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| Semester | spring semester 2017 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Philipp Schweighauser (ph.schweighauser@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Taking as its topic one of the most topical issues in contemporary European and North American public debates--(im)migration--this course takes us back to early twentieth-century literary, autobiographical, and political negotiations of migration and immigration. We will focus on three books, Jewish-American writer Mary Antin's autobiography "The Promised Land" (1912), Polish-American author Anzia Yezierska's short story collection "Hungry Hearts" (1920), and Chinese-British-American writer Sui Sin Far's "Mrs. Spring Fragrance" (1912). Together these books raise a host of issues that remain relevant today, among them the idea of melting-pot, multiculturalism, assimilation, and the intersections between race, gender, and class. In discussing these works and a number of early twentieth-century essays on (im)migration, we will draw both on scholarship on our three books and recent scholarly interventions under the heading of 'transnationalism' in what Americanists such as John Carlos Rowe, Amy Kaplan, and Donald Pease have called the New American Studies. |
| Learning objectives | You engage with fictional and non-fictional negotiations of (im)migration in the early twentieth-century U.S. You are also introduced to recent discussions of 'the transnational turn' in American Studies. |
| Bibliography | Please read Mary Antin's "The Promised Land" (1912), Anzia Yezierska's "Hungry Hearts" (1920), and Sui Sin Far's "Mrs. Spring Fragrance" (1912) before the beginning of the semester. We will start with "The Promised Land". The Labyrinth bookstore right opposite the Department of English has ordered copies of these books. You might consider supporting your local bookstore. |
| Comments | Note that this seminar relates to my lecture course "American Literature Survey III/IV: Naturalism and Modernism" (28846-01). However, attendance of the lecture is not a prerequisite for this seminar. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This course is open to MA students and PhD candidates. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) Modul English & American Literature (Master's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Literaturgeschichte (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul Literaturtheorie (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul Research in Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | regular attendance, active participation |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |