Theoretical Approaches to the Body Reading Course

Students can only participate in this module if - they enroll in both parts of the module (9.1. Theoretical Approaches to the Body: Reading Course and 9.2. Theoretical Approaches to the Body: Research Projects) - they attend the weekly seminar sessions, one of two academic events in Siegen and the student conference at the end of the term (see dates) This module will focus on a particular type of bodythe body of the superhero/ïne. The two-part structure of this module allows for both reading up on primary and secondary literature and putting the knowledge thus gained into practice in the form of a student conference. In our weekly sessions, we will first give an overview of the history of superhero comic books and the ideological and socio-historical roots of the superhero/ïne character. Subsequently, we will discuss theoretical approaches to the manifold aspects of the discursive production of the body, including gender and sexuality, dis/ability, and race and ethnicity. Students who want to do a Prüfungsleistung will be asked to develop their own analysis of one of these aspects in a given superhero comic book or film as a group project and to present this thesis in the form of a conference paper at the end of the term. At the same time, students doing a Studienleistung will organize the conference at which said papers are to be presented and will help the conference speakers in the process of developing their talk by giving feedback. In addition, attendance is compulsory for a minimum of one of the following two academic events in Siegen: primarily comics-themed: German-language reading of graphic novelists at VielSeitig Festival (Sunday, 30 Nov 2016, 2-4 pm, vielseitig-festival.eu/). Primarily body-themed: Students panel at a conference on Ex Machina (1/2 Dec 2016, details tba). Of our weekly meetings, 2 SWS will be dedicated to the discussion of the reading material on key theoretical approaches to the superheroic and the body while another 2 SWS will be spent on the organization of the conference and the planning and rehearsal of the conference papers. Thus, the course offers participants a chance to acquire a solid knowledge of theoretical approaches to representations of the body as well as the medium of the superhero comic book, while at the same time giving ample opportunity to improve their presentation and organization skills. The student conference will take place on 20 and 21 January 2017 (two full days) at Adolf-Reichwein-Campus. Studienleistung: attendance at at least one academic event in Nov/Dec (details see above), conference organization, feedback Prüfungsleistung: conference paper Peters, Maria Verena , M.A. Universität Siegen WiSe 2016/17 Dr. Etter Lukas