Writing Wrongs: Human Rights and the Contemporary American Autobiography - Einzelansicht

In this course we will focus on representations of human rights’ violations in contemporary American autobiography. We will address some of the following issues: the relation of trauma to remembering and telling, the importance of memory and amnesia for the national community, and, the relation between private and public memories. Reading life-narratives of various refugees to the United States, we will inquire how these stories sustain or question some formative myths of the American nation. Working with the theory of autobiography, we will also inquire who gets to write autobiographically, what traumas and vulnerabilities can be expressed in this genre, what counts as a human rights’ violation and who counts as its victim.

Suggested reading prior to the course: Neil Campbell and Alasdair Kean, American Cultural Studies: An Introduction to American Culture (various editions). This is not obligatory reading but it will introduce you to some key concepts of the American culture.