Universität Wien

124220 SE Cultural and Media Studies Seminar (2023S)

Myths of America in Popular Culture: An Intersectional Approach

11.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung

An/Abmeldung

Hinweis: Ihr Anmeldezeitpunkt innerhalb der Frist hat keine Auswirkungen auf die Platzvergabe (kein "first come, first served").

Details

max. 18 Teilnehmer*innen
Sprache: Englisch

Lehrende

Termine (iCal) - nächster Termin ist mit N markiert

Montag 06.03. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 20.03. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 27.03. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 17.04. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 24.04. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 08.05. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 15.05. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 22.05. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 05.06. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 12.06. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 19.06. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13
Montag 26.06. 08:15 - 09:45 Raum 3 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-EG-13

Information

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung

Myths, in US-America much like in any other societies, are stories that bind people together through a presumably shared history, identity, and values. Many American myths – from the Pilgrims to Pocahontas, the American West or the American Dream – circulate today in popular culture; sometimes they are focused explicitly (for example in Disney’s Pocahontas), sometimes they form the cultural background for other stories (any story “from rags to riches,” for example). In this course, we will examine some of the major myths in popular culture (film, TV) that significantly impact what people living inside and outside of US-America believe that American identity, American values, American history, and American culture are. We will analyze some of the best-known myths and counter-myths about America in popular culture: the Pilgrim story, Pocahontas, Abolition, the American Dream, the American West etc. We will analyze how popular culture affirms, distributes, and co-creates these and other myths, and how they circulate through popular culture globally. Furthermore, we will analyze how myths about certain groups of minoritized US citizens, for example Black women or Black men, are constructed to safeguard unequal social structures. Through an intersectional perspective, we will focus on how myths are interwoven with and confirm racial, sexual, gendered and ableist stereotypes, ideologies and hierarchies. Additionally, we will analyze how popular culture critically questions myths and mythmaking, potentially offering venues for critique and resistance to cultural hegemony.

BA students will be assisted in developing relevant research questions for theses that use basic methodology and theoretical background. MA students are expected to rely on their more advanced knowledge of texts, theories and methodologies to develop a more independent and more critical research project, also as a way of further developing skills and competences for their Master theses.

Art der Leistungskontrolle und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

All students must present in class and participate in the class discussions and in group work. Everyone is welcome to use PPP to support their presentations, use Moodle apps, show video and audio examples, and bring printed materials.

Mindestanforderungen und Beurteilungsmaßstab

Class participation, and minor tasks throughout the semester (25%)
proposal and annotated bibliography, and presentations (25%)
BA thesis, small research paper or longer seminar paper (50%)
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%

Prüfungsstoff

Regular attendance (max. 2 absences); class participation, a presentation of a theoretical concept (based on the class readings), a group presentation and minor tasks throughout the semester; a research proposal for the term paper, incl. annotated bibliography; BA students will either write a short seminar paper or a BA thesis; MA students will write a longer seminar paper.

Literatur

Paul, Heike. The Myths That Made America: An Introduction to American Studies. The Myths That Made America : An Introduction to American Studies, 2014. https://doi.org/10.26530/oapen_627790.

Stuart Hall: Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. Sage Publications & Open University, 1997 (Chapter 1, pp. 15-64 and Chapter 4, pp. 223-274)
Patricia Hill Collins, “Intersectionality’s Definitional Dilemmas,” Annual Review of Sociology, no. 41 (2015), pp. 1-20.
James Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your History Textbook Got Wrong, Chapter 5 “Gone with the Wind.”

Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe. As An Indigenous Woman, I Always Hate Thanksgiving. This Year I'm Terrified Of It. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/thanksgiving-coronavirus-health-indigenous-peoples_n_5fbd44bbc5b6e4b1ea464350

Jordan Savage. “‘There Was a Veil upon You, Pocahontas’: The Pocahontas Story as a Myth of American Heterogeneity in the Liberal Western.” Papers on Language & Literature 54, no. 1 (2018): 7–24.

Debbie Olson. “Cowboy Cops and Black Lives Matter: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and the Great White West[Ern].” Text Matters: A Journal of Literature, Theory and Culture, no. 10 (November 24, 2020): 93–117. https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-2931.10.06.

Donna Murch (15 January 2016). Five myths about Martin Luther King. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-martin-luther-king/2016/01/15/4094b44a-ba62-11e5-829c-26ffb874a18d_story.html

Ronald Schenk. Crime and Punishment in America: A Cultural Black Hole. In Singer, Thomas. Cultural Complexes and the Soul of America : Myth, Psyche, and Politics /. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY :: Routledge, 2020, pp. 142-167.

Scott. (2017). The language of strong black womanhood : myths, models, messages, and a new mandate for self-care /. Lexington Books. – Introduction.

D. Marvin Jones. Race, Sex, and Suspicion : the Myth of the Black Male /. Praeger, 2005. – Chapter 2

DeLong, William. “The Forgotten Black Cowboys Of The Wild West.” all that’s interesting. (article and podcast episode)
https://allthatsinteresting.com/black-cowboys

Nikole Hannah-Jones. “Democracy.” The 1619 Project. The New York Times Company, 2021, pp. 48-99.

Zuordnung im Vorlesungsverzeichnis

Studium: BA 612, MA 844(2);
Code/Modul: BA 09.2; MA 844(2) 4.1, 4.2;
Lehrinhalt: 12-0405

Letzte Änderung: Mi 01.03.2023 09:48