Theories of American Culture

What is culture? What do we study when we study culture and why? What concepts of culture are in use today and why, and how can they be used fruitfully in critical practice? Questions such as these will preoccupy us throughout this seminar. Focusing on the United States as a particularly dynamic and influential culture we will first look at aspects of the so-called -American experience” that have been theorized by critics like Leo Marx, Richard Slotkin, or Jane Tompkins. What basic assumptions are implicitly inscribed in these theories? How have they shaped our perception of the United States as exceptional, as -different?” In a second step we will trace the shift from Americanists’ use of concepts of culture to -cultural studies” with its emphasis on popular culture, media studies, multiculturalism, and gender. What aspects from British Cultural Studies have been applied to an American Studies framework and how? How has Postcolonial Theory been used to theorize America? How have American Studies scholars approached the complex interaction of cultures that make up the contemporary United States? How have theories of American culture and methods of -doing” such theories shaped our understanding of the United States? How have they shaped American Studies as an academic field? Recommended Reading In preparation of this seminar you may want to read Carolyn Porter, -‘What We Know that We Don’t Know:’ Remapping American Literary Studies,” American Literary History 6.3 (1994): 467-526. Advanced Anglophone Studies, Master of Arts Reader – all course material on StudIP Assessment Tasks – will be specified on the syllabus (StudIP) before the semester starts. There will be a variety of tasks most of which demand thorough preparation and close reading. Active participation is a must; you will be asked to prepare statements or response logs, and there will also be minor exams. Registration – StudIP 01.03. - 31.03.2015 Size Restriction – 25 Studiengänge – FÜBA, MAAS, MEd LG, 3. Fach MEd LG Further Information –kirsten.twelbeck@engsem.~AmerA, AAS1, AAS3 Universität Hannover SoSe 2015 Englisch, Master LA Gymnasium PD Dr. phil. Twelbeck Kirsten phil