340114 VO Text und Kultur 2 Englisch (2022S)

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this course is to gain a profound understanding of how archetypes work in a specific cultural (mainly US) and/or intercultural context and how they can be identified and put to use in everyday human communication and interaction. At the end of the course, students should also be able to make use of these concepts in their own writing.

CONTENT
Apart from different approaches to culture, text and the latest communication theories, we will look at the historic, cultural and social development of the USA through the lens of C.G. Jung's concept of archetypes and the hero's journey, as seen by Joseph Campbell.
As cross-cultural patterns of attaching meaning (transkulturelle Bedeutungsmuster), archetypes lend themselves to explore the roles of typical and atypical characters, events, and concepts/motifs that have shaped the history and culture of the United States during the course of time. We will explore which archetypes can be found around decisive moments and turning points in the country's development, what impact they had on the latter and how they have come to express themselves in various kinds of texts (literature, lyrics, media, advertising etc.).

METHOD
Based on an introduction into concepts around information/text, the latest communication theories and their impact on a particular culture, the course will focus on specific US-related archetypes and their respective past, present and future roles in shaping the country's development. The classical hero's journey - an algorithm for successful storytelling widely used in all genres - will also be discussed in this context. Using selected expamples from classical literature, lyrics, advertising, movies etc., we will also explore to what extent specific US American archetypes have changed and why.