Introduction to English Linguistics

Dozent/in:

Manfred Krug

Termine:

Di, 12:15 - 14:00, Online-Meeting
Einzeltermin am 6.7.2021, Einzeltermin am 13.7.2021, 12:15 - 14:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This course is designed to introduce beginning students to the central terms and topics in current (English) linguistics. While the focus will be on present-day English, many modern irregularities (such as the differences between spelling and pronunciation or irregular verbs) can be explained in historical terms. We will therefore occasionally digress into the history of the English language in order to better understand the present. Topics to be dealt with include phonetics, phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax and sociolinguistics. One class will also be devoted to the major contrasts between English and German. In order to equip students with the basic analytical skills that are essential for future linguists and teachers alike, part of the course especially the accompanying tutorials and workshops will be practical in nature. We will therefore analyse authentic modern English texts from a linguistic point of view.

Jews in England: From William the Conqueror to Oliver Cromwell and Beyond

Dozent/in:

Christoph Houswitschka

Termine:

Di, 16:00 - 18:00, Raum n.V.
Einzeltermin am 9.7.2021, 12:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.
Einzeltermin am 10.7.2021, Einzeltermin am 11.7.2021, 9:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This lecture will offer you a survey of many centuries of Jewish life in Great Britain. Jews arrived with the Norman conquerors in the 11th century. The emphasis is on Jewish life in the Middle Ages (York Pogrom and blood libel) and Jews in English literature (Chaucer and Shakespeare). Jews were driven out of England under Edward I in the 13th century to return under Puritan rule in the 17th century. Oliver Cromwell championed readmission of Jews from the Continent using a variety of arguments that present England as a rapidly changing, progressive society. Eighteenth-century enlightenment and Victorian middle-class culture brought about the assimilation of many Jews. When hundreds of thousands of Ashkenazi arrived from Eastern Europe around the turn of the 19th century, the London East End and other cities in England became centres of Jewish culture.
The lecture will not only address Jewish immigration and the thriving Jewish communities, its literature and its cultural and scientific achievements, but also antisemitism and ‘the trials of diaspora’. Finally, the lecture informs you about Jewish synagogues, the London Jewish Museum, and forms of Holocaust Memory in the UK.

American Literature I (Colonial Era - Romanticism)

Dozent/in:

Christine Gerhardt

Termine:

Mo, 16:00 - 18:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This lecture provides an overview of America's literary history, focusing on the colonial era, the enlightenment, and romanticism.

The thematic, formal and stylistic features of a wide range of texts—sermons, travelogues, poems, essays, short stories, and novels—will be discussed in the broader context of America's cultural and intellectual history. In order to understand how different groups of Americans have imagined their culture at specific moments in time, we will analyze texts that address the diversity of American experiences in terms of religion, race, class, gender, region, and political conviction. We will also explore how texts from different genres have critically engaged with the past and with other cultures, charting new directions for the relationship between literature and culture.

Overall, we will interrogate to which degree processes of modernization and the ideal of democratization can be understood as American literature's driving forces.

The syllabus will be available on the Virtual Campus.

How to Write a Term Paper (inkl. Betreuungsübung BA Amerikanistik)

Dozent/in:

Nicole K. Konopka

Termine:

Di, 18:00 - 21:00, Raum n.V.
First Session: April 20, 6 p.m. (sharp) via MS Teams

Inhalt:

This course aims to assist students in writing their first term paper in literary or cultural studies in Bamberg. We will discuss general formal aspects and content related criteria of an academic paper, such as possible topics, structure, suitable theoretical approaches. Primarily, however, we will practice how to choose a topic, how to develop a coherent structure, how to involve theoretical frameworks, and how to adhere to the MLA citation rules. Finally, we will discuss the different types of source material that are suitable for the list of references of your paper. Students have the chance to present a provisional outline in a closed discussion forum, where they will receive feedback from fellow students and the instructor.

This course is also addressed at students who are writing their BA-thesis with Dr. Konopka (American Studies). Therefore, this course provides the guidance sessions for the BA thesis (Betreuungsübung) for students in the BA programs who write their thesis in literary or cultural studies. It assists students in the preparation of their final paper, and gives them an opportunity to discuss their work with other students. BA-candidates will present parts of their final paper, offering it for discussion and feedback. If you are planning to attend this class, make sure that the instructor will also be your thesis advisor. Please contact Dr. Konopka well in advance to discuss your topic and the requirements for the supervision.

