Proseminar: American Culture and Literature 4219-ZP047
This proseminar welcomes students who wish to develop projects dealing with works of US culture: written texts (novels, essays, autobiographies, short stories), movies, TV series, or works of art. Projects dealing with race and/or gender are especially welcome, i.e. ones centered on a text or group of texts that explore questions dealing with identity (race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or a combination of those) and representation. How does cultural history impact personal lives and personal identity? How do texts of culture deal with the complexity of social change, the cultural turmoil brought about social movements such as feminism, counterculture, Civil Rights,
or Black Lives Matter? You will learn key concepts and methodologies from cultural studies and discuss how to employ them while analyzing specific texts. We will also practice skills: developing your research question, finding, choosing and properly engaging sources, planning the structure of the paper, elements of academic style, citation, summary, paraphrase, formulating a thesis, etc. Each student will have three individual consultations with the instructor.
Type of course
obligatory courses
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge:
Student:
- knows key theoretical concepts of contemporary cultural studies;
- is familiar with a selection of outstanding works of American culture dealing with
transformations concerning race and gender in the 20th and 21st centuries;
- understands the cultural and historical context of these works;
Skills:
Student:
- can analyze cultural texts in terms of genre, style, and structure;
- can apply key categories of contemporary cultural studies when analysing texts of culture;
- can plan, under the supervision of a supervisor, and then carry out a research project in the
field of cultural studies;
Social Competencies:
Student:
- can formulate their own views in a consistent and clear manner, while maintaining respect
for differing views.
Assessment criteria
FINAL GRADE COMPONENTS:
1. Attendance and participation in class discussion & Kampus Forum (10%)
2. Group presentation (10%)
3. Short paper (summary of academic article) (10%)
4. Thesis proposal with annotated bibliography, outline and draft of one chapter (50%)
5. Presentation of research project (20%)
5! = 96
5 = 92.5
4+ = 87.5
4 = 80
3+ = 75
3 = 60
Bibliography
Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M., The Craft of Research (Chicago, Chicago UP, 2008)
Jeffrey Nealon and Susan Searls Giroux, The Theory Toolbox. Critical Concepts for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012)
Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formations (1994) (excerpt)
James Baldwin, “The American Dream and the American Negro”
James Baldwin, “The Devil Makes Work” (excerpts)
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Stanley Kramer, 1967)
I Am Not Your Negro (Raul Peck, 2016)
Ethnic Notions (Marlon Riggs, 1987)
Ralph Ellison, “What America Would Be Like Without Blacks” (1970)
Patricia Hill Collins, “Mammies, Matriarchs, and Other Controlling Images” (1990)
Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted (1993/2023)
Girl, Interrupted (dir. James Mangold, 1999)
Phyllis Chesler, Women and Madness (excerpts)
Ussher, J. M. (2018). A critical feminist analysis of madness : pathologising femininity through psychiatric discourse. In B. M. Z. Cohen (Ed.), Routledge International Handbook of Critical Mental Health (pp. 72-78).
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: