Archiv der Online-Vorlesungsverzeichnisse

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Master

32 105
GV -
Einführung in den Puritanismus (MA Modul A, Grundlagenveranstaltung) ; Mo 16.00-18.00 - ZI JFKI Lansstr. 7-9, 203 (Seminarraum) (15.10.) Susanne Pettelkau
Puritanische Glaubensgrundsätze, die unter anderem in der Prädestinationslehre und in der Covenant-Theologie deutlich werden, üben bis in die heutige Zeit einen großen Einfluß auf das kulturelle Selbstverständnis der amerikanischen Gesellschaft sowie ihre Definition von Recht und Staat aus.

In diesem Zusammenhang ist auch John Winthrops berühmte programmatische Schrift „A Model of Christian Charity“ zu sehen, in welcher er das von ihm geleitete Siedlungsvorhaben, die Massachusetts Bay Colony, als „City upon a hill“ bezeichnet und die Vorbildfunktion dieses außergewöhnlichen Siedlungsexperiments für die gesamte Menschheit betont.

Ziel dieses Seminars ist es, in die Lebenswelt der Puritaner einzuführen. Anhand der Lektüre zeitgenössischer Schriftsteller des 17. und frühen 18. Jahrhunderts (William Bradford, John Winthrop, Cotton Mather, Samuel Willard, Edward Taylor, Jonathan Edwards) sollen in diesem Seminar der geschichtliche Hintergrund der Puritaner, ihre Glaubensgrundsätze und deren Einfluß auf das alltägliche Leben, die Gesetzgebung und die Regierungsform untersucht werden.

Ein besonderes Augenmerk soll in diesem Zusammenhang auf die Rolle der Frau in der puritanischen Gesellschaft (Anne Hutchinson, Anne Bradstreet, Mary Rowlandson, A Puritan Maiden's Diary) gelegt werden.

Das Seminar wird mit einem Ausblick auf puritanische Einflüsse in der modernen amerikanischen Gesellschaft abschließen.

Ein seminarbegleitender Reader wird zu Semesterbeginn erhältlich sein.

Voraussetzung für den Scheinerwerb: regelmäßige und aktive Teilnahme, Kurzreferat, Hausarbeit
 
32 104
HS -
Twisted Tales: Moderne Kunst und amerikanische Kultur (MA Modul A, Hauptseminar) ; Do 14.00-16.00 - ZI JFKI Lansstr. 7-9, 203 (Seminarraum) (18.10.) Laura Bieger
Until well into the 20th century, modern art was thought to be a strictly European thing: a development centered in Paris and of which any place in the U.S. would be the deepest and remotest province. In the 1950s this changed significantly when New York ‘stole the idea of modern art’ (Serge Gibaut) and became the new epicenter of its world – a shift which had profound effects on the relation of modern art and American culture.

This course deals with the ‘twisted tales’ that evolve around this development. We want to look at early American modernists such as Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keefe, John Marin, Joseph Stella, Marsden Hartley who struggled to bridge the gap between Europe and the U.S. and innovate the production of American art in the first decades of the 20th century. We want to discuss the impact of the famous Armory Show of 1913 and the heightened reception of European key figures such as Cézanne, Van Gough, Picasso, Duchamp in the U.S. brought about by this event. We want to address the role of New York City as quintessential site of modern life in the U.S. at this time and hub of the changing relation of modern art and American culture, and we want to specifically look at its multicultural heritage as well as its ties to modern art’s larger fascination with primitivist ideas that surface here. We want to study the role of New York’s art institutions (museums, galleries), protégées and collectors and ask how they shaped the course of modern art in the first half of the 20th century. We want to ask how this environment brought about a new type of artist and what kinds of (male/females) images these artists created for themselves. And we want to discuss how this environment eventually produced an artistic movement called ‘Abstract Expressionism’ with Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning and Barnett Newman among its most famous protagonists which is known to have brought about the turning point – the point former province became the center of the modern art world. Following the lines of these developments we also want to look at the conceptional, stylistic and aesthetic implications that go along with them and discuss their lasting effects on the relation of art production and criticism. And finally, we want to ask where these complex and interrelated (and thus ‘twisted’) tales left the relation of modern art and American culture after the high time of modernism, and to what extend they are still shaping our understanding of (modern) art today.

