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Current American Studies Courses
Summer Semester 2013
Please also consult the updates of the KVV on the department
homepage.
We are happy to announce an intensive course (Hauptseminar
and Cultural Studies Advanced) to be offered in July by Professor
Nicole Hodges Persley from the University of Kansas. For details
please see the next page.
Theories of Race and Performance
(Hauptseminar / Cultural Studies Advanced)
Prof. Dr. Nicole Hodges Persley
University of Kansas
Course Description:
Theories of Race and Performance is an inter-textual American Studies course that explores interdisciplinary
scholarship on race and performance seeking to translate these theories into practical application in various
visual, audio and performance texts in popular culture. The course is divided into modules aimed at gaining an
understanding of the shifting meaning of race over time and its relationship to ethnicity, gender, sexuality,
nation and power. How do we perform our identities? How is race constructed and maintained through
performance? To begin to answer these core American Studies questions, we will examine the ways in which
racial identities are created through performance.
Course Requirements:
Attendance, preparation, and participation; oral presentation; blog discussion;
research paper (CS Adv: 8-10 pp.; HS: 15-20 pp.).
Credit for: MAS/MEAS/BA/LaGym
Sessions:
Course organization: 22 May 2013, 18-20, ZH 4
Instruction: Tue, 9 July, 10:15-11:45, PT 3.0.80; Thu, 11 July, 10:15-11:45, ZH 6; Fri, 12 July, 10:15-11:45,
VG_2.45; Tue, 16 July, 10:15-11:45, PT 3.0.80; Thu, 18 July, 10:15-13:45, ZH 6; Fri, 19 July, 10:15-11:45,
VG_2.45; Mon, 22 July, 10:00-14:00, ZH 6; Wed, 24 July, 10:00-13:15, ZH 6; Fri, 26 July, 10:00-14:00, ZH 6
Please register for this course via email by 08 May 2013: birgit.bauridl@ur.de
Nicole Hodges Persley (Ph.D. U of Southern California, Los Angeles; M.A. U of California, Los Angeles; B.A. Spelman College) is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Kansas. She teaches courses on hip-hop, acting, African American theater, race and performance and improvisation theory. Her research interests include African American drama, performance, and culture, hip-hop, women’s and gender studies, solo performance and transnationalism. Her current book project, Sampling and Remixing Blackness in Hip-hop Theater and Performance, examines the impact of African American expressions of blackness in hip-hop on the artistic practices of non-African American artists in theater, conceptual art and dance in the United States and England. Prof. Hodges Persley is one of the founding program directors of the Hip-hop Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute. An actress and director, she has credits in regional theater, television and film. Her performance and directing work has been featured at the Kansas City Fringe Festival, the California Hip-hop Theater Festival, the Hudson Theater and Highways Performance Space.
This course is part of the recently established exchange program between the American Studies programs at
the University of Kansas and at the University of Regensburg. Prof. Hodges Persley’s seminar is sponsored by
the Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst as part of the special program for
fostering international networking between Bavarian universities and leading academic institutions abroad. It,
thus, offers students at the University of Regensburg a very special opportunity to participate in newly evolving
programs that position our university within the international scholarly community. Students in our Master’s
programs have already been participating in the exchange program with the University of Kansas, and we feel
proud and privileged to welcome Prof. Hodges Persley as our special guest this summer semester.
Amerikanistik
Vorlesungen
35800 Introduction to American Studies Gessner
Module: AMST-M14.2(1), BRST-M14.2(1), ENGS-M14.w(1), ENGS-M15.w(1), ENGYM-M14.2(1), ENHS-
M14.w(1), ENHS-M16.1(1), ENLI-M14.2(1), ENRS-M14.2(1)
Vorlesung, SWS: 1
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Di wöch. 12 13 c.t. H 3 Gessner
The lecture course surveys the academic discipline of American Studies and provides an
overview of materials, resources, issues, areas of study, and theories in the interdisciplinary
field of American Studies. Individual sessions will give introductory accounts of North
American geography, demographic developments and U.S. immigration history, major
issues and coordinates of North American and U.S. history, the political system of the U.S.,
American ideologies and identity constructions, the religious landscape of the U.S.,
multilingualism and language politics in North America. Requirement for credit: final exam.
Course text: Hebel, Udo. Einführung in die Amerikanistik/American Studies. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2008.
35801 American Literary History Balestrini
Module: AMST-M13.3(4), AMST-M13.w(4), AMST-M16.2(4), BRST-M13.3(4), BRST-M13.w(4), ENGS-
M13.2(4), ENGS-M13.w(4), ENGS-M22.2(4), ENGS-M22.w(4), ENGYM-M13.3(4), ENGYM-
M13.w(4), ENGYM-M23.w(4), ENGYM-M32A.1(4), ENHS-M13.2(4), ENHS-M13.w(4), ENHS-
M22.2(4), ENHS-M22.w(4), ENLI-M13.3(4), ENLI-M13.w(4), ENRS-M13.3(4), ENRS-M13.w(4),
ENRS-M22.w(4)
Seminar, SWS: 2
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mi wöch. 10 12 c.t. H 41 Balestrini
Taking recent developments in literary and cultural theory in general and in American
Studies in particular into account, this lecture course will survey the history of American
literature from pre-contact oral traditions to the present. Verbal texts will be discussed
alongside visual images, music, and performances. Among the topics to be covered are
Native American oral literature, texts by early European explorers of the “New World,”
literary self-expression during the colonial era, verbal and visual representations of Indian-
white relations, cultural constructs of American-ness during the American Revolution and
the Early Republic, the growing desire to develop genuinely American art as of the
nineteenth century, the so-called American Renaissance, the conflict between
idealizations of American thought and the artistic movements of Realism and Naturalism,
the innovative force of Modernism (as found in the works of the Lost Generation, of
Imagist poets, and of Harlem Renaissance writers), and artistic experimentation during the
Postmodern era and beyond (including the Beat Generation, responses to the Vietnam
conflict, depictions of suburbia, and the debate about cultural pluralism). In the course of
covering these topics, the lecture course will offer a historicized perspective on the
canonization of previously marginalized artists (such as women and so-called ‘ethnic’
writers) and forms of self-expression. Requirement for credit: final exam. Course text: Nina
Baym et al., eds., The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 8th ed., 5 vols., New York: Norton, 2012.
