Events
SS 2010
July 7 Guest Lecture by Dr. Michael Butter on "The Obama Deception and Other Episodes in Recent Political Demonology"
(Poster)June 9 JP Morgan Run in Frankfurt
May 6 Inaugural Lecture: Political Positions in Cultural Studies
WS 2009- 2010
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RVL: New Theories, Models and Methods in Literary and Cultural Studies (Poster)
Held in the winter term of 2009-2010, this lecture series was intended to offer Giessen students an overview of state-of-the-art methods and models for conducting literary and cultural studies. In this way, the organizers Ansgar Nünning and Greta Olson hoped that students might move forward in devising their own research models and deciding on the method or methods most appropriate for their own work. The lecture series also addressed the question of, “If theory is dead what comes next?” The many answers offered to this question in the form of the lectures suggest that literary and cultural studies are alive and well and flourishing as theoretical as well as pragmatic forms of analysis.
Many of the lectures are now available as podcasts, and a publication of all of the lectures will be available shortly in the WVT Handbook: New Theories, Models and Methods in Literary and Cultural Studies, ed. Ansgar Nünning and Greta Olson (in preparation).
SS 2009
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The Battle of the Books (with Professor Ingo Berensmeyer, Dr. habil. Ute Berns and Dr. Andrea Rummel)(Poster)
This literary soirée consisted of a debate between Ingo Bernsmeyer, Ute Berns, and Greta Olson and was moderated by Andrea Rummel. We argued about the relative merits of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005), Dara Horn’s The World to Come, and J.M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year (2007) and read passages from these novels aloud. After the ‘battle’ audience members added their comments, and the evening was concluded with wine and food.
Projects
April 2010 - March 2012
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Integrating Women’s and Gender Studies (with Dr. des. Nadyne Stritzke)
This research project seeks to integrate women’s and gender studies into the existing curriculum for BA students. Lead by Greta Olson and Nadyne Stritzke, the project is supported by many members of the department including Wiebke Beushausen, Nadia Butt, Birte Christ, Mirjam Horn, Magnus Nissel, Svetla Rogatcheva, and Katharina Zilles. While the project is now geared to the cultural studies module in Anglistik, it is intended to be a potential model for integrating women’s and gender studies into other disciplines as well.
The first phase of the project consists of an exploratory period in which students and faculty are questioned about their interests in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies respectively. Information is being gathered about their interests in these topics outside of the university, their sense of how much these areas of study are being covered in the existing curricula, and their wishes for the future. For instance, should a degree be offered in women’s and/or gender studies? What specific topics in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies should be covered in university courses?
The second stage of the project concerns an evaluation period followed by the implementation of student and faculty wishes within the scope of the cultural studies module. This will be followed, in the third stage of the project, by a lecture series in which external experts will speak about implementing women’s/gender/sexuality studies in their own institutions and about the political implications of pursuing a more women’s or gender studies trajectory of scholarship.
Courses in the project which will be taught in the WS 2010-2011 include:
- Dr. Nadia Butt: "Oral and Written Communication II (Lektürekurs): "'Travelling Women': Construction of Gender in Indian Women's Writing"."
- Dr. des. Birte Christ: “Applying Feminist Theory to Literature”
- Mirjam Horn: “Writing the Body”
- Prof. Dr. Greta Olson: “The Seduction of Romance: From Pamela to Twilight”
- Svetla Rogatcheva: “Language and Gender: Sociolinguistic and Quantitative Perspectives”
Click here to visit the project's blog