American Studies

The new twenties of today bear more than a passing resemblance to the Jazz Age that F. Scott Fitzgerald so memorably chronicled. The role of literature itself, on the other hand, has in the meantime changed dramatically. At the centennial of the full arrival of Anglo-American literary Modernism (The WASTELAND and ULYSSES headline the literary milestones published in 1922) this seminar revisits Fitzgerald's oeuvre, guided by the central question: In what way does Fitzgerald, an author tied to a particular era like few others, speak to our own time and predicaments today? The course explores Fitzgerald's life and works in his own context first—against the social and cultural history of the interwar period—and then engage his novels and short fiction through a number of critical lenses and close readings, including Marxist and intersectional approaches (focused on class, race, and gender), ecocriticism, and affect theory, along themes ranging from addiction and celebrity, to masculinity and fascism.

This course introduces key concepts and methods in the study of American society, culture, and history through the lens of science fiction film and television. How do cultural works mediate the historical development of state power, categories of social difference, and our everyday understandings of political belonging and conflict?

The study focuses on prominent works of American science fiction: The Twilight Zone (1960, 1961), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Blade Runner (1982), Night of the Living Dead (1968), and Get Out (2017). These primary source materials will anchor our critical engagement with keywords in American Studies scholarship: nation, America, immigration, globalization, ethnicity, Orientalism, Asian, whiteness, white, Black, empire, state, racialization, diversity, and labor. Altogether, this course will familiarize us with the ideas that matter most for studying the United States through social, cultural, and political economic perspectives, while developing an analytical toolkit for narrative and film that you can use in a range of academic settings.

Students in this course should expect to watch one film every two weeks and to read five to 15 pages of American Studies scholarship every week. Students with or without prior study in American history and culture are welcome to take this class.

The course examines key themes in the history of black nationalism in America from the 19th century until the mid-1970s, with some attention to post-1970s developments. Key issues include defining black nationalism, examining bases of support, and explaining the shifting appeal of black nationalism. Accordingly the course investigates different forms of black nationalism, including racial solidarity, cultural nationalism, religious nationalism, and pan-africanism.
 

This course introduces students to a variety of scholarly contributions and concepts used for the analysis of American culture. It focuses on different media and forms of cultural representation including film and TV. Addressed are theories on representation and signs, discourse and power, memory and time, race and privilege, gender and queer studies, and class and popular culture. Students reflect critically on the ways these theories are engaged in the production of knowledge about symbolic and material practices.

The course will deal with the involvement of Jews as a group and as individuals in the civic and political life of the United States, during the period since 1920. The course will be given in English. The students will learn about the complex character of civic participation in a changing American political landscape, in which Jews have expressed their interests and taken part in the discourse of political events and public affairs.