35802 “Home is where the heart is”:
American love affairs with places called “home” Zehelein
Module: AMS-M32.2(8), AMS-M33.2 / 3(8), AMST-M13.w(4), AMST-M23.3(4), AMST-M32.1(4), BRST-
M13.w(4), EAS-M33.1/2/3(8) , EAS-M34.1/2/3(8) , ENGS-M13.w(4), ENGS-M22.w(4), ENGYM-
M13.w(4), ENGYM-M23.w(4), ENGYM-M32A.1(4), ENHS-M13.w(4), ENHS-M22.w(4), ENLI-
M13.w(4), ENRS-M13.w(4), ENRS-M22.w(4)
Vorlesung, SWS: 2
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Do wöch. 10 12 c.t. H22 N.N.
What exactly is a hometown? Why is small town life either desired or despised? Why
do people call places “home” which are not their places of birth or even places
where their families live? How – if at all – have definitions of “home” changed over
time? What is the relevance of “home” for American politics? What role does real
estate play? How strong is nostalgia in the projection of “home”? The lecture will
attempt to answer these and related questions by looking closely at American texts,
paintings, photography and film from colonial times to the 21st century. Texts:
Assigned readings will be posted on our online course platform. Course Requirement:
final exam.
35803 The History of North America V: The Age of Catastrophe, 1914-1945 Depkat
Module: AMS-M32.2(8), AMS-M33.2 / 3(8), AMST-M13.w(4), AMST-M23.3(4), AMST-M32.1(4), BRST-
M13.w(4), EAS-M33.1/2/3(8) , EAS-M34.1/2/3(8) , ENGS-M13.w(4), ENGS-M22.w(4), ENGYM-
M13.w(4), ENGYM-M23.w(4), ENGYM-M32A.1(4), ENHS-M13.w(4), ENHS-M22.w(4), ENLI-
M13.w(4), ENRS-M13.w(4), ENRS-M22.w(4)
Vorlesung, SWS: 2
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Di wöch. 10 12 c.t. H 5 Depkat
The concept of a “Short Twentieth Century” lasting from the beginning of the First World
War in 1914 to the end of the Cold War in 1990/91 was developed by the late British
historian Eric Hobsbawm in his pathbreaking book Age of Extremes. It appeared shortly
after the Cold War had ended, and it identified the antagonism between democracy and
communism as the core of the last century’s history. Other historians have expanded
Hobsbawm’s interpretation, and have argued that the antagonism between democracy
and totalitarian anti-democracies was the single most important factor shaping historical
developments between 1914 and 1990/91. This global antagonism affected the history of
the North American continent deeply: It led to the self-destruction of Europe, propelled
the United States’ rise to world power status and brought Canada to full statehood.
However, the century-long global antagonism between democracies and anti-
democracies also structured the developments at home: the rise of American-style
welfare states, the “consumer revolution”, the fierce inner social conflicts structured by
race, gender and class or the emergence of a thoroughly commercialized popular culture
in the whole of North America cannot be understood without taking the global
competition between the systems into consideration. Hobsbawm was thinking in terms of
world history when he wrote his book; over the next three semesters, this lecture will explore
the value of the concept of a “Short Twentieth Century” for understanding the political,
social, economic, and cultural developments in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The first part will deal with what Hobsbawm and others have called the “Age of
Catastrophe”, i.e. the period from 1914 to 1945 which is structured by two world wars and
the social, economic and cultural crisis of the “Great Depression.” The approach taken will
be thoroughly continental, looking at the developments in the U.S., Canada and – in parts
– Mexico. Requirements: regular attendance, midterm essay (take-home exam), final
exam. Readings: Eric Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes. The Short Twentieth Century (London 1994). Meiron and
Susie Harries, The Last Days of Innocence. America at War, 1917-1918 (New York 1997). David M. Kennedy,
Over Here. The First World War and American Society (New York 1980). David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear.
The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (New York 1999). Volker Depkat, Geschichte
Nordamerikas. Eine Einführung (Köln 2008). Walter LaFeber, Richard Polenberg, and Nancy Woloch, The
American Century: A History of the United States since the 1890s (5th ed., Boston 1998). Margaret Conrad and
Alvin Finkel, History of the Canadian Peoples: Volume II: 1867 to the Present (3rd ed., Toronto 2002). J.M.
Bumsted, The Peoples of Canada: A Post-Confederation History (2nd ed., Oxford 2004).
Einführungskurse American Studies
35810 American Cultural History Cavanna, Fackler, Szlezák, Uppendahl
Module: AMST-M14.4(4), BRST-M14.4(4), ENGS-M14.2(4), ENGS-M15.w(4), ENGYM-M14.4(4), ENHS-
M14.2(4), ENHS-M16.2(4), ENLI-M14.4(4), ENRS-M14.4(4)
Seminar, SWS: 3, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Di wöch. 14 16 c.t. Gruppe 1 ZH 5 Cavanna
Do wöch. 14 15 c.t. Gruppe 1 PT 2.0.3A Cavanna
Di wöch. 14 16 c.t. Gruppe 2 ZH 4 Uppendahl
Fr wöch. 12 13 c.t. Gruppe 2 PT 3.0.77* Uppendahl
Di wöch. 16 18 c.t. Gruppe 3 ZH 6 Cavanna
Do wöch. 15 16 c.t. Gruppe 3 PT 2.0.3A Cavanna
Di wöch. 16 18 c.t. Gruppe 4 CH 33.1.91 Uppendahl
Fr wöch. 13 14 c.t. Gruppe 4 PT 3.0.77* Uppendahl
Di wöch. 18 20 c.t. Gruppe 5 PT 2.0.3A Fackler
Do wöch. 10 11 c.t. Gruppe 5 PT 1.0.2 Fackler
- n. V. c.t. Gruppe 6 s. Aushang Szlezák Blockkurs im
Aug./Sep.
The course focuses on textual, visual, and audiovisual materials that are central to a
critical understanding of North American cultural, social, and political history from the
earliest European encounters with the ‘New World’ to contemporary interpretations of
what ‘America’ might mean for different groups inside and outside of the U.S. We will
cover a broad range of cultural and historical issues including ideological interpretations
of American landscapes and spaces, attitudes toward demographic developments and
immigration, controversies about the U.S.-American political-economic system and foreign
policy, the plurality of the American religious landscape, and multilingualism and the
diversity of cultural traditions in North America. The course is to familiarize students with
materials, areas of study, and theoretical approaches in the interdisciplinary field of
American Studies and their significance for the study of American cultural history.
Requirements: in-class participation, final exam for participants of all sections of this class
on Thursday, 25 July 2013, 9-12. — Course materials: Course Reader (available at local copy shop);
Hebel, Udo. Einführung in die Amerikanistik/American Studies. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2008. — Recommended history
textbooks: Depkat, Volker. Geschichte Nordamerikas: Eine Einführung. Köln: Böhlau, 2008. Boyer, Paul S., et al.
The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People. 7th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011.
Einführungskurse Literaturwissenschaft
35755 Introduction to English and American Literary Studies Balestrini, Weß
Module: AMST-M13.1(4), AMST-M16.1(4), BRST-M13.1(4), BRST-M16.1(4), ENGS-M13.1(4), ENGYM-
M13.1(4), ENHS-M13.1(4), ENLI-M13.1(4), ENRS-M13.1(4)
Seminar, SWS: 3, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mi wöch. 13 16 c.t. Gruppe 4 ZH 4 Weß
Fr wöch. 8:30 11 c.t. Gruppe 6 ZH 5 Balestrini
Block s. LSF c.t. 11.3. 25.3. 35755 ws ZH 5 Leikam gehört noch zum
Wintersemester
The course will familiarize students with fundamental knowledge and skills necessary for the
study of English and American literatures. Participants will be introduced to critical
concepts such as “literature,” “culture,” and “text.” Influential theoretical approaches,
critical methods, and the basics and problems of literary history, canonization, and
periodization will be discussed. By covering representative examples of all major literary
forms, we will explore a broad variety of literary representations and apply important
technical terms and concepts to the analysis of specific texts. Practical problems of
research and writing (e.g., how to find and quote secondary literature) will also be
addressed. Tutors will help students with course work and assignments. All sections of this
“Introduction to English and American Literary Studies” offered by the Institut für Anglistik
und Amerikanistik will follow a shared syllabus and will conclude with a written exam on
Tuesday, 23 July 2013, 9-12. – Required textbooks: Michael Meyer. English and American Literatures.
4th rev. ed. Tübingen: Francke, 2011; Peter Barry, Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural
Theory, 3rd ed., Manchester: Manchester UP, 2009. Further course materials, mandatory readings,
and course requirements will be announced in the first meetings [siehe Parallelangebot
der Anglistik!]
Proseminare
35820 American Literature I: From the Beginnings Through the 19th Century Fackler,
Szlezák
Module: AMST-M16.3(4), AMST-M22.1(4), AMST-M22.2(4), BRST-M22.2(4), ENGS-M22.w(4), ENGYM-
M23.2(4), ENHS-M22.w(4), ENLI-M13.w(4), ENRS-M22.w(4)
Proseminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Di wöch. 12 14 c.t. Gruppe 1 ZH 5 Fackler
Do wöch. 18 20 c.t. Gruppe 2 ZH 5 Szlezák
This course explores American literature from early written accounts of the “New World”
through late-nineteenth-century realist writings. It is designed to help students develop
their competence and skills as readers and interpreters of literary texts, which will be
studied in their respective historical and cultural contexts. The course will first focus on early
exploration narratives and selected texts from colonial America (such as a captivity
narrative and early American poetry). We will then turn to a sample of nineteenth-century
short fiction (e.g., Washington Irving, Henry James, Charlotte Perkins Gilman), a slave
narrative by Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romance The Scarlet Letter,
selected poems by Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Course requirements include in-
class participation, an oral presentation, reading quizzes, annotated bibliography, and an
8- to 10-page research paper in English. — Required Texts: Nina Baym et al., eds., The Norton
Anthology of American Literature, 8th ed., vols. A, B, and C, 2012.
