The English, among all Western cultures, seem to have a particular affinity to cross-dressing: not only did they insist, longer than other countries, on boy actors playing female parts on stage; they also delighted in plays that showed these female characters playing boys. The English Christmas pantomime has preserved this quaint custom of bearded ladies and girls in breeches. In the 20th century, this cultural practice has become a tool to explore gender identities in ways that are often playful and occasionally radical and dangerous. Focussing on English (or at least British, mostly) history, fiction and films, we will discuss and try to assess why and to what effect men have dressed as women and women have dressed as men, and how they have been represented.
To be announced. But we will start by looking at some scenes involving female characters dressed as boys in English Renaissance drama, i.e. scenes from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and As You Like It, possibly also Cymbeline, and Middleton & Dekker's The Roaring Girl. Virginia Woolf's Orlando is on the cards, as is a recent romantic genre novel by Australian writer Anna Cowan, Untamed.
As for films, there will be Stage Beauty, and a comparison of Tootsie (by the well-known British director Sydney Pollack and the equally well-known British actor Dustin Hoffman...) and "Albert Nobbs" (with Glen Close, the well-known... yes, you geddit).
I may be open to suggestion; so if there is a title you would like to discuss, send me an email.
Frequency | Weekday | Time | Format / Place | Period |
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Module | Course | Requirements | |
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23-ANG-AngBM2 Basismodul 2: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies | 2.3 Basisseminar: Genres, Authors, Periods | Study requirement
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Student information |
- | Graded examination | Student information | |
23-ANG-AngBM2.1 Basismodul 2.1 (Basic): Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies | Basisseminar: Genres, Authors, Periods | Study requirement
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Student information |
23-LIT-LitP8 Englischsprachige Literaturen | Englischsprachige Literaturen in exemplarischen Lektüren 1 | Study requirement
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Student information |
Englischsprachige Literaturen in exemplarischen Lektüren 2 | Study requirement
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Student information | |
- | Graded examination | Student information | |
30-MGS-3_ver1 Hauptmodul 2: Sozialisation und Bildung | Seminar 1 | Study requirement
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Student information |
Seminar 2 | Study requirement
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.
Degree programme/academic programme | Validity | Variant | Subdivision | Status | Semester | LP | |
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Anglistik: British and American Studies / Bachelor | (Enrollment until SoSe 2011) | Kern- und Nebenfach | BaAngPM4; BaAngPM3 | ||||
Anglistik: British and American Studies / Master of Education | (Enrollment until SoSe 2014) | BaAngPM3; BaAngPM4 | |||||
Anglistik: British and American Studies (GHR) / Master of Education | (Enrollment until SoSe 2014) | BaAngPM4; BaAngPM3 | |||||
Frauenstudien | (Enrollment until SoSe 2015) | ||||||
Gender Studies / Master | (Enrollment until SoSe 2013) | Hauptmodul 1 | 3 | (bei Einzelleistung 3 LP zusätzlich) | |||
Geschlechterforschung in der Lehre | |||||||
Geschlechterforschung in der Lehre |
Members of this class are expected to upload preparatory pieces of homework on the topic/text of the week.