| 08-28-HIS-7.5.1 | Black Musicians in Early Modern Europe (in English) This seminar examines the largely under-researched social, legal, and cultural status of musicians of sub-Saharan African descent in early modern Europe. Through case (…) This seminar examines the largely under-researched social, legal, and cultural status of musicians of sub-Saharan African descent in early modern Europe. Through case studies, we explore Black musicians at the courts of Portugal and Spain, Black trumpeters and kettledrummers in the Holy Roman Empire, Black singers in seventeenth-century Florence, and Black composers and performers in the urban musical cultures of France and England. The course also analyzes musical constructions of Blackness in different musical genres, such as the villancicos de negros from early modern Iberia and its colonies, and the figure of Monostatos in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Situating these examples within broader histories of race-making, enslavement and freedom, mobility, and labor, we consider musical performance as both exploitation and potential agency within courtly and colonial power structures. Drawing on key English-language works on critical race, postcolonial, and court studies, students learn to interpret the biographies and sonic practices of Black musicians as part of Europe’s entangled histories of music/sound, power, race, and empire. | Prof. Dr. Arne Spohr |
| 08-31-4-M8b-1 | Central and Eastern Europe: Cultural Issues in Times of Crisis (in English) This is a research-based seminar dedicated to topical issues in (studies of) Central and Eastern Europe in light of contemporary polycrises: Russia’s war in Ukraine; (…) This is a research-based seminar dedicated to topical issues in (studies of) Central and Eastern Europe in light of contemporary polycrises: Russia’s war in Ukraine; authoritarian backlash in Russia, Belarus and elsewhere; democratic backsliding in a number of EU-member states; global climate breakdown; and others. It invites students to engage with contemporary debates on decolonization, gender and sexuality, nationalism and identity, memory, and environmental destruction – as seen through cultural practices including (but not restricted to) literature, film, visual arts, digital activism, and music.
No specific linguistic competences are required for participation: materials will be studied in translation (English and/or German, according to availability) or with subtitles.
In the course of the semester, students will formulate their own research topics to pursue in a limited and guided capacity, producing written and/or visual outputs in a flexible assessment format. The seminar will foreground a dialogic structure, encouraging students to contribute in multiple ways and collectively co-shape the direction and content. A number of special guest inputs are also planned.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the of the course, students should be able to:
• critically discuss selected cultural products and practices from central/eastern Europe, including in comparative perspective in relation to global processes and with reference to broader theoretical paradigms such as memory studies, de- and postcoloniality, theories of gender and sexuality, and others;
• develop their own research question in a self-selected area of cultural studies in an central/eastern European context, as well as adapt and apply appropriate theories to carry out the project within a given time frame;
• demonstrate advanced knowledge of contemporary cultural issues in central and eastern Europe in line with their own research interests and language skills, and identify areas in which they may wish to specialise in future research projects (e.g. the BA thesis). | Simon Lewis |
| 08-28-HIS-6.5 | Sound, Space, and Power in Early Modern Europe and Its Colonies (1450–1700) (in English) Recent work in sensory history has highlighted how sound and listening shape human experience and historical change. Rather than treating music and sound as mere (…) Recent work in sensory history has highlighted how sound and listening shape human experience and historical change. Rather than treating music and sound as mere background, this seminar approaches them as active forces that structure power relations, social hierarchies, and cultural practices. We examine how “sonic spaces” emerge not only from architecture and acoustics but also from political, religious, gendered, and racialized contexts, as well as listening conventions and programming choices.
Through case studies, we will explore churches as sites reflecting cosmic order, courts and gardens as acoustic technologies of princely power, women’s convents and salons as spaces of musical agency, and the military, epistemological, and extractive uses of sound in colonial settings. By analyzing the interplay between space, sound, and practice, the course invites us to rethink early modern history through a sensory and spatial lens and to understand how power was embodied, performed, and contested through sound. | Prof. Dr. Arne Spohr |