35825 American Literature II: The 20th and 21st Centuries Balestrini, Bauridl, Leikam
Module: AMST-M13.3(4), AMST-M16.2(4), AMST-M22.1(4), AMST-M22.2(4), BRST-M13.3(4), ENGS-
M13.2(4), ENGS-M22.2(4), ENGYM-M13.3(4), ENGYM-M23.2(4), ENHS-M13.2(4), ENHS-
M22.2(4), ENLI-M13.3(4), ENRS-M13.3(4)
Proseminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mi wöch. 16 18 c.t. Gruppe 1 ZH 6 Bauridl
Do wöch. 8:30 10 c.t. Gruppe 2 ZH 6 Balestrini
Do wöch. 14 16 c.t. Gruppe 3 PT 1.0.2 Leikam
Do wöch. 9 15 c.t. 7.3. 15.3. 35825 ws R 009 Szlezák gehört noch zum
Wintersemester
This course explores representative 20th- and 21st-century American fiction (e.g., by F.
Scott Fitzgerald, Art Spiegelman, and Toni Morrison), autobiographies, poems (e.g., by T. S.
Eliot), and plays (e.g., by Eugene O’Neill and Donald Margulies). We will situate the texts in
their cultural and historical contexts, and explore literary movements and concepts such
as realism, naturalism, expressionism, modernism, postmodernism, feminism, and the
cultural borderlands. The course deepens students’ knowledge and skills with regard to
American literature and American literary history, cultural and literary terms and concepts,
the interpretation of literary texts, and scholarly writing. Requirements include in-class
participation, an oral presentation, reading quizzes, annotated bibliography, and an 8- to
10-page research paper in English. All books will be available at Pustet’s. — Required Texts: F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. Eugene O’Neill, The Emperor Jones. Donald Margulies, Dinner with
Friends. Nina Baym et al., eds., The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 8th ed., vols. C, D, E, 2012.
35831 Motherhood Zehelein
Module: AMST-M22.1(4), AMST-M22.2(4), AMST-M23.2(4), BRST-M13.w(4), ENGS-M13.w(4), ENGS-
M22.w(4), ENGYM-M13.w(4), ENGYM-M23.w(4), ENHS-M13.w(4), ENHS-M22.w(4), ENLI-
M13.w(4), ENRS-M13.w(4), ENRS-M22.w(4)
Proseminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mi wöch. 10 12 c.t. ZH 6 N.N.
From Ann Bradstreet to Ayelet Waldman women have always questioned,
(re)defined, and defended their views on and practices of motherhood vis à vis
cultural master discourses, traditions, and (male/gender) expectations. Covering a
wide range of texts from the early Puritans to today and looking at various genres
and forms of cultural practice (poetry, short story, novel, autobiography, painting
and photography, film, TV series), we will examine changing conceptions of
motherhood. Course requirements: Active participation, homework assignments, and
a term paper of 10 pages. Texts: Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk about Kevin. All other
texts will be collected in a reader.
35832 Political Institutions of the USA Cavanna
Module: AMST-M16.w(4), AMST-M23.1(4), BRST-M14.w(4), ENGS-M14.w(4), ENGS-M22.w(4), ENGYM-
M14.w(4), ENGYM-M23.w(4), ENHS-M22.w(4), ENLI-M14.w(4), ENRS-M14.w(4), ENRS-M22.w(4)
Proseminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Di wöch. 8:30 10 c.t. ZH 6 Cavanna
This course investigates U.S. American political institutions. After outlining major theoretical
approaches and debates found in contemporary scholarship, we will investigate not onl
the three branches of the national government – the Congress, the Presidency, and
the Supreme Court – but also the complex, ever-changing shift in power between the
federal and state governments. Topics will include the development of representative
government and individual rights from the early colonial charters and compacts to the
Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and later constitutional amendments. Is the United States a
national community or a community of communities? Is it one government or 51
governments? How, despite promises of liberty and equality in the Declaration of
Independence and Constitution, could slavery have continued for more than 80 years?
Why were a majority of Americans still denied the elective franchise at the beginning of
the 20th century? How can the death penalty be an issue left up to individual states?
Selected case studies will allow us to look in depth at major debates ranging from
ratification and interpretation of the Constitution, to states’ rights, presidential and
congressional power, and civil liberties. In each of these cases, we will explore some of the
many tensions, assumptions, and contradictions (apparent and real) found in America’s
complex history and culture. Materials will include historical documents and scholarly
essays, articles from newspapers and magazines, as well as visual aids. — All students will
be required to give an oral presentation and to actively participate in class. Those who
wish to receive credit will also be asked to submit an eight- to ten-page research paper. —
Principal texts (available in the library): O’Connor, Karen, and Larry J. Sabato. American Government:
Roots and Reform. 10th ed. New York: Longman, 2009; Hall, Kermit L., ed., Major Problems in American
Constitutional History: Documents and Essays. 2 vols. Lexington, Mass.: Heath, 1992. — Credit for BA;
Lehramt students are advised to take the course (credit for Wahlbereich possible).
Cultural Studies Advanced
Please also see the announcement of Prof. Hodges Persley’s class on p. 2 of
this document!
35834 American Feelings Gessner
Module: AMS-M32.3(8), AMS-M33.2/3(8), AMST-M23.w(5), AMST-M32.2(5), EAS-M33.1/2/3(8), EAS-
M34.1/2/3(8), EAS-M31.3/4(8), ENGS-M22.w(5), ENGYM-M23.w(5), ENGYM-M32A.2(5), ENHS-
M22.w(5), ENRS-M22.w(5)
Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Di wöch. 8:30 10 s.t. PT 2.0.3A Gessner
This class will focus on the production, visualization, and public performance of
feelings in America. The representation of public emotions will be examined in its
historical dimension, and in forms recently mobilized and manipulated in the field of
politics and political elections (the Tea Party Movement, the 2012 Campaign),
immigration, reproductive rights, or the war on terror. Whether emphasizing specific
feelings (e.g. happiness, anger, loss, fear) or whether pondering the significance of
feelings displayed in public life, the scholarship on affect offers new approaches to
thinking through the relationship of image and public. Taking its cue from the
“emotional turn” (cf. Lauren Berlant, “sensual turn”) the class examines structures of
(public) feeling, embodied – mainly, but not exclusively – in visual evidence. Looking
at different visual and political cultures – including war photography from the Civil
War to present wars, documentary photography of political activism (e.g.,
countercultures of the 1960s, or immigration and health/reproduction policy
protests), politicians (from Kennedy to Obama), living conditions (from tenement
housing to suburbia), and sports events – this class considers how and why feelings
define America and have been reaffirmed as a fruitful lens for cultural analysis. A full
list of texts and case studies will be available by the beginning of the semester.