Please note that this is a practical training course and not a lecture! Everyone is expected to participate in the tasks and discussions.

FIRST SESSION: April 20, 6 p.m. (sharp) on MS Teams (teams code will be provided via the VC)

Indigenous America in the 21st Century: A Cultural Examination

Dozent/in:

Johanna Feier

Termine:

Mo, 18:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

In this course, we will examine how indigenous authors and filmmakers engage with contemporary issues of Native America. How do their stories negotiate the individual and communal situations of indigenous peoples on a continent characterized by over four hundred years of cultural, socio-economic, and political oppression? Recent events have marked historic milestones in recognizing Native Americans on a national stage. The nomination of Deb Haaland, an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo, to become Secretary of the Interior would make her – if confirmed – the first ever Native American cabinet secretary and head of the fraught Bureau of Indian Affairs. Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, became the first indigenous American writer to be named the United States Poet Laureate in 2019. While these long overdue steps signify crucial strides in formally acknowledging the cultural, public contributions of Native Americans, they also shed light on the sweeping marginalization that indigenes in the U.S. continue to experience.

Through a study of selected works by Harjo, Natalie Diaz, Luci Tapahonso, Layli Long Soldier, and Stephen Graham Jones, among others, and films such as Sterlin Harjo’s Four Sheets to the Wind and Andrew Okpeaha MacLean’s Sikumi, we will analyze an array of storytellers’ versions of indigenous America in the 21st century.

Empfohlene Literatur:

A digital reader will be made available at the beginning of the course.

Introduction to English and American Literary Studies (A)

Dozent/in:

Susan Brähler

Termine:

Mo, 14:15 - 15:45, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This course provides a concise introduction to major themes and methods in the study of English and American Literature. We will discuss key features of the main literary genres poetry, prose fiction and drama, explore selected approaches in literary theory and criticism as a basis for analyzing and interpreting literary texts, and survey the main periods and developments of predominantly English literary history.

Please note that all Introductions to English and American Literary Studies prepare students for the analysis and interpretation of both English and American literature. The only difference is that the Introductions taught by members of the English Literature section use literary examples from a primarily British context, and those taught by members of the American Studies section use primarily American examples. Choosing one or the other Introduction does not mean that you “specialize” in English or American literature, and you don’t have to take your later courses in the same area.

The following applies only to students whose Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft contains both the Introduction to Literary Studies and a lecture:
As of now, the final written exam of this Introduction to Literary Studies is also the module exam for the Basismodul Literaturwissenschaft. The exam will contain questions about both the content of the Introduction and of a lecture ("Vorlesung") (free choice: English or American Literature lecture). Students, therefore, are advised to take the introductory class either after attending the lecture OR in the same semester.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Meyer, Michael. English and American Literatures. Tübingen: Francke, 2011. (4th edition!)

Introduction to English and American Literary Studies (Course B)

Dozent/in:

Nicole K. Konopka

Termine:

Do, 14:00 - 16:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This course provides a concise introduction to major themes and methods in the study of English and American literature with a focus on American literature.

We will discuss key features of the main literary genres poetry, prose fiction, and drama, explore selected approaches in literary theory and criticism as a basis for analyzing and interpreting literary texts, and survey the main periods and developments of American literary history. The focus, however, will be on the discussion of textual examples from these various vantage points. The goal of this course is to enable you to articulate up-to-date readings of texts from different genres, in their cultural contexts, informed by key theories and analytical methods.

Please note that all Introductions to English and American Literary Studies prepare students for the analysis and interpretation of both English and American literature. The only difference is that the Introduction taught by members of the English Literature section uses literary examples from a primarily British context, and the one taught by members of the American Studies section uses primarily American examples. Choosing one or the other Introduction does not mean that you "specialize" in English or American literature, and you don't have to take your later courses in the same area.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Required Reading:

Michael Meyer. English and American Literature. 4th ed. UTB Basic. Tübingen: Francke, 2010. (or a newer edition; Ebook welcome!)

