Final Frontiers in American Culture 4219-RS280
This interdisciplinary MA Proseminar explores the concept of the Frontier as a persistent and evolving metaphor in American contemporary culture. Drawing on cultural studies, students will examine how the Frontier operates in diverse contexts: technology, space exploration, and social justice, and in diverse forms: novellas, novels, music albums, movies and TV shows.
Students will engage with contemporary critical theory, including postcolonialism and critical race studies, ecocriticism, feminist criticism and science fiction studies, among others, to analyse the Frontier's role in shaping popular narratives of progress, identity, and power. Through discussions, readings, and research projects, students will familiarize themselves with cultural analysis tools and will learn how to apply the said analysis to varied sets of texts. The emphasis will be placed on developing advanced research skills.
Schedule:
I. Introducing the Frontier
II. Revisiting the West: Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier, 2013), The Woods All Black (Lee Mandelo, 2023), When I Get Home (Solange, 2019), Cowboy Carter (Beyonce, 2024)
III. The Final (Space) Frontier: Star Trek: TNG (1987-1994) and Discovery (2017-2024) ; a novel to be chosen by the group (Kameron Hurley, The Stars Are Legion, 2017; China Mieville, Embassytown, 2011; Adrian Tchaikovsy, Children of Time, 2015; Ann Leckie, Translation State, 2023)
IV. The Urban Frontier: Sam J. Miller, The Blackfish City, 2018; Altered Carbon (Season 1, Netflix, 2018)
The final text selection might be different.
Content warning: Some of the above texts include graphic descriptions of death, childbirth and sexual activity.
Type of course
elective courses
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Upon completing this course a student:
KNOWLEDGE
* has a knowledge of how different genres approach the frontier mythos, challenge or support it
* recognises key motifs and textual devices in frontier mythology
* is aware of the ideological and cultural functions of frontier narratives and their global impact
SKILLS
* is able to formulate critical arguments concerning diverse sets of cultural texts
* is able to use a range of theoretical conceptual tools in analyses of individual texts
* is able to plan and conduct research necessary to prepare a term paper
SOCIAL COMPETENCES
* is able to organize research findings in clear written and oral forms
* is able to offer constructive and polite feedback on the work of others
* is able to work effectively in small groups, negotiate and invent solutions as part of teamwork
Assessment criteria
Since this is an intensive proseminar (8 ECTS), the amount of work required, both in-class and outside it, is more substantial than in an average elective course. Apart from independent research, which students will conduct under the instructor’s guidance, the proseminar requirements include:
* active seminar participation 20%
* in-class presentation of the final project 20%
* annotated bibliography of key secondary texts relevant for the final research paper 20%
* 15-20 page research paper 40%
Bibliography
Preliminary bibliography:
Abbott, Carl. Imagined Frontiers: Contemporary America and Beyond. United States, University of Oklahoma Press, 2015.
Clark, John P. Between Earth and Empire: From the Necrocene to the Beloved Community. United States, PM Press, 2019.
Fine, Kerry, Michael K. Johnson, Rebecca M. Lush, and Sara L. Spurgeon (eds.). Weird Westerns. United Kingdom, Nebraska, 2020.
Gonzalez, George A. The Politics of Star Trek: Justice, War, and the Future. United Kingdom, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Kerslake, Patricia. Science Fiction and Empire. United Kingdom, Liverpool University Press, 2007.
Kobus, Aldona and Łukasz Muniowski (eds.). Sex, Death and Resurrection in Altered Carbon: Essays on the Netflix Series. United States, McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, 2020.
Limerick, Patricia Nelson. The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West. New York, W. W. Norton, 1987.
Limerick, Patricia Nelson. “Turnerians All: The Dream of a Helpful History in an Intelligible World.” The American Historical Review 100, no. 3 (June 1995): 697–716.
Moore, Jason W. (ed.). Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism. United States, PM Press, 2016.
Nobles, Gregory H. American Frontiers: Cultural Encounters and Continental Conquest. United Kingdom, Penguin, 1998.
Rodney, Lee. Looking Beyond Borderlines: North America's Frontier Imagination. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2016.
Slotkin, Richard. Regeneration Through Violence: The Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600–1860. New York, HarperCollins/Perennial, 1996 [1973].
Spychala, Mareike and Sabrina Mittermeier (eds.). Fighting for the Future: Essays on Star Trek: Discovery. United Kingdom, Liverpool University Press, 2020.
Turner, Frederick Jackson. “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.” 1893. Project Gutenberg.
White, Richard, and Patricia Nelson Limerick. The Frontier in American Culture. United Kingdom, University of California Press, 1994.
Witschi, Nicolas S. (ed.). A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American West. United Kingdom, Wiley, 2014.
The final text selection might be different.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: