Lehre
Auguscik, Anna. Key Topics in Literature: Pacific Fictions, Pacific Literatures.
In the 1990s, Pacific Studies scholar Epeli Hau’fa postulated a reimagining of Oceania from 'islands in a far sea' to 'a sea of islands’. More recently, these very islands have reappeared in global affairs in the course of debates ranging from geopolitical shifts and power play between China and the US to climate change and the rise of sea levels. The goal of this seminar is to familiarize students with the historical and cultural contexts of such discussions and the discursively constructed identity of ‘the Pacific’ in literary representations from the 19th to the 21st century. We will focus especially on literary negotiations of encounters between colonizers and colonized, on Pacific islands as anthropological laboratories and their relevance for the 'cultural turn', as well as on the work of 'writing back' to Western fictions of a highly sexualized 'paradise' and re-imagining Oceania as home in the ‘new Pacific literatures’. The course comprises in-presence meetings with group presentations, reading weeks and online research, as well as a planned visit to the Übersee Museum Bremen. (BA E-SC, MEd.)
Knopf, Kerstin. Key Topics in Literature: Ocean Literacy in Anglophone Literature and Film.
This class will be conducted within the research area Blue Humanities. Blue Humanities studies oceans, rivers, and coastal areas in terms of (colonial) histories, migration and travel, sustainability and ecological issues, circulation of people and ideas, marine and Indigenous knowledges, literature and cultures, new geographies, extractivism, energy and economic issues, among others. After discussing ocean literacy in general and the sustainable development goals of the UN on water, we will read theoretical texts on ocean literacy. We will also watch documentaries and invite experts on ocean knowledge to class. We will read and discuss short texts from the collection The Imperiled Ocean: Human Stories from a Changing Sea by Laura Trethewey and the The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. The idea is that in class we develop materials on ocean literacy together. (BA E-SC, MEd.)
Knopf, Kerstin. Water and Environment in North American Literature.
This class will be conducted within the research area Blue Humanities. Blue Humanities studies oceans, rivers, and coastal areas in terms of (colonial) histories, migration and travel, sustainability and ecological issues, circulation of people and ideas, marine and Indigenous knowledges, literature and cultures, new geographies, extractivism, energy and economic issues, among others. After discussing ocean literacy and the sustainable development goals of the UN on water, we will read and discuss short texts from the collection The Imperiled Ocean: Human Stories from a Changing Sea by Laura Trethewey and the two novels The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh and People of the Whale by Linda Hogan. (BA E-SC, MEd.)
von Gleich, Paula. Women and the Sea.
From mythological sirens to ocean explorers, women’s relationships with the sea have been shaped by both cultural constraints and acts of resistance. This seminar examines historical and cultural representations of girl- and womanhood and bodies of salt (and fresh) water in the English-speaking world, with a focus on Turtle Island, i.e., the North American continent, in the world ocean. Through the analysis of various cultural objects, such as motion pictures, art, as well as nature, autobiographical, and fictional writing, students will explore key themes at the intersection of feminist cultural criticism, gender studies, and the blue humanities. In addition to deepening their knowledge of cultural history and cultural analysis, students will also refine their academic reading, writing, and presentation skills. (BA E-SC, MEd.)
von Gleich, Paula. Water and/in Cultural Theory.
This seminar introduces students to anglophone cultural theory that turns to water as a primary object of study (including oceans, lakes, rivers, and wetlands) and tries to think with/through/from liquid epistemologies. By studying key theoretical texts and case studies, students will familiarize themselves with influential theories and key concepts that, e.g., question the centering of dry land over wet environments, human over non-human perspectives, and the individual over interrelation. Exemplary cultural analyses of primary objects, such as film, literature, and art, will complement the study of theory and help students advance their skills in cultural analysis.This seminar also includes a guest lecture by Claire Waffel titled “Coastal Futures – Water, Communities, Imaginaries” and a visit to the Überseemuseum in Bremen. (MA E-SC)
Knopf, Kerstin. ~Wellen~ Interdisziplinäre Dialoge im WSP Meeres-, Polar- und Klimaforschung.
Diese Vorlesungsreihe soll erstmals über alle Fachbereiche an der Universität Bremen hinweg ein interdisziplinäres Gespräch zu den Ozeanen – genauer gesagt zum Thema „Welle“ – ermöglichen. Die Welle lässt sich aus vielen Perspektiven beleuchten. Die Ozeanographie, Meteorologie und die Mathematik zum Beispiel zeigen auf, wie die Interaktion von Turbulenz, Wellen und Wirbeln im Ozean und der Atmosphäre das Klima und die Temperatur der Erde mitbestimmt. Unsere klimatische Zukunft misst sich unter anderem in Wellen verschiedener Größen, Schnelligkeiten und Ordnungen, in Tsunamis, „rogue waves,“ oder regelmäßigen Wellen. Aber neben Messungen, Computersimulationen und Zukunftsprognosen in der ocean wave science kann man Wellen auch anders begreifen. So kennen die Ökonomie und Soziologie wellenartigen Phänomene. Die Kunst ist voll von ikonischen Wellendarstellungen, sei es in der Form der Malerei Rembrandts, der 1633 „Christus im Sturm“ auf einer riesigen Welle darstellte, bis hin zur berühmten The Great Wave of Kanagawa des japanischen Künstlers Katsushika Hokusai. Dann gibt es natürlich auch Wellen ganz anderer Art: Schallwellen, Gravitationswellen, elektromagnetische Wellen, oder auch die Welle als aquatische Metapher für politische Bewegungen und literarische und filmische Trends. Diese Vorlesungsreihe soll verschiedene Aspekte der Welle beleuchten und somit unsere Fachbereiche miteinander ins Gespräch bringen. Wie messen, beschreiben, begreifen und verstehen wir Wellen in den verschiedenen Disziplinen? Und wo und wie ergeben sich interdisziplinäre Interferenzen und Anknüpfungspunkte? (MATS)
von Gleich, Paula. African American History and Black Atlantic Culture.
African American history is American history, the history of the transatlantic trade in enslaved people, of chattel slavery in the Americas, and of liberation movements from abolitionism, Civil Rights and Black Power, to Black Feminism and Black Lives Matter. With Paul Gilroy, it is also part of the transatlantic history of the Black Atlantic as counterculture of modernity (1993). This seminar introduces students to the analysis of these histories and cultures through the study of literature and film.
This class is part of the two-part LINK module in the M.Ed. Englisch. In this class students study African American history and Black Atlantic culture from literary and cultural studies perspectives, while the course “Teaching Literature” by Matthias Myrczek explores corresponding teaching possibilities for the EFL classroom. Completing both classes is mandatory to receive credit for the LINK module (MPO 2023). (MEd E-SC)
von Gleich, Paula. Key Topics in Cultural History: Disastrous Water and Extreme Weather in North American Culture.
What we might describe as ‘disastrous water’ during extreme weather events are, e.g., river flooding due to heavy rain and flooding of coastal areas due to storms and hurricanes, but also water contamination and long periods of droughts that threaten access to drinking water. While the frequency and intensity with which such events occur has increased as part of the triple planetary crisis consisting of anthropogenic climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss, they have been part of North American history ever since. Using the example of hurricanes and floods at the US Gulf coast, students will analyze the representation and the cultural, political, social, and environmental implications of extreme water events in North America. As the study of literature, film, art, and media in this seminar will show, hurricane and flood narratives address natural disaster but also human and human-made issues, e.g., around race, class, and gender. This seminar also includes a visit to the Klimahaus Bremerhaven. (BA E-SC)
Sommersemester 2024
Knopf, Kerstin. Researching German Colonialism in the Pacific.
This class will introduce students to German colonialism in Papua New Guinea and Samoa. We will read texts and watch documentaries about German colonial history and contemporary issues in PNG and Samoa. The class will be co-taught with INPUTS Writer-in-Residence Anthony Brunt (Samoa / NZ), who is a historian working on German photographic collections from the colonial era. We will also include a visit to the Hafenmuseum Bremen and its exhibition on the artwork of PNG artist Lisa Hilli followed by a presentation of Anthony Brunt.
With research-based learning, students will develop their small research projects on German colonialism in the Pacific. (BA E-SC, MEd.)
Knopf, Kerstin. Environment and Climate Justice in American Literature.
This class will be conducted within the theme teaching year on SUSTAINABILITY and within the research area Blue Humanities. Blue Humanities studies oceans, rivers, and coastal areas in terms of (colonial) histories, migration and travel, sustainability and ecological issues, circulation of people and ideas, marine and Indigenous knowledges, literature and cultures, new geographies, extractivism, energy and economic issues, among others.
Please note that the course will be conducted in connection with a lecture series in the Blue Humanities, which takes place Wednesdays 18.15-19.45 in GW2, B2890, on campus. You are cordially invited to come and listen to all lectures; however, a few lectures are mandatory for you to attend, which ones will be specified at the start of the course.
We will read and discuss short texts from the collection The Imperiled Ocean: Human Stories from a Changing Sea by Laura Trethewey and the novels A Friend of the Earth by T.C. Boyle and Through the Arc of the Rainforest by Karen Tei Yamashita. (MA E-SC, MEd.)
von Gleich, Paula. Key Topics in Cultural History: Blue Cultural Studies.
This class introduces students to the new field of blue cultural studies. As part of the blue humanities, blue cultural studies turn away from traditional area studies perspectives that pay attention to cultures primarily, if not exclusively, on dry land. Instead of studying the cultures of nation states (e.g., Britain) or continents (e.g., North America), blue cultural studies center bodies of water and wet land, such as oceans, marshes, and lakes. In this seminar, students will study founding texts, influential theories, and key concepts that have emerged in the twenty-first-century study of anglophone literatures and cultures. Exemplary analyses of cultural objects, such as film, literature, or art, will round off the course by not only addressing pressing issues but also practicing key skills of cultural analysis (with an excursion to the Bremen Port Museum and a guided tour of the exhibition “Water for All”). (BA E-SC, MEd.)
von Gleich, Paula. Key Topics in Cultural History: Borders, Mappings, and Oceans.
Borders shaped the multifaceted histories and cultures of North America already before the first European colonizers set foot on its eastern shores in the late fifteenth century. Changing land- and water-based borders have continued to mold the continent ever since. In this seminar, students will explore the cultural history of drawing borders on maps, on dry land, and through bodies of water on and around Turtle Island, or what we now call Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Drawing on archipelagic North American studies as well as Chicanx and Indigenous Studies, this class critically reflects not only issues of race, ethnicity, origin, and gender but also of terracentrism (Marcus Rediker) and the oceanic turn (Hester Blum). Studying an array of texts and artifacts, such as scholarly, fictional, and artistic works, the changing cultural history of borders, borderlands, and border waters will be examined. (BA E-SC, MEd.)
von Gleich, Paula. Key Topics in Cultural History: Rachel Carson and the Sea.
In a time when the world grapples with the climate crisis and overfishing, pollution, and rising temperatures threaten the world ocean and the human and non-human life that depends on it, Serpil Oppermann suggests to turn to “storied waterscapes” (2023), i.e. to forms of representation and cultural processes of meaning making around bodies of water, in order to better understand human relationships with the marine world and its destruction as well as to develop strategies for positive change. Heeding this call, this class examines mid-twentieth century American science and nature writing about coastal and sea ecologies by studying the work of trained biologist, American nature writer, and pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907-1964). Focusing on a blend of literary and scientific writing in her classic sea trilogy in conversation with other cultural texts and historical developments at the time, students will explore not only the genre of nature and science writing but also issues of gender and health in the post-World War 2 era and the history of environmental protection, conservation, and the emergence of the environmental movement in 1960s America. (BA E-SC, MEd.)
von Gleich, Paula. Key Topics in Cultural History: The Black Atlantic.
The capture of millions of people on the African continent and their forced transportation across the Atlantic as well as the enslavement of generations of descendants in the so-called New World and their continued resistance to their oppression considerably shaped the development of North America and the Caribbean from the sixteenth century onwards. After abolition, the history of the Middle Passage, enslavement, and the fight for freedom and equality continued to have an effect on cultural, political, and social developments on both sides of the Atlantic. As Saidiya Hartman has argued, “the afterlife of slavery” continues to shape Black diasporic life to this day. In this seminar, students will explore the multifaceted history of what Paul Gilroy famously coined the Black Atlantic. The class will familiarize students with key cultural theories around the Black Atlantic in order to facilitate critical analyses of select cultural artefacts, such as autobiographies, poetry, visual and performance arts, film or fiction. (BA E-SC, MEd.)
Podcast: The Mau in American Samoa
Produced as part of the course "Researching German Colonialism in the Pacific"
Podcast: Missionaries in Papua New Guinea
Produced as part of the course "Researching German Colonialism in the Pacific"
Podcast: Missionaries in Samoa
Produced as part of the course "Researching German Colonialism in the Pacific"
Knopf, Kerstin. Marine Cultures and Sustainability in Postcolonial Literature.
This class will be conducted within the theme teaching year on SUSTAINABILITY and within the research area Blue Humanities. Blue Humanities studies oceans, rivers, and coastal areas in terms of (colonial) histories, migration and travel, sustainability and ecological issues, circulation of people and ideas, marine and Indigenous knowledges, literature and cultures, new geographies, extractivism, energy and economic issues, among others.
Please note that the course will be conducted in connection with a lecture series in the Blue Humanities, which takes place Wednesdays 18.15-19.45 at the Cartesium on campus. You are cordially invited to come and listen to all lectures; however 4 lectures are mandatory for you to attend, which ones will be specified at the start of the course, the first one on 25 Oct.
As well, as part of the first class on 26 October, we will do a short study excursion to the MARKK Museum in Hamburg and their exhibition “Wasserbotschaften” with a guided tour.
After discussing sustainability and the sustainable development goals of the UN in the class, we will read and discuss the two novels The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh and People of the Whale by Linda Hogan. (BA E-SC, MEd., MA TnL)
Knopf, Kerstin. Water, Environment and Sustainability in US-American and Canadian Literature.
This class will be conducted within the theme teaching year on SUSTAINABILITY and within the research area Blue Humanities. Blue Humanities studies oceans, rivers, and coastal areas in terms of (colonial) histories, migration and travel, sustainability and ecological issues, circulation of people and ideas, marine and Indigenous knowledges, literature and cultures, new geographies, extractivism, energy and economic issues, among others.
Please note that the course will be conducted in connection with a lecture series in the Blue Humanities, which takes place Wednesdays 18.15-19.45 at the Cartesium on campus. You are cordially invited to come and listen to all lectures; however 4 lectures are mandatory for you to attend, which ones will be specified at the start of the course, the first one on 25 Oct.
As well, on 26 October we will do a short study excursion to the MARKK Museum in Hamburg and their exhibition “Wasserbotschaften” with a guided tour.
After discussing sustainability and the sustainable development goals of the UN in the class, we will read and discuss short stories from the collection The Imperiled Ocean: Human Stories from a Changing Sea by Laura Trethewey and the novel People of the Whale by Linda Hogan. (M.A. E-SC, MA TnL)
Muharram, Mohammed. Sustainability and Gender Equality in Arab-American Fiction.
This specialized course responds to the United Nations’ emphasis on sustainable development, revealing that sustainability encompasses various dimensions beyond the environment, notably gender equality. It recognizes the need for equitable, inclusive societies and the elimination of gender disparities, aligning these goals with the literary realm of Arab-American fiction. We explore narratives authored by Arab-American women, who play a pivotal role in offering unique perspectives on the intersection of gender, culture, identity, and environmental issues. By focusing on these diverse voices, the course delves into rich portrayals of women’s experiences and resilience, emphasizing the importance of diversity within the global dialogue on sustainability and gender equality. (MA E-SC, MA TnL)
von Gleich, Paula. Key Topics in Cultural History: Caribbean Island Environments and the American Imagination.
The Caribbean includes more than 7,000 islands that together with islets, cays, and reefs, dot the Caribbean Sea southeast of the Gulf of Mexico, east of Central America and Mexico, and to the north of South America. In pre-colonial times, the islands were inhabited by Indigenous people, such as the Arawak, Carib, Tainos, and Ciboney. Today more than 44 million people populate this biodiverse region. They are descendants of these and other Indigenous peoples as well as African enslaved people; Spanish, British, French, and Dutch colonizers; and indentured laborers from India and China, among others. They live in thirteen sovereign island nations and islands that still remain under the control of the former colonizers, such as France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
This class introduces students to the study of the history of Caribbean Island environments and their cultural representation between the United States and the Caribbean Sea. With the help of Caribbean Studies, Archipelagic American Studies, Blue Cultural Studies, and Eco-criticism, students study the diverse, intersecting histories of colonialism, slavery, military occupation, and multidirectional migration in conversation with select cultural products (e.g. maps, films, sculptures, paintings, or literary texts) and key cultural and political movements, such as abolitionism, decolonization, maroonage, the Harlem Renaissance, Négritude, and environmental struggles. Using discourse and cultural analysis, students explore the topics, concepts, and (trans)cultural practices that are involved when the environments of Caribbean islands are written into the cultural history of North America and when Caribbean islanders and their American descendants share their own perspectives on the islands, the United States, and the sea in-between. Key concerns are, among others, racial, ethnic, or national identities; cultural hybridity; sea migration and borders; and the cultural ecospheres of islands and their beaches, coastal seas, the Caribbean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. (with an excursion to the MARKK museum, Hamburg, and a guided tour of the “Wasserbotschaften” exhibition; with a student conference on 1-2 Feb. 2024) (BA E-SC, MEd.)
