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| Semester | spring semester 2009 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Werner Brönnimann (werner.broennimann@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | This course will be devoted to English and American texts and some film materials that thematise the world of consumer products and their consumers. Although the materials covered will be chosen from several disciplines such as economics, anthropology, history and cultural studies, American and English cultural sources and concerns will predominate. It will be attempted to do justice to the phenomenon of modern consumer culture by studying diverse points of view-some of them perhaps rather surprisingly controversial-on phenomena such as the inception of products, their distribution, their consumers, and to strike a balance between theoretical reflection and narrative, even anecdotal, evidence. Hence, this will also be a seminar on literary and artistic representations of supermarkets and on luxury products, and more generally on the cultural significance of consumerist objects of desire and of the processes involved in selling and buying them. For all its inevitablility, the critique of consumerism and of object fetishism will be counterpointed by artistic celebrations of a culture of plenitude. |
| Learning objectives | Expanding students knowledge of English and American Literature. Pursuing and critically assessing both fictional and non-fictional materials. Understanding the aims and methods of an interdisciplinary cultural studies project. Training hermeneutic abilities. Enhancing awareness of critical approaches. |
| Bibliography | Most of the material will be made available on the EVA server. However, students are required to purchase the following book: Martin Amis, "Money". |
| Admission requirements | Open to students students who have completed their 2nd year (including the paper) in Literature and Culture Studies. |
| Course application | Please register for this course by sending an email to Werner.Broennimann@unibas.ch. You will receive a provisional programme and the reading material for the first session in the last week of the winter break. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Interphilologisches Angebot: Allgemeine Literaturwissenschaft (Bachelor's degree subject: Deutsche Philologie) Modul Allgemeine Literaturwissenschaft (Master's degree subject: German Literature) Modul Allgemeine Literaturwissenschaft (Master's degree subject: Modern German Literature) Modul English & American Literature (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Extending the View (Literary and Cultural Studies) (Bachelor's degree subject: Englisch) Modul Focusing on the Discipline (Literary and Cultural Studies) (Bachelor's degree subject: Englisch) Modul Literatur- und Kulturtheorie (Bachelor's degree subject: Hispanistik) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Students are expected to make one oral presentation, to write the minutes of one meeting, to contribute actively to classroom discussion and to attend the course regularly (i.e. no more than three missed meetings). Optional Seminararbeit. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Englisches Seminar |