Political Communication 2 Election Watch

Most commentators are appalled by the polarization and negativity of the current American presidential election, which climaxes on 6 November 2012. Last semester we concentrated on discourse strategies taken in a broad sense, which included uncontrolled viral communication via social media and YouTube. We saw how the rich PACs (= political action committees),which campaign independently from the candidates they support, are changing the communication tactics in elections - and strangely disempowering the candidates. Surely immersing yourself in such a significant political event and the rhetorical strategies involved will be useful for your later teaching or professions in cultural fields! We will be updating two online glossaries on the Fakultät I website: http://www.fb3.uni-siegen.de/anglistik/projects/glossary/glossary.html and http://bscw.avmz.uni-siegen.de/pub/bscw.cgi/0/3426422 > click on -unit 11_ Political Discourse Glossary.- Of course we will try to understand the complex American election system, but the emphasis will be on communicative analysis. More excitingly, we (= the seminar participants and American studies colleagues) will conduct an -election night watch- in the X-building of ZIMT. We will be following big-screen, live broadcasting on CNN and NBC as well as internet coverage. Who will win the contested -swing states- and the Hispanic voters, perhaps the key minority in this election: Democratic Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney? The outcome could result in a major change (yet again) in American politics... Anglistik - Sprachpraxis Universität Siegen WiSe 2012/13 Ph.D. Waegner Cathy Ph.D