552.286 (19S) Topics in American Cultural Studies: Imagining Surveillance through Literature and Film
Overview
- Lecturer
- LV Nummer Südostverbund ENM03001UL
- Course title german Topics in American Cultural Studies: Imagining Surveillance through Literature and Film
- Type Proseminar (continuous assessment course )
- Hours per Week 2.0
- ECTS credits 3.0
- Registrations 27 (25 max.)
- Organisational unit
- Language of instruction English
- possible language(s) of the assessment English
- Course begins on 05.03.2019
- eLearning Go to Moodle course
- Seniorstudium Liberale Yes
Time and place
Course Information
Intended learning outcomes
Students will be introduced to basic concepts and terminology of the field of surveillance studies. Moreover, they will gain a basic understanding of the historically changing representations of surveillance; further advance their skills in critically analysing literature and films with special attention to issues of race, class, and gender; and acquire knowledge about genres that have been used to represent and negotiate ideas concerning surveillance.
Teaching methodology including the use of eLearning tools
In-class discussion of assigned primary and theoretical texts. Short input lectures will provide overviews that help historically contextualize primary literature and guide in-class discussion in smaller groups and the entire class; short midterm exam.
Course content
After Kellyanne Conway spoke of "alternative facts" following the debates about the crowd size at Donald Trump's inauguration, sales of George Orwell's dystopian surveillance classic Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) were soaring. This not only hints at a great general interest in thinking about social control and surveillance today, but also at the ways in which such thought has always been "in a loose conversation with artists, fictions, and their robust material” (Monahan 2011). The seminar aims to explore this “loose conversation” and the intimate long-standing links between surveillance and art, thereby introducing students to what Monahan calls an emerging “cultural studies of surveillance.” We will focus on historically changing theories and concepts of surveillance (e.g. Foucault; Lyon; Monahan) to make sense of its different forms and means (e.g. panopticism; CCTV; Big Data). This theoretical background will enhance our readings of a variety of primary texts ranging from E.A. Poe’s “The Man of the Crowd” (1840) to novels by Orwell (1949) and Atwood (1985), and the recent blockbuster movie The Circle (2017). Turning to questions of both the aesthetics and politics of surveillance through literature and film, which involves addressing issues like identity, individuality, public and private, power and knowledge, as well as race, class, and gender, will help explore artistic productions as important parts of North American conversations about surveillance.
Literature
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale (1985). Any edition.
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Any edition.
All other texts will be made available by the instructor.
Examination information
Grading scheme
Grade / Grade grading schemePosition in the curriculum
- Bachelor-Lehramtsstudium Bachelor Unterrichtsfach Englisch
(SKZ: 407, Version: 17W.2)
-
Subject: Anglophone Cultural History and Theory
(Compulsory subject)
-
ENM.003 Topics in American Cultural Studies (
2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
- 552.286 Topics in American Cultural Studies: Imagining Surveillance through Literature and Film (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS) Absolvierung im 4., 5., 6. Semester empfohlen
-
ENM.003 Topics in American Cultural Studies (
2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Anglophone Cultural History and Theory
(Compulsory subject)
- Bachelor-Lehramtsstudium Bachelor Unterrichtsfach Englisch
(SKZ: 407, Version: 15W.2)
-
Subject: Anglophone Cultural History and Theory
(Compulsory subject)
-
ENM.003 Topics in American Cultural Studies (
2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
- 552.286 Topics in American Cultural Studies: Imagining Surveillance through Literature and Film (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS) Absolvierung im 4., 5., 6. Semester empfohlen
-
ENM.003 Topics in American Cultural Studies (
2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Anglophone Cultural History and Theory
(Compulsory subject)
- Teacher training programme English (Secondary School Teacher Accreditation)
(SKZ: 344, Version: 04W.7)
-
Stage one
-
Subject: Culture Studies
(Compulsory subject)
-
Cultures in Close-Up (
1.0h PS / 2.0 ECTS)
- 552.286 Topics in American Cultural Studies: Imagining Surveillance through Literature and Film (2.0h PS / 4.0 ECTS)
-
Cultures in Close-Up (
1.0h PS / 2.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Culture Studies
(Compulsory subject)
-
Stage one
- Teacher training programme English (Secondary School Teacher Accreditation)
(SKZ: 344, Version: 04W.7)
-
Stage one
-
Subject: Linguistic Basis
(Compulsory subject)
-
Cultures in Close-Up (
1.0h PS / 2.0 ECTS)
- 552.286 Topics in American Cultural Studies: Imagining Surveillance through Literature and Film (2.0h PS / 4.0 ECTS)
-
Cultures in Close-Up (
1.0h PS / 2.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Linguistic Basis
(Compulsory subject)
-
Stage one
- Bachelor's degree programme English and American Studies
(SKZ: 612, Version: 15W.3)
-
Subject: Fachliches Grundstudium Culture
(Compulsory subject)
-
6.2 Topics in American Cultural Studies (
0.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
- 552.286 Topics in American Cultural Studies: Imagining Surveillance through Literature and Film (2.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS) Absolvierung im 3. Semester empfohlen
-
6.2 Topics in American Cultural Studies (
0.0h PS / 3.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Fachliches Grundstudium Culture
(Compulsory subject)
- Bachelor's degree programme English and American Studies
(SKZ: 612, Version: 10W.3)
-
Subject: Fachliches Aufbaustudium (ab 11W)
(Compulsory subject)
-
Module: Culture (ab 11W)
-
Topics in Culture (
2.0h PS / 5.0 ECTS)
- 552.286 Topics in American Cultural Studies: Imagining Surveillance through Literature and Film (2.0h PS / 5.0 ECTS)
-
Topics in Culture (
2.0h PS / 5.0 ECTS)
-
Module: Culture (ab 11W)
-
Subject: Fachliches Aufbaustudium (ab 11W)
(Compulsory subject)