Course requirements: a research paper (8-10 pp.) incl. an oral presentation;
participation in discussions.
35835 Traitors and Spies in American Cultural History Depkat
Module: AMS-M32.3(8), AMS-M33.2 / 3(8), AMST-M23.w(5), AMST-M32.2(5), EAS-M33.1/2/3(8), EAS-
M34.1/2/3(8), EAS-M31.3/4(8), ENGS-M22.w(5), ENGYM-M23.w(5), ENGYM-M32A.2(5), ENHS-
M22.w(5), ENRS-M22.w(5)
Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mi wöch. 8:30 10 c.t. PT 2.0.3A Depkat
Benedict Arnold, Aaron Burr, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Aldrich Ames – American history is full
of spies and traitors who attempted to change the course of history by overthrowing or
sabotaging the United States government to which they owed allegiance. They either tried to
make war against the U.S., or they supported its enemies by selling secrets and collaborating in
conspiracies. However, treason and espionage is not only a criminal offense, it is also a cultural
pattern, a discourse that reveals a lot about value systems and the anxieties circulating in a
culture. Traitors and spies are subject of social and cultural battles that create both the ‘good
guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ in the same discursive operation. This seminar will conduct a series of
case studies on individual traitors and spies, each pursuing the double goal of a thick
description of what happened, on the one hand, and an investigation into the cultural history
of traitors and spies in America on the other. Requirements: regular attendance, presentation
and essay (10-15 pages). Readings: A reader will be available at the beginning of the term.
35836 Transnational Pictures of America Bauridl
Module: AMS-M32.3(8), AMS-M33.2 / 3(8), AMST-M23.w(5), AMST-M32.2(5), EAS-M33.1/2/3(8), EAS-
M34.1/2/3(8), EAS-M31.3/4(8), ENGS-M22.w(5), ENGYM-M23.w(5), ENGYM-M32A.2(5), ENHS-
M22.w(5), ENRS-M22.w(5)
Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Do wöch. 8:30 10 c.t. PT 2.0.3A Bauridl
The ‘pictorial turn’ of the 1990s challenges the dominance of the written text and draws
attention to the cultural, political, and social efficacy of visuals. Concordantly, this course
focuses on visuals as both a reflection and constituent of American culture(s). Moreover, in
times when discussions of global mobility and the porousness of physical, cultural, and
national borders figure prominently in American Studies discourses, this course is particularly
interested in an exploration of the role visual culture takes in negotiations of cultural
encounters and diverse ethnic, cultural, and national identities. After familiarizing students with
theories of visual culture studies and concepts of transnational American Studies, it
investigates images from and of America produced within and outside the United States.
Scrutinizing various elements of visual culture which range from paintings to photographs to
murals and graffiti art to memorials to consumer products to landscapes and urban design
and which debate similarly diverse instances of cultural contact from colonial encounters to
the African American experience to immigrant and emigrant perspectives to tourism to
international warfare to the export of American pop culture, we will elaborate on questions
such as: Which iconic images prove especially productive in the construction of American
identity/ies and to what effect? How does visual culture by diverse agents generate protest
and counter narratives? How is America represented in visuals produced outside the United
States? And how does visual culture participate in the negotiation of self and Other? Course
requirements include preparation and participation, a research paper (8-10 pp.) including an
oral proposal, and a critical response blog.
35837 Topical Issues Uppendahl
Module: AMST-M23.w(5), AMST-M32.2(5), ENGS-M22.w(5), ENGYM-M23.w(5), ENGYM-M32A.2(5), ENHS-
M22.w(5), ENRS-M22.w(5)
Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Do wöch. 14 16 c.t. ZH 4 Uppendahl
This class will explore major developments in recent American culture. Attention will be paid to
important trends and crucial events since the 1990s and their historical and cultural
significance. Issues to be discussed will include landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases; trends in
American foreign policy and relations; demographical changes; major social and political
controversies involving race and ethnicity; Native Americans; issues in education (e.g.,
admission policies, bilingual education, home schooling, creationism); American self-
definitions and collective memory after 9/11; religion in America; American culture and
violence; U.S. economy and business values; expressions of popular culture; recent election
campaigns and results. – Participants from the old Lehramt-Studiengang are strongly advised
to have completed “Introduction to American Studies”; all participants are expected to
already have or to acquire a firm footing in American history and culture. – Course materials
will encompass textual as well as visual materials which allow for a discussion of America’s
many tensions, paradoxes, and promises. — Requirements will include an oral presentation, in-
class participation, and an 8- to 10-page research paper. .
