Universität Wien
Warning! The directory is not yet complete and will be amended until the beginning of the term.

120691 PS Proseminar Cultural and Media Studies (2018W)

American Popular Culture in the 19th Century

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work

Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Tuesday 09.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 16.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 23.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 30.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 06.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 13.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 20.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 27.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 04.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 11.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 08.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 15.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 22.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19
  • Tuesday 29.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Raum 4 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-19

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This class explores 19th century popular cultures in the United States, with a particular focus on performance cultures. We will begin by asking ourselves what it is that makes cultural practices popular, and we will also discuss the challenges of studying such popular culture historically. We will then look at specific formations of popular culture such as the early national and antebellum theater, the sentimental novel, early celebrity culture, blackface minstrelsy, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, or the Barnum & Bailey Circus; throughout, we will explore how these popular cultural practices negotiated shifting ideas of race, class, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, region and nation. We will also critically discuss how such popular cultural practices were used to legitimize and/or question race-based slavery and segregation, the genocide of Native American populations, as well as the “cultures of U.S. imperialism” (Amy Kaplan). Finally, we will examine the legacies of these popular cultural practices and the ways in which they still haunt American culture today.

Throughout the course, we will also be concerned with questions of cultural theory and method, as well as with paper writing skills.

Assessment and permitted materials

Regular attendance (max. 2 absences), active participation in class, expert session, paper proposal and annotated bibliography, proseminar paper

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Active class participation (10%)
Expert session (15%)
Paper proposal and annotated bibliography (15%)
Proseminar paper (60%)

You need to complete all requirements to complete the course. The overall grading scheme is (1): 100-91%, (2): 90-81%, (3): 80-71%, (4): 70-61%, (5): 60-0%

Examination topics

n/a

Reading list

You need to buy/borrow the following books/films:

Larry McMurtry, The Colonel and Little Missie: Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and the Beginnings of Superstardom in America
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (please get the Oxford World’s Classics edition)
Spike Lee, Bamboozled (film, 2000)

Association in the course directory

Studium: BA 612;
Code/Modul: BA09.1;
Lehrinhalt: 12-4040

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:33