2009 BM2 Introduction to Anglophone Cultural Studies, Part 2

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See for part 1: 2008-09 BM2 Introduction to Anglophone Cultural Studies, Part 1


Tutors/Turorials

Session: Organisation and Introduction

  • Methods and principles in Cultural Studies,
  • explaining the outline of this course
  • Text: Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustav Vassa, the African, Written By Himself. 1789
  • close reading of frontmatter & beginning of first chapter; structure of the book
  • “Nationallizenzen” and ECCO

Homework

  • Vol. I, Ch. V-VI,
  • Vol. II, Chaps. IX-X
  • close readings

Session: Text Analysis

  • discussing the mandatory readings

Session: Historical Contextualization

  • clarifying the frameworks
  • group work (material distributed in class)

Homework

  • Research – where can I find material?
  • Group 1: open access (e.g. the Internet),
  • Group 2: limited access (e.g. online databases),
  • Group 3: on campus library,
  • Group 4: inter-library loan

Session: Research Methods

Handout

Exercises & Discussions

  • Evaluating the quality of research methods and materials
  • Research Exercise: GVK Plus

Homework

  • read the following article: Carretta, Vincent. “Defining a Gentlman: The Status of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa.” Language Sciences 22 (2000): 385-399.

Session: How to Read Secondary Literature

Handout

Exercises & Discussions

  • Vincent Carretta's article
  1. structure
  2. argumentation
  3. how does the text deal with primary text?
  4. how doe the article deal with a discussion that has evolved around the Equiano narrative?
  5. how do I position myself with respect to the article

Assignment 1: DEADLINE: MAY 19, 2009

  • Compile a Bibliography of secondary research on Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustav Vassa, the African, Written By Himself. 1789
  1. Give a structured analysis of this bibliography:
  • Are there noticeable temporal gaps - remarkable intervals of no research?
  • Is it possible to connect topics of research to individual decades?
  1. Select and digest one article of this list
  • Try to place the article in the overview you gave in question one
  • Give a brief summary of its content and main argument

Session: New Perspectives on Equiano

Exercises & Discussions

  • Embedding Equiano in the concepts and approaches of Postcolonial Studies, Diaspora (e.g. Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic)

Session: 9/11 Naudet Brothers, Media Screening, May 19, 2009

ATTENTION: mandatory for everybody

Session: Documentary Film

Handout

Exercises & Discussions

  • Close analysis
  • Medium “documentary film” – compared to “feature film”; finding a definition; narrative structure? art? fiction?

Homework

  • Background reading

Session: Representations of 9/11

Handout

  • Link

Exercises & Discussions

  • Literature, film, artworks, photography…how does ‘culture’ deal with 9/11

Homework

  • Probing research methods – what can I find out about critical discussions on these events?

Session: Discourse

Handout

  • Link

Exercises & Discussions

  • Roland Barthes and the Mythologies
  • Reading and discussing 3 short articles
  • 5 examples (e.g. photographic images)

Assignment 2: DEADLINE TO SUBMIT ASSIGNMENT 2: June 19, 2009

  • “Discourse Analysis” – answer the following questions (material will be distributed in class)
  • what discourses are in the text?
  • is there a critical analysis of these discourses?
  • what are the strategies/means to create a distance?
  • does the text take issue with the discourses?

Session: Constructing/-edness of a Discourse

Handout

Exercises & Discussions

  • How is a discourse of terror(ism) formed? The terrorist themselves; media; reception
  • Comparative analysis of British newspapers
  • Goal of the discourse formation ?


Homework

  • not yet decided

Session: From Public to Academic Debates

Handout

  • Link

Exercises & Discussions

  • The terror attacks in the framework of multiculturalism
  • Developing theses/statements
  • Structure of an (argumentative) essay

Homework

  • not yet decided

Session: Round-up

Handout

Exercises & Discussions

  • Preparations for Assignment 3
  • Evaluation, feedback

Assignment 3: DEADLINE: July 07, 2009

Bibliography (reading suggestions)

  • Assmann, Aleida. Einführung in die Kulturwissenschaft: Grundbegriffe, Themen, Fragestellungen. Grundlagen der Anglistik und Amerikanistik 27. Ed. Rüdiger Ahrens, Wolf-Dietrich Bald & Edgar W. Schneider. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2006.
  • Bachmann-Medick, Doris. Cultural Turns. Neuorientierungen in den Kulturwissenschaften. Rowohlts Enzyklopädie. Ed. Burghard König. Reinbeck: Rowohlt, 2006.
  • Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
  • Jenks, Christ. Culture. Key Ideas. Series Ed. Peter Hamilton. London & New York: Routledge, 1993.
  • Marchart, Oliver. Cultural Studies. Konstanz: UVK Verl.-Ges., 2009.
  • Nünning, Ansgar, ed. Grundbegriffe der Kulturtheorie und Kulturwissenschaften. Stuttgart & Weimar: Metzler, 2005.
  • O’Sullivan, Tim. Key Concepts in Communication and Cultural Studies. London et al.: Routledge, 1995.
  • Pickering, Michael, ed. Research Methods for Cultural Studies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2008.
  • Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 2003.