35838 1913 - The U.S. and Europe on the Eve of World War I Depkat
Module: AMS-M32.3(8), AMS-M33.2/3(8), AMST-M23.w(5), AMST-M32.2(5), EAS-M33.1/2/3(8), EAS-
M34.1/2/3(8), EAS-M31.3/4(8), ENGS-M22.w(5), ENGYM-M23.w(5), ENGYM-M32A.2(5), ENHS-
M22.w(5), ENRS-M22.w(5)
Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Do wöch. 16 18 c.t. PT 2.0.3A Depkat
The contemporaries of 1913 did not know that they were only a year away from the First World
War, the “seminal catastrophe of the twentieth century” (George F. Kenan). Yet, the
paradoxes of modernity had fully developed by then. It was a time of faith in technology and
rational planning as the instruments of progress and the roads to an ever-increasing standard
of living. In 1913, industry was booming, the Western colonialism was at its height, the
knowledge revolution of the sciences created a great optimism that many things were
doable, and the great metropolitan centres like London, Berlin, Paris and New York were
breeding grounds of an exciting cultural modernism. However, all these developments had a
downside to them: technological progress, rationalization, and bureaucratization were
creating new dependencies and forms of domination, the emerging mass-society created
multiple forms of alienation, and the agitation of the two great emancipatory movements of
the twentieth century – the women’s movement and the African American civil rights
movement – triggered violent social conflicts. All in all, therefore, the tumultuous breakthrough
of industrial modernity produced a deep sense of crisis, and disorientation triggered modernist
literature and culture to a very large degree. The seminar will aim at a cross-section of the year
1913, when contemporaries were dancing on a volcano. Looking at the developments in
politics, society and culture, the seminar will deliver a thick description of the year’s historical
contexts and constellations in Europe and America. Requirements: regular attendance,
presentation and essay (10-15 pages). Readings: Barbara W. Tuchman, The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the
World before the War, 1890-1914 (London 1966). –––, The Guns of August (New York 1962). Florian Illies, 1913. Robert
Wohl, The Generation of 1914 (Cambridge, MA 1979). Modris Eksteins, Rites of Spring: The Great War and the Birth of
the Modern (Boston 1989). Florian Illies, 1913: Der Sommer des Jahrhunderts (Frankfurt a.M. 2012).
35843 Blackness, Multiculturalism and the American Screen Pospíšil
Module: AMS-M32.1(10), AMS-M33.1/2/3(10), AMST-M32.3(7), EAS-M33.1/2/3(10), EAS-M34.1/2/3(10),
EAS-M31.1/4(10), ENGYM-M32A.3(7), AMS-M32.3(8), AMS-M33.2 / 3(8), AMST-M23.w(5),
AMST-M32.2(5), EAS-M33.1/2/3(8), EAS-M34.1/2/3(8), EAS-M31.3/4(8), ENGS-M22.w(5),
ENGYM-M23.w(5), ENGYM-M32A.2(5), ENHS-M22.w(5), ENRS-M22.w(5)
Hauptseminar/Cultural Studies Advanced Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Weitere Informationen siehe “Amerikanistik: Hauptseminare”.
35837ws Humor and Comedy in American Culture Uppendahl
Module: AMST-M23.w (5), AMST-M32.2 (5), ENGS-M22.w(5), ENGYM-M23.w(5), ENGYM-M32A.2 (5), ENHS-
M22.w(5), ENRS-M22.w
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Block 9 13 c.t. 11.3. 20.3. 35837 ws VG_2.45 Uppendahl gehört noch zum
Wintersemester
Hauptseminare
Please also see the announcement of Prof. Hodges Persley’s class on p. 2 of
this document!
35839 Capital Stories: Washington D.C. Zehelein
Module: AMS-M32.1(10), AMS-M33.1/2/3(10), AMST-M32.3(7), EAS-M33.1/2/3(10), EAS-M34.1/2/3(10),
EAS-M31.1/4(10), ENGYM-M32A.3(7)
Hauptseminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Di wöch. 14 16 c.t. ZH 6 N.N.
D.C. is probably the world’s first planned capital, based in principle on Charles Pierre
L’Enfant’s plans. It was created on the basis of ideas and future hopes and
projections, on thoughts and self-understandings of what that newly created nation,
the United States of America, under that innovative and never before seen
document, the Constitution, should be, become, and represent. In the course of this
semester, we will aim at an elucidation of a variety of aspects which all take the
geo-political and social space of Washington D.C. as its launching pad. We will look
at the plans for Washington, the visions and realizations. We will look at icons of
American self-understanding and auto-mythology, at various important monuments
and memorials, most of them to be found on the National Mall, the “Monumental
Core”. We will also see how Washington features in literature. And we will discuss
what Washington’s role is in international and global affairs. Is it a global city? This
class will rely on active student participation, each student taking up one
theme/text/film etc. to prepare for class presentation. Texts: Henry Adams,
Democracy. Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol. All other texts will be part of a course
reader. Course Requirements: Active participation, homework assignments, and a
term paper of 15-20 pages.
35840 Bob Dylan Depkat
Module: AMS-M32.1(10), AMS-M33.1/2/3(10), AMST-M32.3(7), EAS-M33.1/2/3(10), EAS-M34.1/2/3(10),
EAS-M31.1 / 4(10), ENGYM-M32A.3(7)
Hauptseminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Di wöch. 16 18 c.t. PT 1.0.2 Depkat
Bob Dylan may well be the single most important American musician of the twentieth
century. His biography and work is inextricably tied to the major phases and problems of
American music since 1945. He started out as a folk singer and became the poet and
voice of the emerging protest culture in the 1960s. In 1965 he went electric, producing
some of the most important albums in music history but alienating large parts of his
audience. In the 1970s/80s Dylan had his spiritual good-seeking phase, only to return
around 2000 with a much admired late work that has not ended yet. In it he fashioned
himself as the mere medium of a vast pool of anonymous musical traditions in America.