To get credit in this course you will have to prepare the reading assignments, attend and participate on a regular basis, participate in an oral presentation/expert group and write a final paper (10 pages) which will be due at the very end of the semester break. A course pack with all the obligatory reading assignments will be available at the Copyshop in Königin-Louise-Str. at the beginning of the semester. A Handapparat with further reading and visual material will be maintained in the library of the Kennedy- Institute (Lesesaal 2). We will try to establish English as the ‘official course language’ to offer you additional speaking practice; however, there will always be the option to switch to German in individual cases or even in general if we feel that the discussion suffers.
 
Modul B, Grundlagenveranstaltung
(32 143)
HS -
Hollywood on Hollywood ((Master Nordamerikastudien: Modul B, Grundlagenveranstaltung)) (2 SWS) (7 cr); Mo 10.00-12.00 - ZI JFKI Lansstr. 7-9, 340 (Hörsaal) (15.10.) Alan Taylor
Aims &Objectives:
- celebrate student’s skills in critical thinking, powers of analysis and individual initiative
- introduce students new &familiar to film studies to U.S cinema history &working practices
- explore aspects of genre, narrative &representation in mainstream film
- pinpoint and explore key moments in film theory
- critically engage with present U.S / international digital filmmaking production, exhibition and distribution networks

Course Content
The spine of the course will focus on key aspects of mainstream American cinema - the most influential and pervasive form of global mass media in the 20th Century. The course will balance introductory sessions on traditional industry, studio working practices and storytelling paradigms with core features of post-1958 film theory.

Applied practical criticism will focus on two renowned films on Hollywood itself - Vincent Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful (1954) and Robert Altman’s The Player (1992) -, which we will share as seminar texts. Documentary excerpts on film history, technology, genre and certain directors (Fuller, Hopper) will support the programme.

Close reference to contemporary global developments in digital filmmaking as emerging from the United States will inform our enquiries. Amongst other things, therefore, we will consider the viability &relevance of traditional film practice, industry and criticism in the 21st century.

Requirements
- Attendance credits will be granted to 80% PLUS attendance, minimum 11 sessions;
- A full credit will be gained via 80% attendance plus a Research Paper (20 pages) as inspired by Film Studies / American Studies global conference lists for 2007/2008 and as then chosen by the student.


For full details (required reading, materials, programme schedule,
Course Leader profile, and relevant Internet links) see the J.F.K-I page
at KINOWORDS, only:

http://kinowords.edublogs.org
 
32 111
HS -
True Lies: Lüge und Wahrheit im am. Roman des 20. Jahrhunderts (MA Modul B, Hauptseminar) ; Mi 12.00-14.00 - ZI JFKI Lansstr. 7-9, 319 (Seminarraum) (17.10.) Laura Bieger,
Annika Reich
Dandy, Betrüger, Hochstapler, Verbrecher, Verführer – die Lüge zeigt sich im modernen Roman in all diesen schillernden Gestalten. Und immer spielen die Texte mit der Grenze zwischen Wahrem und Unwahrem, Aufrichtigkeit und Betrug, Wahrhaftigkeit und Täuschung und bringen diese Grenze dabei ins Schwimmen. Beim Leser hinterlässt dieses Spiel nicht selten ein Gefühl der Unentscheidbarkeit und der spannungsgeladenen Irritation. Wir wollen diesem Thema in einem Dialog aus Roman- und Theorielektüre nachgehen und uns dabei mit folgenden Fragen beschäftigen: In welchem Verhältnis stehen Lüge und Moral in den ausgewählten Texten? Warum und wie wird in ihnen gelogen und welche Konflikte entstehen auf diese Weise? Welche Wahrheitskonstruktion produziert welche Art der Lüge und wie verändert sich dieses Verständnis je nach Kontext? Kann man den Lügnern, die uns in diesen Texten begegnen, glauben? Welche Erzählperspektiven finden die Romane für ihre Auseinandersetzung mit dem Spiel von Wahrheit und Lüge? Gibt es eine besondere Affinität zwischen der Figur des Lügners und der Literaturform des Romans, oder anders gefragt: warum spielt Fiktion so gern in der Form des Romans mit den wahren Lügen, die uns in diesem Kurs beschäftigen werden? Und: warum lassen wir uns als Leser immer wieder zur Lektüre der Lügen verführen?

Die Romane, die wir in diesem Kurs gemeinsam besprechen wollen, sind F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, Nella Larsens Passing, Robert Penn Warrens All the Kings Men, Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita, Margaret Atwoods Alias Grace und Siri Hustveds What I Loved; unsere theoretischen Bezugspunkte werden unter anderem Freud, Nietzsche und Foucault sein. Alle Romane sind zur Anschaffung empfohlen. Ein schlanker Reader mit den Theorietexten wird zu Beginn des Semesters in dem Copyshop in der Königin-Luise-Str. erhältlich sein. Um einen Leistungsnachweis zu bekommen, müssen Sie: regelmäßig und vorbereitet an den Seminarsitzungen teilnehmen, sich im Laufe des Semesters an einer Arbeitsgruppe beteiligen und eine 20-seitige Hausarbeit anfertigen.
 
32 112
GV -
Cosmopolitanism in American Culture (MA Modul C, Grundlagenveranstaltung) ; Di 12.00-14.00 - ZI JFKI Lansstr. 7-9, 340 (Hörsaal) (16.10.) Hannah Spahn
Since the eighteenth century, variations on the ancient idea of the “citizen of the world” have been a prominent feature of American culture, whether in political pamphlets or philosophical tracts, in historical narratives or economic arguments, in novels, poems or travel accounts. Cosmopolitanism has been a controversial attitude, open to attacks from the political right and left, and for part of twentieth century condemned to relative neglect in academic discourse. After the end of the Cold War, however, conceptions of world citizenship made a remarkable comeback in various fields of study. Today cosmopolitanism is a major point of reference in the philosophical and cultural historical debate, viewed by some as a likely successor to “multiculturalism” and identity politics, or a possible ally of “transnationalism.”

This seminar will approach the topic from the viewpoints of recent cultural theory as well as intellectual history. On the one hand, we will take a look at today’s cosmopolitan revival – discussing, for instance, how the proponents of cosmopolitanism deal with the complex heritage of enlightened universalism, how they cope with “frequent-flyer” cosmopolites and the economic effects of globalization, and how they conceive of a cosmopolitan aesthetic or a literary cosmopolitanism. And on the other hand, we will explore the role of cosmopolitan ideas in the past: in the American Revolution and its representation in writing and painting, in the first international human rights movements, in approaches by women and African Americans, in the ambivalent literary figure of the cosmopolite,in the evolution of an “international style” in American architecture, in American poetry and the novel. The discussion will include texts by Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Paine, James Madison, Margaret Fuller, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass, Edith Wharton, Henry James, Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Ralph Ellison, Michael Ondaatje, among others. Reading assignments will be available on blackboard and in the “Handapparat.” Recommended for purchase: Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero (2007).

The language of discussion will be English (as good cosmopolites, however, we can also switch to German when necessary). For credits: regular and prepared attendance, a short oral presentation, and a research paper.
 
32 110
HS -
Cultural History of the Gilded Age: Cultural Manifestations of Regional, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity (MA Modul C, Hauptseminar) ; Di 10.00-12.00 - ZI JFKI Lansstr. 7-9, 201 (Seminarraum) (16.10.) Winfried Fluck
For many cultural historians, the period following the Civil War, the so-called 'Gilded Age', marks the beginning of modern America. This course will deal with cultural responses to the far-reaching social and cultural transformation caused by the Civil War and forces of modernization such as industrialization, urbanization, and immigration. But we will also consider cultural responses to reconstruction in the South and to a growing romance of the “Wild West” that would dominate American culture in the first half of the 20th century. Topics will include the emergence of realism in American literature and American painting; the revival of utopianism and social protest; changing cultural representations of the city; the dime novel and the emergence of distinct taste cultures; the culture of the ‘robber barons’; finally, and most importantly, the emergence of regional diversity in American culture as it manifested itself in the local color movement, African American novels and women’s writing. Special emphasis will be put on practicing research skills and on using the resources of the library of the Kennedy Institute. The class will be held in English. Requirements for a credit: regular attendance, an oral presentation in class and a Hausarbeit.
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