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Veranstaltungen
im Wintersemester 2015/16
Lehrangebot im
Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Martin-Luther-Universität
Halle-Wittenberg
Aufbaumodul
Kulturwissenschaft 1 / I (Angloamerikanische Geschichte)
Basic Documents in American History and
Culture I
Di, 16:00 - 18:00, Hörsaal I
(ehem. HS 1.04 ) [AKStr.35] |
In
its ambition to cover the period from America's beginnings to the
end of the Civil War, the first installment of this class will revisit
central issues such as early settlement, the creation of the republic
and early attempts at self-definition. Taking various types of documents
(including presidential speeches, letters, essays) as a point of
departure, the individual sessions will attempt to reconstruct historical
knowledge about the topics under consideration. This activity will
provide opportunities to engage in discussions about the status
of historical facts and the meaning they have been given in the
course of American history, thus raising fundamental questions about
American self-representation and myth-making.
Students must
be prepared to participate actively in class and to commit themselves
to weekly reading and writing assignments. Reading material will
be made available in the course of the semester.
Please
use Stud.IP
to register for this class.
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Vertiefungsmodul
Kulturwissenschaft I; Angloamerikanische Kultur 1 und 4
Immigration and Ethnicity in the USA
D1, 12:00 - 14:00, Seminarraum
5 (Raum E.61) [EA 26-27] |
Textbook
accounts often describe the United States as a country of immigrants
and rarely fail to refer to the country as a "melting pot."
Recent discussions on "illegal immigration" and, perhaps
most prominently, Donald Trump's remarks about "immigration
reform" which challenge long-standing principles such as "birthright
citizenship," show that there is no simple way to speak of
the USA as a "nation of immigrants." — This class
provides participants with opportunities to explore the various
phases of American immigration history and to investigate the social
and political implications of one of the central issues in American
culture. Discussions of different concepts of ethnicity will provide
a theoretical framework for an advanced understanding of American
immigration as a complex interplay of historical events, psychological
phenomena, and political decision-making.
Students must be prepared to participate actively in class and
to commit themselves to weekly reading and writing assignments.
Reading material will be made available in the course of the semester.
Please
use Stud.IP
to register for this class.
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Vertiefungsmodul
Kulturwissenschaft I; Angloamerikanische Kultur 1 und 5
Muckrakers: The Legacy of Independent Journalism
in America
Do, 10:00 - 12:00, Seminarraum 9 (Raum 2.36)
[EA 26-27] |
To counteract
the prevailing notion that American journalism is exclusively in
the hands of transnational corporate giants (such as Time-Warner
or Rupert Murdoch's media empire), this class will offer a look
beyond the mainstream press and help students develop an insight
into a long-standing tradition of American journalism that is characterized
by its critical inquiry into all areas of American politics and
culture. By working with specific examples of independent journalism
and the historical and analytical studies which place them into
their appropriate context, students will acquire an understanding
of how newspapers and periodicals may function as a "fourth
estate" and as "democracy's watchdog," monitoring
the activities of public figures, uncovering abuses of state authority,
defending the democratic rights of citizens, and providing relevant
information about a broad variety of relevant but underreported
issues.
Students must be prepared to participate actively in class and
to commit themselves to weekly reading and writing assignments.
Reading material will be made available in the course of the semester.
Please
use Stud.IP
to register for this class.
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Forschungskolloquium
Angloamerikanische Kulturwissenschaft / Literaturwissenschaft
Living in Extremes: Alaska and the
South Seas in Jack London's Short Fiction
Do, 14:00 - 16:00, |
It
is not generally known that Jack London was one of the most popular
and highest paid writers of his time, and it took until the end
of the 20th century until literary critics began to pay more attention
to this author whose range of themes and writing style had been
underestimated for a long time. Thanks to the pioneering work of
Earle Labor, Jeanne Campbell Reesman and others, students of American
literature and culture are now in a position to appreciate Jack
London's work for its psychological insights, its philosophical
interests, and its effective literary style. — With its focus
on London's efforts as a writer of short fiction this class will
offer students opportunities to engage intensively with a variety
of themes that range from a celebration of life to instances of
madness and cruelty. These close readings will also provide ample
material for discussions of London's literary credo and invite students
to reflect further on the relevance of literature in American culture.
Students must be prepared to participate actively in class and
to commit themselves to weekly reading and writing assignments.
Reading material will be made available in the course of the semester.
Please
use Stud.IP
to register for this class.
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