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Hauptseminar: American Cultures of Memory- Lecturer
- Prof. Dr. Ingrid Gessner
- Details
- Hauptseminar
2 cred.h
Time and place: Wed 10:15 - 11:45, KH 2.014
- Prerequisites / Organisational information
- Das Hauptseminar gehört in den folgenden Studiengängen jeweils zu folgenden Modulen:
MA North American Studies - Culture: Modul 4, 7 MA The Americas/Las Américas: Modul 4 BA English and American Studies: Hauptmodul A Literature oder Culture. (Zulassungsvoraussetzung: Zwischenmodul II) Für BA-Studierende ist an diesen Kurs auch eine "Independent Study Group" angeschlossen.
Lehramt Englisch an Gymnasien (neu): Hauptmodul L-GYM Literature. (Zulassungsvoraussetzung: Zwischenmodul Literature) Alte Studiengänge (Studienbeginn vor WS 07/08): Hauptstudium. (Zulassungsvoraussetzung: Zwischenprüfung)
MA English Studies: “Freie Ergänzungsstudien/Wild Card”
- Contents
- Struggles over identity define memorial practices and sites of memory – or lieux de mémoire (Pierre Nora). Memory is a construct borne out of a field of contestation over meaning and over who is making the meaning. Since the past is produced in the present and history is written by people for particular purposes, the selection and interpretation of narratives are always arbitrary; the writing of history is malleable. The study of cultural memory is thus first and foremost interested in examining the contestations surrounding the creation of cultural memory.Using various American sites of memory as case studies, this seminar examines the role of these spaces, of public art, museums and architecture in shaping ‘American cultures of memory.’ Working at the intersection of the concepts of memory, space, identity and ethnicity, we will see how unity and difference are negotiated through artistic creation and the appropriation of landscapes and cityscapes. We will examine political and cultural tensions between the need for a national consensus on the one hand and the interests of (ethnic) groups to rewrite the national narrative and/or inscribe themselves into it on the other. Issues addressed in this seminar might include, but are not limited to: iconic American sites (e.g., Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell Center); (re)constructions within urban spaces (e.g., the Mall in Washington, DC) and sites of painful memory and tragedy (e.g. terrorism memorials and the memorialization of 9/11). More than seventy years after the end of World War II, we will pay particular attention to how the war’s celebratory narrative of national unity and democratic triumph is being undercut by counter-histories and experiences of diverse American publics (e.g., the Navajo code talkers; the Tuskegee Airmen and historical memory of African American soldiers; Japanese American incarceration, and the experience of ethnic Germans).
- Recommended literature
- Course material: will be announced and partially available on StudOn.
- Additional information
- Verwendung in folgenden UnivIS-Modulen
- Startsemester SS 2016:
- Aufbaumodul Cultural Studies (Master Modul 4)
- North America: Culture and Literature (AM4)
- North American Studies (AM3b)
- Vertiefungsmodul Cultural Studies (Master Modul 7)
- Department: Chair of American Studies (Prof. Dr. Paul)
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