239561 Comparative Vision: The Garden and the Desert (American-Australian) (S) (WiSe 2011/2012)

The national cultures of both the USA and Australia have been significantly influenced by the historical experience of Europeans meeting the "New World," lands previously unknown to European civilisation. Many of the most distinctive features of both cultures emerged from how European settlers imagined their relation to their new environments and the indigenous peoples they encountered. In this course we will look at sample representations of the New World and the Frontier to see how the relationship between European settlers and their new environments developed and became defining characteristics of both national cultures. The comparative perspective will illustrate not only how different environments shape cultural concepts but also how ideas and discourses operate across borders, influencing distant lands and cultures.