Jennifer Henke

SoSe 2022

This course aims at exploring how gender, science and technology are linked by utilising the metaphor of the cyborg. We will start by reading feminist classics such as Donna Haraway’s "Manifesto for Cyborgs” and also familiarise ourselves with further key terms expressed by scholars like Barbara Creed, N. Katherine Hayles, Jack Halberstam and others. After having established a conceptual basis for discussion, we will then turn to selected older literary and newer cinematic texts and discuss how notions of "cyborgism" can possibly transcend gender boundaries. Key terms: feminism, cyborg, gender, technoscience, science-fiction, monstrous,material cultures, posthumanism IMPORTANT: Since this class will be conducted IN PERSON, places are limited due to covid-related room restrictions! As a result, it's first-come, first-served. Those who do not show up at the first session will free up their space(s) again in favour of their fellow students on the waiting list. Please consider this BEFORE signing up and commit to this class once you do! 

Jennifer Henke

SoSe 2022

The aim of this seminar is not only to get an idea of what distinguishes Canadian literature by the example of the short story, but also to better understand how aspects such as space and gender are intertwined with other issues like time, youth, age, love, loyalty or memory. For this reason, we will turn to Nobel-prize winner Alice Munro and discuss a selection of her short stories alongside current secondary texts on her works. Part of this class will also be the question of how cinematic adaptations negotiate Munro’s literary masterpieces. Key terms: canlit, feminism, gender, genre, space, place, love, age, media, culture IMPORTANT: Since this class will be conducted IN PERSON, places are limited due to covid-related room restrictions! As a result, it's first-come, first-served. Those who do not show up at the first session will free up their space(s) again in favour of their fellow students on the waiting list. 

Please consider this BEFORE signing up and commit to this class once you do!

Jennifer Henke

SoSe 2022

This course can only offer but a glimpse into the rich history of Irish fiction and film. After an extensive sociohistorical contextualisation, we will centre on two selected canonised literary texts starting with what is regarded by some as the first Anglo- Irish novel: Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent, published in 1800. We will then take a large leap forward into the early twentieth century and discuss selected short stories from James Joyce’s Dubliners (1914) before turning to contemporary films that deal with aspects of Ireland’s cultural history. Key terms: culture, history, politics, feminism, gender, satire, rebellion, famine, Irishness, nationality, identity, loss IMPORTANT: Since this class will be conducted IN PERSON, places are limited due to covid-related room restrictions! As a result, it's first-come, first-served. Those who do not show up at the first session will free up their space(s) again in favour of their fellow students on the waiting list. 

Please consider this BEFORE signing up and commit to this class once you do!

Heide Volkening

SoSe 2022

In den 1920er Jahren der Weimarer Republik entwickelt sich ein blühender Zeitschriftenmarkt — Unterhaltungsmagazine wie UHU und Tempo, Frauenzeitschriften wie Die Dame und Feuilletons der großen Tageszeitungen wie der Frankfurter Zeitung — um nur eine kleine Auswahl zu nennen — sind zugleich Orte, an denen schreibende Frauen eine große Öffentlichkeit finden. In der Literaturgeschichte wird der Blick auf die Schriftstellerinnen dieser Generation häufig mit dem Begriff der 'Neuen Frau' in Verbindung gebracht. Dieser war in der Weimarer Republik mit mehr als 20 Jahren Verspätung gerade erst im deutschsprachigen Raum angekommen. Das Seminar wird dieser pauschalisierenden Formel, die allzu leicht Autorinnen und Figuren gleichzusetzen droht, einen differenzierenden Blick auf das Verhältnis von Journalismus und Autorschaft, Zeitschriften-Essay und Romanform, Figur und Autorin zur Seite stellen. Dabei werden neben einer Auswahl der journalistischen Texte von Vicki Baum, Gabriele Tergit und Rut Landshoff (bzw. Ruth Landshoff-Yorck) auch deren Romane Stud, chem. Helene Willfüer (1928), Käsebier erobert den Kurfürstendamm (1931) und Die Vielen und der Eine (1930) gelesen.

Annelie Ramsbrock

SoSe 2022