Pro Hauptseminar Sociolinguistic Studies Structures of Othering

Black is only black when compared to white! That is what Paul Gilroy (2000) claimed in Against race. He, thus, raises an important question. Is being -Black- and being -white- a fact that can be described - or created in active process of construction? In other words: Is it more adequate to talk about Otherness or about Othering? Otherness is not a new concept in Linguistics. Linguistic phenomena related to the Self and the Other, to culture, strangers, assimilation, exotism, xenophobia etc. were discussed by important linguists like Saussure, Peirce, Bakhtin, Lévinas, Kristeva and others. In our seminar, we will first try to retrace those semiotic foundations. In a second step, we will continue with a focus on sociolinguistic concepts of Otherness in relation to race and migration. Therefore, we will discuss postcolonial perspectives like those of Edward Said or Homi Bhabha, as well as Foucault’s concept of discourse. Finally, in a third step, We will have a closer look at contemporary contributions from Critical Whiteness Studies to define the linguistic structures of Othering applied by -whites” in the USA, UK and Germany to construct -Others-. Throughout this process, we will perform small case studies on linguistic structures of racism and discrimination in different fields of society. Relevant texts will be presented in the first lesson Bemerkung Bitte beachten Sie, dass das Seminar möglicher Weise nicht - wie oben angezeigt - am Mittwoch dem 22.10. beginnt, sondern erst eine Woche später. Eine definitive Information erhalten Sie, insofern Sie angemeldet sind, kurz vor Seminarbeginn per Mail. Voraussetzungen Passed Introduction to Linguistics Leistungsnachweis all students: oral presentation for confirmation of active participation; for graded participation: exam or term paper (in accordance with your Prüfungsordnung!) FB 02 Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik Passed Introduction to Linguistics all students: oral presentation for confirmation of active participation; for graded participation: exam or term paper (in accordance with your Prüfungsordnung!) Uni Kassel WiSe 2014/15 English and American Studies NF Becker Sonja