Bob Dylan’s lyrics are of a literary quality that has led many a journalist and scholar to
demand that Dylan should be given the Nobel Prize, and his music was as trendsetting as
it was path-breaking. Thus, dealing with the life and music of Bob Dylan paves many paths
into the political, social, economic, and cultural history of the United States and Europe
since 1945. The seminar will deal with the biography of Bob Dylan and his music in the
multiple and repeatedly changing contexts of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Requirements: regular attendance, presentation and research paper (15-20 pages).
Readings: Clinton Heylin, Behind the Shades. 20th Anniversary Edition (London 2011). Heinrich Detering, Bob
Dylan (3rd ed., Stuttgart 2009). DVD: Martin Scorsese, No Direction Home. Bob Dylan (2009).
35841 Some highlights in late 20th and early 21st century Canadian literature Zehelein
Module: AMS-M32.1(10), AMS-M33.1/2/3(10), AMST-M32.3(7), EAS-M33.1/2/3(10), EAS-M34.1/2/3(10),
EAS-M31.1/4(10), ENGYM-M32A.3(7)
Hauptseminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mi wöch. 14 16 c.t. ZH 6 N.N.
We will look at some of the most outstanding later-twentieth-century Canadian authors,
and, covering all major genres (short stories, novels, poems, and plays), aim to analyze
how Canada’s literati have reacted to social, political and cultural change since the
1980’s. The sessions will feature a combination of lecture, discussion, and group work. Texts:
Margaret Atwood, The Year of the Flood. Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries. All other texts
with be provided in a reader. Course Requirements: Active participation, homework
assignments, and a term paper of 15-20 pages.
35842 Concepts of Reality in American Culture Balestrini
Module: AMS-M32.1(10), AMS-M33.1/2/3(10), AMST-M32.3(7), EAS-M33.1/2/3(10), EAS-
M34.1/2/3(10), EAS-M31.1/4(10), ENGYM-M32A.3(7)
Hauptseminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Do wöch. 10 12 c.t. PT 2.0.3A Balestrini
Postmodernist theorists posit that not what but how we see is crucial. The writer and
entomologist Vladimir Nabokov demanded that the word “reality” should always be
written in quotation marks in order not to elevate a supposedly “common sense” of
existence to the level of truth. Linda Hutcheon argues in her seminal study The Politics of
Postmodernism that “[p]ostmodern art cannot but be political, at least in the sense that its
representations—its images and stories—are anything but neutral, however ‘aestheticized’
they may appear to be in their parodic self-reflexivity” (2nd ed., New York: Routledge,
2002: 3). In this seminar, we will discuss how literature, the visual arts, and popular culture
negotiate competing approaches to “reality,” especially when it comes to social and
political taboos related to issues of race, economic status, sexuality, and aesthetics. We
will study works and/or excerpts from works such as Nabokov’s Lolita with its solipsistic
narrator who cannot fathom his victim’s perception of reality, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man
with its central trope of racism as blindness, Grace Metalious’s Peyton Place (as well as its
film adaptation and its sequels), Maxine Hong Kingston’s Tripmaster Monkey, narratives
and poems by Beat writers, and a broad range of visuals and performances found in
“real” and “virtual” environments (such as the Internet). A reading list and preliminary
syllabus will be emailed to registered course participants so that participants can select
presentation topics before the beginning of instruction. Course requirements: in-class
participation, presentation, paper proposal with annotated bibliography, 15- to 20-page
research paper.
35843 Blackness, Multiculturalism and the American Screen Pospíšil
Module: AMS-M32.1(10), AMS-M33.1/2/3(10), AMST-M32.3(7), EAS-M33.1/2/3(10), EAS-M34.1/2/3(10),
EAS-M31.1/4(10), ENGYM-M32A.3(7), AMS-M32.3(8), AMS-M33.2 / 3(8), AMST-M23.w(5),
AMST-M32.2(5), EAS-M33.1/2/3(8), EAS-M34.1/2/3(8), EAS-M31.3/4(8), ENGS-M22.w(5),
ENGYM-M23.w(5), ENGYM-M32A.2(5), ENHS-M22.w(5), ENRS-M22.w(5)
Hauptseminar/Cultural Studies Advanced Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 15
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mo Einzel 16 20 c.t. 24.6.13 24.6.13 Künstler-
garderobe Pospíšil
Fr Einzel 14 20 c.t. 28.6.13 28.6.13 PT 1.0.2 Pospíšil
Mo Einzel 16 20 c.t. 1.7.13 1.7.13 Künstler-
garderobe Pospíšil
Do Einzel 16 20 c.t. 4.7.13 4.7.13 ZH 6 Pospíšil
Fr Einzel 14 20 c.t. 5.7.13 5.7.13 PT 1.0.2 Pospíšil
Since their introduction into American culture, movies have become not only a dominant
form of public entertainment; they have also functioned as an important source of
information. The film viewers – many of them recent immigrants – drew from them lessons
about the nature and operation of American institutions, the geography and history of the
country, and about the lifestyle and principal characteristics of its inhabitants. Such
representations were anything but objective windows into American reality. Heavily
mediated and embedded in the dominant discourse, mainstream films frequently
misinformed rather than informed their viewers, particularly when the representation of the
privileged groups was at stake. Using the screen construction of African Americans as its
principal example, the course attempts to map the evolution of the cinematic image of
“the other” at various stages in the development of American society, from negative
stereotyping to the deployment of its more subtle forms; from malevolent racial caricatures
to complex representations granting minority characters a much merited complexity and
humanity; from the omnipresence of whiteness on the screen to the embracing of the
nation’s ethnic and racial plurality. The course is structured chronologically around
selected case studies illustrating the various stages in the evolution of the Black screen
image. While initially we will focus on historical developments, in the second half of the
course we will assess in what manner images of blackness have been employed in this
millennium (by Hollywood, by independent filmmakers as well as by cable networks). While
doing so, attention will be paid not only to the problem of representation and mediation,
but also to questions concerning production, consumption, and reception of the selected
films. In this way students will become acquainted with basic approaches toward film as a
cultural document (and social practice). Moreover they will gain an intimate knowledge
of the representation of an important piece of the American multicultural mosaic and
about its transformations over time. Requirements: Regular attendance and active
participation; independent viewing of the selected films; reading from the reading
package; presentation of a film in class; research paper (for CS Adv: 8 to 10 pages; for HS:
15 pages).
