Study Program SoSe 2013

This workshop is designed to concertize with the important work in the context of INPUTS and Black Diaspora Studies at the University of Bremen to orient students to the vast complexities of "race", specifically as it concerns the world's relation to the Black. In particular, I will be introducing the students at Bremen to the way in which I am examining the condition of "antiblack racism" through my theoretical engagement with Black "American" playwrights' dramatic articulations of this condition.

_I will send along, by way of Professor Broeck, an ensemble of preliminary readings in anticipation of the seminar, please check back on Stud IP!!_

Throughout the course of the seminar, we will watch excerpts from dramatic renderings of plays by and interviews with George C. Wolfe, Suzan-Lori Parks, Kia Corthron and Lynn Nottage, among others, as well as excerpts from theoretical and activist lectures -- among them, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Jared C. Sexton, Frank B. Wilderson on the manifestations of race and racism in the world.

In addition, our sessions will involve reading aloud together excerpts from several plays, including Wolfe's /The Colored Museum/; Parks' /Topdog/Underdog/; Corthron's /Breath, Boom,/ and Nottage's /Las Meninas/, among others, in order to explore the theoretical tensions that arise when the figure of the Black is examined in her/his/their absence In other words, what useful questions -- beyond geographical and so-called "cultural" difference -- are piqued by the act of non-Blacks performing/reading Black characters aloud? What are the spaces into which we might enter -- both dramatically /and/ theoretically -- that enable a different conversation; namely, about racism as a world-structuring apparatus? In what ways do these dramatists' works labor to demonstrate the tool that structuring has taken on both the Black striving to enter that world and the Black who already knows s/he/they cannot enter it?

To these ends, we will spend half our time "at the table" (as we say in theatre parlance) reading, discussing and placing these plays and theoretical texts in conversation, and half our time "on our feet", enacting excerpts from the plays.

It will be a rigorous and dynamic forum -- one that will bring a thesis to the table about how "black subjection" is enacted in these modern times, but it will also be a forum that invites students to openly engage with their interests, concerns, fears and confusions, in a space that welcomes as much as it challenges them.

When in 1978 Edward W. Saids Orientalism reached a worldwide readership, it not only encouraged a new discussion of an almost forgotten scholarly field, but by doing so has strongly influenced and shaped postcolonial studies as an academic discipline. Although not without controversy and intense criticism, the book was translated into many languages and thus became a milestone and first informative source in the field of Orientalism. Images of the Orient and their representation in various forms of cultural expression have since remained in the focus of the Western imagination. This seminar will enable students to critically engage with the various concepts of the Orient; the geography and history of the Near and Middle East, definitions and theories of Orientalism. In the second part, students will then be encouraged to apply and test some of these theoretical concepts in the analysis and interpretation of films and TV shows, paying particular attention to the representations of the (Arab) Orient, the Orient as a contact zone, and Orientalist and anti-Orientalist (self) representations. Students are asked to view the following interview before our first meeting in April: Edward Said On Orientalism ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVC8EYd_Z_g).

Please be aware that your registration on Stud. IP. is mandatory. You may wish to check the learning compact for further details such as requirements, weekly schedule, select bibliography and modes of assessment (Allgemeiner Dateiordner on Stud. IP). Additional secondary sources can be accessed in the reference only section (Semesterapparat) on the third floor of the library building; copies of selected films are available for viewing in the Mediathek, which is located on the fourth floor.

A selection of the audiovisual materials we will consider includes:

The Sheikh (1921, dir. George Melford, silent film) available on You Tube
The Thief of Bagdad (1940, dir. Berger, Powell, Wieland) available on You Tube
Caesar and Cleopatra (1946, dir. Gabriel Pascal)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, dir. David Lean)
The English Patient (1996, dir. Anthony Minghella)
Marrakesh (1998, dir. Gillies MacKinnon)
Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Magnicient Century, January 5, 2011 present, dir. Yağmur Taylan and Durul Taylan) Episode one is available on You Tube with English subtitles

Requirements and Assessment:
- regular attendance, informed participation in class discussion
- in-depth knowledge of the selected reading material
- homework assignments
- presentation of research paper or group project
- term paper (depending on your choice of module)

The requirements as formulated above may vary depending on your overall degree program.

Reading Native America may be taken as part of the BA Aufbaumodul Sprachpraxis, General Studies, or the MA-TnL Praxismodul.

General Description: For many of us, the indigenous peoples of the New World are familiar primarily through images Hollywood has given us and, to some extent, through novels and historical commentaries written by Europeans and European-Americans. Whether these stereotypes are positive or negative, they present us with distortions and half-truths at best, not representations of Native Americans and First Nations people as they see themselves and understand the world. Too often, the real differences between Native and European American world views and values have led to misunderstandings and cultural clashes when we misread each other's words, actions, and intentions.

Can we, as Europeans, learn to see beyond our culture's stereotypical images of Native Americans: "noble savages," "redskins," "chiefs and squaws," "vanishing Americans," "cigar-store Indians," "homeless drunks," "athletic team mascots," "poverty-stricken, alcoholic reservation Indians, dependent on government handouts," and "stoic, silent witnesses of environmental destruction "?

If we choose to give a hopeful answer to the question, we first need to become aware of the cultural "filters" through which we perceive Indians. What structures, symbolic patterns and representational styles do we expect to find in literature and films? As we become aware of our own culturally-informed expectations, we can begin to consider how traditional and contemporary Native American storytelling works, to comprehend how it differs from Western oral and literary traditions, and to discover any points of intersection there might be.