"This Double-Consciousness": African American and Afro German Literature and Culture

Dozent/in:

Mareike Spychala

Termine:

Einzeltermin am 23.4.2021, 12:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.
Einzeltermin am 24.4.2021, 9:00 - 16:00, Raum n.V.
Einzeltermin am 7.5.2021, 12:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.
Einzeltermin am 8.5.2021, 9:00 - 16:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This interdisciplinary course has been designed especially for North-American exchange students and German students, inviting them to study each other's cultures together. Readings and classroom discussion will be both in English and German.

African American literature and culture are vibrant and important parts of the larger literary and cultural landscape of the United States. Similarly, works by Afro German authors and artists are becoming an important part of German literature and are increasingly attracting scholarly scrutiny. In this German-American seminar, we will analyze different literary and cultural products by African American and Afro German authors and artists that deal with issues of race and national belonging in their respective countries. We will compare which narrative and artistic strategies these authors use to represent, emphasize, and contextualize the experiences of African Americans and Afro Germans in nations that still imagine themselves as primarily white.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please make sure to read these texts BEFORE the start of the course!

• Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
• Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi, Destined to Witness/Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger (1999)
• Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
• SchwarzRund, Biskaya (2020)

Films

• Harriet (2020)
• Moonlight (2016)

Further readings will be made available through the VC course.

New Approaches to Old Favorites: Re-Reading North American Children's and Young Adult's Book Classics (1860s-1960s)

Dozent/in:

Nicole K. Konopka

Termine:

Mi, 12:00 - 14:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

Some still believe that children's picture books and young adult (YA) novels are merely preparatory steps on a reader's path towards engaging with "serious" literature. In this class, however, we will investigate these two, often marginalized, literary genres in their own right, while also paying close attention to their current critical reception within the scholarly community.

Each of our primary texts finds unique, complex, and dynamic ways to engage its audience – regardless of the age of the individual reader. Using those classics of US-American and Canadian children's and YA literature as starting points, we will ultimately examine and discuss new ways of reading and interpreting literature. For this purpose, we will consult a new literary theory (almost) every week, in order to fully understand the complexity of YA novels and children's picture books published between the 1860s and the 1960s.

Attention: Participants of this class are strongly encouraged to finish (re-)reading the three YA novels before the beginning of the semester, since your weekly reading will consist of additional required reading including essays and articles - get ready for a rigorous reading list of feminist, deconstructionist, new historicist, and other literary criticism!

Empfohlene Literatur:

YA Fiction (to be read BEFORE the beginning of the semester!):

• Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868)
• Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885)
• Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1906)

(You may want to get hold of critical editions of those books, for example via https://wwnorton.com/ >> Norton Critical Editions = highly recommended!)

Children's Books (to be read during the semester):

• E.B. White, Charlotte's Web (1952)
• Ezra Jack Keats, The Snowy Day (1962)
• Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are (1963)
• Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969)

(and possibly some more)

Feminist Fiction – Pre and Post #MeToo

Dozent/in:

Eva-Sabine Zehelein

Termine:

Di, 12:00 - 14:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

We will look at selected fictional (and non-fictional) texts of the last 50 years, highlighting feminist demands, the waves of feminist activism, and debates within the feminist movement. Special focus will be on issues of female bodily integrity and reproductive rights.

Among the authors we discuss are Marge Piercy, Margaret Atwood, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Roxanne Gay, Deborah Feldman, and Naomi Alderman.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please buy and read: Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time (1976), Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Naomi Alderman, The Power (2017). Please watch: Unorthodox and Transparent. Additional texts will be made available via VC.

Redlining in America – 1934 to Today

Dozent/in:

Eva-Sabine Zehelein

Termine:

Mo, 12:00 - 14:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

During the 1930s, color-coded maps produced by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) allocated financial 'risk' of mortgages and loans to urban neighborhoods on the basis of racialization of space – whether the neighborhood population was predominantly white ("green: best") or black and brown ("red: hazardous" – hence redlining). As part of the New Deal measures, these maps were meant to stabilize the housing market. In essence, it meant that people in redlined areas were (and still often are) barred from mortgages and home loans – with wide-ranging consequences for families and neighborhoods. The term "redlining" became a shorthand for the "Jim Crow of the North" – a number of blatantly discriminatory and racist practices and mechanisms which have ever since segregated American cities and cemented inequality and systemic racism.

