Utopian States of America - Einzelansicht

Note that this is a block-seminar, taught on three consecutive weekends, with the final assignment being written in the course on the final date (04.12). An introduction to the course format will be held on the 09.11. All prospective participants have to attend this meeting. Moodle will serve to distribute reading materials and information.

Students are required to familiarize themselves with the basic setup of the course and introductory reading material before the first session on the 19.11., and allow for sufficient time for the considerable amount of reading, and their creative writing assignment during the weeks in which the course runs. Each session will only provide short time-slots for working on the assignments and to recapitulate on the reading. The final exam can be moved should the participants agree on an alternative date.

This year, Utopian Studies are celebrating the 500th anniversary of Thomas Moore’s Utopia with various conferences and publications. In this spirit, this seminar will engage with the topic of Utopia from the perspective of US American Studies: both, utopia and the Americas were discovered’ at the beginning of modernity, and have been discursively interlinked ever since. This course will focus specifically on the utopian and dystopian claims frequently voiced in relationship with the United States.

The general setup of the course is project-oriented with the goal of writing a short piece of utopian fiction; the lecturer will be there to assist group work, summarize findings, and guide (hopefully fruitful) discussions among the groups. Students will work in groups to research and prepare their assignments: a creative section, in which they develop their own utopian text, and an open book in-class essay in the final session.

a reader will be provided via moodle.

In addition, students will have to obtain a paper copy of Callenbach's Ecotopia.

Creative assignment plus short essay on the theoretical foundations on final day of course (04.12.).