von Gleich, Paula. Lecture Series: Blue Humanities: Histories, Cultures, Literatures, and Media.
This lecture series is open to the university public, to general studies, the MA E-SC supplementary module and three specific BA classes taught by Kerstin Knopf, Paula von Gleich and Corina Wieser-Cox.
The lecture series ties together ideas and knowledges in the new burgeoning field of Blue Humanities, now also established at FB 10, U Bremen. This new research field studies oceans, rivers, and coastal areas in terms of (colonial) histories and modernities, migration and travel, sustainability and ecological issues, circulation of people and ideas, marine and Indigenous knowledges, literature and cultures, new geographies, extractivism, energy and economic issues, among others.
For this lecture series we invite experts in this field who will give talks on postcolonial sea fiction, Arab Blue Humanities, refugee literature, environmental destruction, lack of water, the Black Atlantic, legal status of rivers, marine anthropology and more. (BA E-SC, MA E-SC)
Muharram, Mohammed. Key Topics in Cultural History: Narratives of Sea Migration.
Narratives of Sea Migration will deal with the cultural history of Britain and Ireland from the 18th to the 21st century from an oceanic rather than terrestrial perspective. It thus falls at the meeting point between postcolonial cultural studies and the new field of the blue humanities (we will spend two classes on this emerging field).
Migration is the lens that we will use to learn about the cultural history of the countries. An example is the Great Famine, which lasted in Ireland from 1845 until 1852 and resulted in the death of one million people and the forced migration of more than one million others to the US via the ocean. The year 1847 became known in history as Black ‘47 and hence, the title of the film Black’s ‘47 (2018).
Another example is the fleet of British ships that brought convicts to New South Wales, the penal colony which would become the first British settlement in Australia. The ship becomes an interesting social and cultural space of stories of survival, death and relationships. A documentary film about this issue will be discussed.
The course will also deal with Post-Brexit Britain and Britishness when we explore the sea migration of Africans and Arabs to Britain as well as tales of refugees about their sea journeys and arrival. We will discuss this theme as it is framed in art and refugee tales. We will also analyze Tayeb Saleh’s postcolonial Arabic novel, Season of Migration to the North (1969) which ‘writes back’ to British Orientalism, history and the canon. Please get your copy of this novel before coming to class. (BA E-SC)
Muharram, Mohammed. Key Topics in Literature: Narratives of Ocean Cultures.
This seminar will introduce you to the history of the ocean and its significance in English-speaking cultures as mediated by novels and short stories. The aim is to explore the different modes of narrating the ocean, and the ways in which each mode tells us about the role of the ocean in English-speaking cultures.
Drawing from postcolonial theory and the emerging field of the blue humanities, we view the ocean as both ‘nature’ and ‘culture’: a ‘natural space’ that is both in danger and a key player in climate change as well as a ‘cultural space’, a way of re-thinking issues of identity, race, migration, refuge and asylum, slavery, hegemony, and gender. We seek to understand how different meanings of the ocean are generated, disseminated, and contested by systems of power and control. The ocean is also considered as a connecting space between English-speaking cultures.
We will read the novel Sea of Poppies (2008) by the well-known Indian author Amitav Ghosh as well as three short stories from different English-speaking cultures, including one written by the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature 2021, Abdulrazzaq Gurnah. Two weeks are planned to be allotted for online talks with Ghosh and Gurnah respectively. Also, we plan to have a first-hand experience of a trip to Bremerhaven for a visit to the German Emigration Center to get an idea of the forces behind the historical migration from Germany to the US. (BA E-SC)