With a focus on the 1960s, and 1970s the course covers major topics, texts, and events that shaped the emergence and development of countercultural expressions in the U.S during a time period which is considered one of the most turbulent epochs of U.S. American history in the twentieth century. The course will use diverse teaching methods including in-class readings, presentations, in-class writing, discussion, and group work. The structure of the class may change if we are confronted with another pure online format in the summer semester 2021. The objective of the course is to introduce students to major themes and movements of American counterculture, to study American counterculture as textual, performative and political expression. We will work toward a definition of counterculture in relation to culture. Among others we will study theoretical texts on counterculture by Goffman and Roszak, read poems, essays, and plays by the Beat Generation and the Black Arts Movement, analyze Kesey’s novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a canonical text of and for the Hippie generation among others. The objective is to work toward a definition of counterculture, read literary texts as cultural expression, and to understand difference within countercultural movements.
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Module | Course | Requirements | |
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23-ANG-M-AngGM2 Grundmodul 2: Contact Zones and Intercultural Studies | GM 2.2 Cultural and Literary Contact in Great Britain and the Post-Colonial World | Study requirement
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GM 2.3 Cultural and Literary Contact in the USA | Study requirement
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23-IAS-M-IAS4 North American Literature and the Processes of Culture | Cultural and Literary Contact in the U.S.A. I | Study requirement
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Cultural and Literary Contact in the U.S.A. II | Study requirement
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- | Graded examination | Student information |
The binding module descriptions contain further information, including specifications on the "types of assignments" students need to complete. In cases where a module description mentions more than one kind of assignment, the respective member of the teaching staff will decide which task(s) they assign the students.