Seminar Gender at Work Work and Gender

Interdisziplinäres Seminar Das Seminar nähert sich dem Wandel der Arbeitsgesellschaft, indem sozialwissenschaftliche Texte (in deutscher und englischer Sprache und literarische wie mediale Verarbeitungen des Zusammenhangs von Arbeit und Geschlecht diskutiert und untersucht werden. Wir werden in englischer und deutscher Sprache kommunizieren und laden zu einem interdisziplinären Austausch ein. In this seminar, we will deal with fictional and medial representations of work - gendered work, that is. In Churchill's play Top Girls, a female manager of a job agency celebrates her promotion but seems to forget that, in Thatcher's Britain, her illegitimate daughter and her working class sister had to pay the price for it. What poses as a gender topic, is in the end dismantled as a class conflict. The novel Nice Work (Lodge) has a female university lecturer 'swap' her position with a managing director of an industrial casting company; and Crichton's Disclosure focuses on a sexual harassment case at a computer company - only that the victim is male. The movies all highlight the working situation under a gendered focus: who or what defines male vs. female work, what does it mean to be out of work, in how far does work shape and influence lives? We will approach the topics mentioned above from a social science' and a literary studies' perspective; dealing with theoretical texts from the respective backgrounds. Social science, gender studies and English literature students are invited attend, thus broadening and enriching our interdisciplinary perspectives. Texts: Caryl Churchill, Top Girls/ David Lodge, Nice Work/ Michael Crichton, Disclosure Movies: It's a Free World/ The Whole Monty/ Billy Elliot - I will dance FB 04 Sozialwesen Uni Kassel WiSe 2010/11 Lehrveranstaltungspool FB 04 FB 04 Sozialwesen Prof. Dr. Bach Susanne