230314 Life writing: expressing, narrating, reflecting "disability" (S) (SoSe 2023)

Narrating the self in autobiographical essays, memoirs, and multi-media texts is at the core of this seminar's critical interest. The class follows a four-step structure. In the beginning we study writings that reflect on the overall concept of life writing as a theoretical framework for further discussion and text analysis. Textual and media examples from writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Sin Lui Far, Edwidge Danticat, and David Chariandy, among others serve as matrix to explore in which ways life writing from the U.S., the Caribbean, and Canada reflects and shapes the self in relation to the social. This class will take a close look at Cultural Disability Studies and places American Studies in the larger context of the interesting newer field of Medical Humanities. In particular, we will explore ‘disability’ as cultural narrative beyond the medical clinical diagnosis. Guiding questions for our reading of Cultural Disabilities Studies texts are: “How is ‘disability’ represented (and narrated) in media like literature, life writing, TV and film? How can ‘disability’ become a cultural narrative beyond individual case studies? Why do we have waves of ‘disability‘ narratives in cultural history and why do we encounter a new boom of ‘disability’ narratives in contemporary times?”
In a third step all students will participate in a two-day international conference (30th June and 1st July 2023) in which scholars present their work-in-progress at the Center for InterAmerican Studies at Bielefeld University. Students will take minutes of selected presentations and engage in a critical dialogue with one selected presentation of their choice that will be presented in a fourth step in small group presentations during two class sessions after the conference. The objective of this seminar is to familiarize students with various expression of life writing and the latter’s importance for reflecting disability in the American hemisphere.