124268 AR Cultural/Media Studies 1/2 (AR) (2022S)

Content:
Nation-building discourses, the formation of a national identity, and hegemonic agendas have been inextricably intertwined with constructions of “Americanness” ever since “the new republic first embarked on a program of [genocidal] national westward expansion.” (Calloway 36). In this course we will explore how well-known myths such as the freedom, equality, justice, self-reliance, progress, the American Dream etc., have fed into and changed the making of the U.S. American nation over time. We will grapple with the question how these myths have been constructed, contested, revisited, and reimagined in a range of media and discourses. In our weekly discussions, we will take intersectional aspects such as gender, ethnicity, class, religion, immigration status etc. into account when reflecting on what ‘Americanness’ means, and to whom. We also will try to avoid some of the glaring pitfalls that come with national stereotypification and investigate U.S. American identity politics from a transnational perspective. Introducing and working with cultural studies and media studies theories, we will focus on the concept of “Americanness” and its shifting meanings in political speeches, documentaries, advertisements, movies, songs, music clips etc. In our weekly meetings, students will explore historical as well as contemporary representations of “Americanness”, identify expressions of national reaffirmation, and study narrative, lyric and medial strategies involved in contesting notions of Americanness.

Methods:
Throughout the semester, students will research, discuss, and write about constructions of ‘Americanness’ as negotiated in a variety of cultural artefacts and medial forms of expression. As experts on one selected primary source, students will engage in a research-based presentation, produce a thesis statement on e.g. movie, a song, a speech etc., followed by an exemplification and conclusion. Students will receive feedback in the form of a plenum discussion.
Goals: The course aims at creating a deeper understanding not only of the United States from the nation’s foundation to its presence in today’s world but the changing nature of American Studies as a discipline as large. Students will prepare short critical responses to secondary texts and primary texts, explore specific modes of national reaffirmations and contesting, as well as expand their knowledge on how to critically approach “Americanness” by closely analyzing sources with regard to their cultural and media specificity.