"Reading Native America" gives us an opportunity to become acquainted with Native American and First Nations voices and, through their artistic expressions, with their perceptions, cultural values and beliefs. As we "read" various kinds of Native American verbal and visual performances (traditional storytelling, poetry, fiction, films, jokes, stand-up comedy) we will try to comprehend them on their own terms rather than imposing our Eurocentric expectations on them. We will also try to become more cognizant of some of the ways in which traditional Native American values continue to inform Native identities and responses to contemporary challenges.

Texts include two novels (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, and Gardens in the Dunes, by Leslie Marmon Silko) and selected short stories and poems. Films include Smoke Signals, Skins, Dance Me Outside, The Business of Fancydancing, and "Atanarjuat" ("The Fast Runner").

All four language skills will be practiced. Fluency, register, language functions and lexical resource-building will receive special attention, with language accuracy issues being addressed as needed. The class format will include in-class and online discussions as well as short presentations. MA TnL students who choose to be examined in this class will need to submit a paper on a mutually agreed topic.

This workshop is designed to concertize with the important work in the context of INPUTS and Black Diaspora Studies at the University of Bremen to orient students to the vast complexities of "race", specifically as it concerns the world's relation to the Black. In particular, I will be introducing the students at Bremen to the way in which I am examining the condition of "antiblack racism" through my theoretical engagement with Black "American" playwrights' dramatic articulations of this condition.

_I will send along, by way of Professor Broeck, an ensemble of preliminary readings in anticipation of the seminar, please check back on Stud IP!!_

Throughout the course of the seminar, we will watch excerpts from dramatic renderings of plays by and interviews with George C. Wolfe, Suzan-Lori Parks, Kia Corthron and Lynn Nottage, among others, as well as excerpts from theoretical and activist lectures -- among them, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Jared C. Sexton, Frank B. Wilderson on the manifestations of race and racism in the world.

In addition, our sessions will involve reading aloud together excerpts from several plays, including Wolfe's /The Colored Museum/; Parks' /Topdog/Underdog/; Corthron's /Breath, Boom,/ and Nottage's /Las Meninas/, among others, in order to explore the theoretical tensions that arise when the figure of the Black is examined in her/his/their absence In other words, what useful questions -- beyond geographical and so-called "cultural" difference -- are piqued by the act of non-Blacks performing/reading Black characters aloud? What are the spaces into which we might enter -- both dramatically /and/ theoretically -- that enable a different conversation; namely, about racism as a world-structuring apparatus? In what ways do these dramatists' works labor to demonstrate the tool that structuring has taken on both the Black striving to enter that world and the Black who already knows s/he/they cannot enter it?

To these ends, we will spend half our time "at the table" (as we say in theatre parlance) reading, discussing and placing these plays and theoretical texts in conversation, and half our time "on our feet", enacting excerpts from the plays.

It will be a rigorous and dynamic forum -- one that will bring a thesis to the table about how "black subjection" is enacted in these modern times, but it will also be a forum that invites students to openly engage with their interests, concerns, fears and confusions, in a space that welcomes as much as it challenges them.

Reading Native America may be taken as part of the BA Aufbaumodul Sprachpraxis, General Studies, or the MA-TnL Praxismodul.

General Description: For many of us, the indigenous peoples of the New World are familiar primarily through images Hollywood has given us and, to some extent, through novels and historical commentaries written by Europeans and European-Americans. Whether these stereotypes are positive or negative, they present us with distortions and half-truths at best, not representations of Native Americans and First Nations people as they see themselves and understand the world. Too often, the real differences between Native and European American world views and values have led to misunderstandings and cultural clashes when we misread each other's words, actions, and intentions.

Can we, as Europeans, learn to see beyond our culture's stereotypical images of Native Americans: "noble savages," "redskins," "chiefs and squaws," "vanishing Americans," "cigar-store Indians," "homeless drunks," "athletic team mascots," "poverty-stricken, alcoholic reservation Indians, dependent on government handouts," and "stoic, silent witnesses of environmental destruction "?

If we choose to give a hopeful answer to the question, we first need to become aware of the cultural "filters" through which we perceive Indians. What structures, symbolic patterns and representational styles do we expect to find in literature and films? As we become aware of our own culturally-informed expectations, we can begin to consider how traditional and contemporary Native American storytelling works, to comprehend how it differs from Western oral and literary traditions, and to discover any points of intersection there might be.

"Reading Native America" gives us an opportunity to become acquainted with Native American and First Nations voices and, through their artistic expressions, with their perceptions, cultural values and beliefs. As we "read" various kinds of Native American verbal and visual performances (traditional storytelling, poetry, fiction, films, jokes, stand-up comedy) we will try to comprehend them on their own terms rather than imposing our Eurocentric expectations on them. We will also try to become more cognizant of some of the ways in which traditional Native American values continue to inform Native identities and responses to contemporary challenges.

Texts include two novels (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, and Gardens in the Dunes, by Leslie Marmon Silko) and selected short stories and poems. Films include Smoke Signals, Skins, Dance Me Outside, The Business of Fancydancing, and "Atanarjuat" ("The Fast Runner").

All four language skills will be practiced. Fluency, register, language functions and lexical resource-building will receive special attention, with language accuracy issues being addressed as needed. The class format will include in-class and online discussions as well as short presentations. MA TnL students who choose to be examined in this class will need to submit a paper on a mutually agreed topic.