This class will trace the history of redlining, and unravel the long-term effects on (sub)urban lives, especially when it comes to asset allocation and family wealth, education, policing and criminal justice, and (environmental and reproductive) health.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please buy Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. All other texts – fiction as well as non-fiction – will be made available via VC.

How to Write a Term Paper (inkl. Betreuungsübung BA Amerikanistik)

Dozent/in:

Nicole K. Konopka

Termine:

Di, 18:00 - 21:00, Raum n.V.
First Session: April 20, 6 p.m. (sharp) via MS Teams

Inhalt:

This course aims to assist students in writing their first term paper in literary or cultural studies in Bamberg. We will discuss general formal aspects and content related criteria of an academic paper, such as possible topics, structure, suitable theoretical approaches. Primarily, however, we will practice how to choose a topic, how to develop a coherent structure, how to involve theoretical frameworks, and how to adhere to the MLA citation rules. Finally, we will discuss the different types of source material that are suitable for the list of references of your paper. Students have the chance to present a provisional outline in a closed discussion forum, where they will receive feedback from fellow students and the instructor.

This course is also addressed at students who are writing their BA-thesis with Dr. Konopka (American Studies). Therefore, this course provides the guidance sessions for the BA thesis (Betreuungsübung) for students in the BA programs who write their thesis in literary or cultural studies. It assists students in the preparation of their final paper, and gives them an opportunity to discuss their work with other students. BA-candidates will present parts of their final paper, offering it for discussion and feedback. If you are planning to attend this class, make sure that the instructor will also be your thesis advisor. Please contact Dr. Konopka well in advance to discuss your topic and the requirements for the supervision.

Please note that this is a practical training course and not a lecture! Everyone is expected to participate in the tasks and discussions.

FIRST SESSION: April 20, 6 p.m. (sharp) on MS Teams (teams code will be provided via the VC)

Indigenous America in the 21st Century: A Cultural Examination

Dozent/in:

Johanna Feier

Termine:

Mo, 18:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

In this course, we will examine how indigenous authors and filmmakers engage with contemporary issues of Native America. How do their stories negotiate the individual and communal situations of indigenous peoples on a continent characterized by over four hundred years of cultural, socio-economic, and political oppression? Recent events have marked historic milestones in recognizing Native Americans on a national stage. The nomination of Deb Haaland, an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo, to become Secretary of the Interior would make her – if confirmed – the first ever Native American cabinet secretary and head of the fraught Bureau of Indian Affairs. Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, became the first indigenous American writer to be named the United States Poet Laureate in 2019. While these long overdue steps signify crucial strides in formally acknowledging the cultural, public contributions of Native Americans, they also shed light on the sweeping marginalization that indigenes in the U.S. continue to experience.

Through a study of selected works by Harjo, Natalie Diaz, Luci Tapahonso, Layli Long Soldier, and Stephen Graham Jones, among others, and films such as Sterlin Harjo’s Four Sheets to the Wind and Andrew Okpeaha MacLean’s Sikumi, we will analyze an array of storytellers’ versions of indigenous America in the 21st century.

Empfohlene Literatur:

A digital reader will be made available at the beginning of the course.

Malcolm X, die Nation of Islam und die afroamerikanischen Muslime

Dozent/in:

Patrick Franke

Termine:

Do, 14:15 - 15:45, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

Das Leben des schwarzen Bürgerrechtlers Malcolm X, der zu den Anführern der US-amerikanischen Bürgerrechtsbewegung gehörte, ist schon mehrfach verfilmt worden: Malcolm X trat nach einer Gangsterkarriere in den 1940er Jahren der Organisation Nation of Islam (NOI) bei und wurde zu einem ihrer wichtigsten Wortführer; später kam es zum Bruch mit dem NOI-Anführer Elijah Muhammad, und Malcolm X trat zum sunnitischen Islam über. Seine Ermordung im Februar 1965 durch NOI-Mitglieder ist bis heute nicht vollständig aufgeklärt und weiter Gegenstand öffentlicher Diskussionen. Warum trat Malcolm X der NOI bei, und was bewog ihn, sie wieder zu verlassen? Wie ist die NOI entstanden, durch welche Ideologie zeichnet sie sich aus, und was hat diese Ideologie mit dem Islam zu tun? Welchen Einfluss hatte die Konversion von Malcolm X zum sunnitischen Islam auf die anderen afroamerikanischen Muslime? Die Biographie von Malcolm X dient in diesem Seminar als Ausgangspunktspunkt für eine allgemeine Erkundung des afro-amerikanischen Islams und seines Schwankens zwischen Black Supremacy, Eintreten für soziale Gerechtigkeit und Sunnitisierung.