Oberseminare
35844 Recent Research in American Studies Balestrini
Module: AMS-M35.1(6), EAS-M36.1(6)
Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Do wöch. 12 14 c.t. ZH 6 Balestrini
The course provides a forum for scholarly exchange in the field of American Studies.
Students who are currently working on their doctoral dissertations and master’s theses will
present their projects and invite critical responses from the audience. American Studies
research projects currently pursued or in the planning stage at the University of
Regensburg will be presented for critical examination. Special guest lectures and round
tables with international scholars visiting Regensburg American Studies and the
Regensburg European American Forum (REAF) will also be part of the course program and
give course participants the opportunity to share their ideas with experts in their respective
fields. M.A. students who wish to take the course for credit in AMS-M35 (M.A. program
American Studies) or EAS-M36 (M.A. program European American Studies) are expected
to submit the (tentative) title of the master’s thesis by 25 March 2013 and an abstract of
their thesis project (some 400 words) two weeks before the respective date of their
presentation (both by mail to nassim.balestrini@ur.de). The schedule will be available by
early April 2013 (and be mailed to participants and M.A. students registered for the
course).
Reviews
35846 Reading course for VL “Home is where the heart is” Zehelein
Module: BRST-M23.w(2), BRST-M32.w(2), ENGYM-M32B.w(2)
Seminar, SWS: 1
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mi wöch. 9 10 c.t. R 009 N.N.
35847 Review American Literature Balestrini
Module: AMST-M22.w(1), BRST-M22.w(1), ENGS-M22.w , ENGYM-M23.w , ENHS-M22.w , ENRS-M22.3(1)
Seminar, SWS: 1, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mi wöch. 12 12:45 s.t. PT 2.0.5 Balestrini
The course reviews American literary history from colonial times through the immediate
present. It addresses students at the end of their B.A. studies and students in the Lehramt
programs preparing for their final exams. Participants are expected to have acquired a
solid and broad knowledge of American literary and cultural history in the course of their
studies by attending both mandatory and additional courses. The review course builds in
particular on the two proseminars in American literature. In view of the regulations and
requirements of the new LPO I and the new format for the written tests in the state exam,
the review and practice of interpretive skills will be given special attention. Course text: Baym, Nina et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2012.
35848 Seminar für Examenskandidaten Depkat
Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 30
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Do 14-tägig 18 20 c.t. PT 2.0.3A Depkat
Writing an “akademische Abschlussarbeit” is a challenging task that is prone to make you
lonely. Presenting one’s project to others, and having it discussed by fellow students helps
a lot to clarify things and overcome loneliness. With this seminar, I want to offer students
who are either in the process of writing their Abschlussarbeit or about to begin with it the
opportunity to present their projects to an interested audience.
35957 Presentation B.A. Balestrini
Module: AMST-M31.1(3), BRST-M31.1(3), ENGS-M21.w(3), ENGYM-M31.w(3), ENHS-M21.w(3), ENLI-
M31.1(3), ENRS-M21.w(3)
Seminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Fr wöch. 12 14 c.t. ZH 5 Balestrini
This course will familiarize participants with advanced techniques and strategies of
academic presentation. Students will give lectures on potential B.A. thesis projects at
different stages in the research and writing process. Participation is limited to students
writing their B.A. theses in American Studies, British Studies, or English Linguistics.
Übungen
35852 Video Hour Amerikanistik Balestrini
Übung, SWS: 2
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mo wöch. 18 21 c.t. ZH 5 Balestrini s. Aushang
Kurse anderer Lehrstühle u. Institute in den MA-Programmen MAS und
MEAS:
Englische Sprachwissenschaft
35700 African American English in its Linguistic and Cultural Context Schneider
Module: AMS-M33.2/3(8), EAS-M32.1/2/3(8), ELG-M32.2(8), ELG-M33.2/3(8), ENGS-M22.w(4), ENGYM-
M22.w(4), ENGYM-M32C.1(4), ENHS-M22.w(4), ENLI-M23.2(4), ENLI-M25.2/3(4), ENLI-M32.1(4),
ENRS-M 22.w(4)
Vorlesung, SWS: 2
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Mi wöch. 8:30 10 c.t. H 8 Schneider
Weiteres siehe “Englische Sprachwissenschaft: Thematische Vorlesungen”
Politikwissenschaft
33324a Washington Summer Symposium on U.S. Foreign Policy under
President Obama Maier
Module: EAS-M31.1/4(10), EAS-M34.1/2/3(10)
Hauptseminar, SWS: 2, Max. Teilnehmer: 20
Tag Rhyth. von bis Zeit Beginn Ende Gruppe Raum Dozent Bemerkung
Block 28.7.13 8.8.13 Maier
Weiteres siehe Vorlesungsverzeichnis des Instituts für Politikwissenschaft
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