory and narratology. This will be illustrated by examples from a variety of primary texts.
What is Realism? Theory, Literature, Visual Culture
095794 | Mon 16-18 | ES 3 | 2 SWS
Representing reality is complicated. First of all, because there's debate about what reality really is, second, because any image of this reality, e.g. in literature or film, can never be perfectly accurate. But there are conventions of how to link 'literature' and 'reality', and one of these concepts is realism.
We will start with theoretical approaches to mimesis and representation before we explore how realism in literature has evolved since the 19th century. In the second half of the semester we will trace how concepts of realism have also influenced visual culture, from photography to the cinema. The focus of this class will be on the classic 'Hollywood Style', cinema's dominant way of narrating.
There will be no preliminary meeting and there is no assigned reading. Class starts on 13 October 2014 and further information will be sent via email to all participants.
Ismahan Wayah
Academic Skills I: Group VIII
095426 | Mon 16-18 | ES 131 | 2 SWS
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