Hausarbeiten können in dieser Lehrveranstaltung auch in Form von Wikipedia-Artikeln erbracht werden.

Empfohlene Literatur:

• Katrin Simon: Die Erben des Malcolm X: afroamerikanische Muslime zwischen Widerstand und Anpassung. Bielefeld 2015.
• Dawn-Marie Gibson: A history of the Nation of Islam: race, Islam, and the quest for freedom. Santa Barbara, CA 2012.
• Dawn-Marie Gibson, Jamillah Ashira Karim: Women of the nation: between black protest and Sunni Islam. New York 2014.
• Matthias Gardell: Countdown to Armaggedon: Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. London 1996.

Introduction to British and American Cultural Studies

Dozent/in:

Lorena Bickert

Termine:

Mi, 16:00 - 18:15, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This course offers an introduction to key themes and methods in American cultural studies as an interdisciplinary field of inquiry. Thematically, we will explore issues such as religion and immigration, the frontier and regionalism, class and economic success, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, America as nature s nation; conceptually, the focus will be on equality and difference as utopian ideas that have shaped American culture from colonial times to the present.

The course is designed to provide you with basic skills in American cultural studies, with a strong emphasis on reading and discussing various texts in their cultural contexts. Our primary readings will include short stories, poems, and excerpts from novels as well as historical documents, essays, political speeches, photographs, popular songs, and films, while several theoretical essays will provide us with a language for discussing changing concepts of culture.

"This Double-Consciousness": African American and Afro German Literature and Culture

Dozent/in:

Mareike Spychala

Termine:

Einzeltermin am 23.4.2021, 12:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.
Einzeltermin am 24.4.2021, 9:00 - 16:00, Raum n.V.
Einzeltermin am 7.5.2021, 12:00 - 20:00, Raum n.V.
Einzeltermin am 8.5.2021, 9:00 - 16:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

This interdisciplinary course has been designed especially for North-American exchange students and German students, inviting them to study each other's cultures together. Readings and classroom discussion will be both in English and German.

African American literature and culture are vibrant and important parts of the larger literary and cultural landscape of the United States. Similarly, works by Afro German authors and artists are becoming an important part of German literature and are increasingly attracting scholarly scrutiny. In this German-American seminar, we will analyze different literary and cultural products by African American and Afro German authors and artists that deal with issues of race and national belonging in their respective countries. We will compare which narrative and artistic strategies these authors use to represent, emphasize, and contextualize the experiences of African Americans and Afro Germans in nations that still imagine themselves as primarily white.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please make sure to read these texts BEFORE the start of the course!

• Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
• Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi, Destined to Witness/Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger (1999)
• Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
• SchwarzRund, Biskaya (2020)

Films

• Harriet (2020)
• Moonlight (2016)

Further readings will be made available through the VC course.

Redlining in America – 1934 to Today

Dozent/in:

Eva-Sabine Zehelein

Termine:

Mo, 12:00 - 14:00, Raum n.V.

Inhalt:

During the 1930s, color-coded maps produced by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) allocated financial 'risk' of mortgages and loans to urban neighborhoods on the basis of racialization of space – whether the neighborhood population was predominantly white ("green: best") or black and brown ("red: hazardous" – hence redlining). As part of the New Deal measures, these maps were meant to stabilize the housing market. In essence, it meant that people in redlined areas were (and still often are) barred from mortgages and home loans – with wide-ranging consequences for families and neighborhoods. The term "redlining" became a shorthand for the "Jim Crow of the North" – a number of blatantly discriminatory and racist practices and mechanisms which have ever since segregated American cities and cemented inequality and systemic racism.

This class will trace the history of redlining, and unravel the long-term effects on (sub)urban lives, especially when it comes to asset allocation and family wealth, education, policing and criminal justice, and (environmental and reproductive) health.

Empfohlene Literatur:

Please buy Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. All other texts – fiction as well as non-fiction – will be made available via VC.