This course aims at introducing students to a variety of scholarly contributions and concepts used for the analysis of American culture. It focuses on different media and forms of cultural representation and studies theoretical approaches to a variety of concerns. Addressed are theories on representation and signs, discourse and power, memory and time, race and whiteness, gender and queer discourses, class and popular culture. The students are encouraged to reflect critically on the ways these theories are engaged in the production of knowledge about symbolic and material practices. There will be a moodle site for this class: keyword “signs”. Reading: · Reading material will be uploaded on Moodle by April 1st. A good first encounter with the topic is the introduction to Aleida Assmann’s book Introduction to Cultural Studies (Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2012) — also on moodle. Requirements: The requirement for the class is presence, participation and/or a presentation. For the MAP you will have to answer a few essay questions pertaining to this class. The course registration is via Agnes. The number of participants is limited to 30. 25 BA Amerikanistik, 5 BA Englisch |
