The specific availability for this course is not currently known. If you would like to know if this course will be offered during your session, please contact us.
There are many stories and approaches to history that make up the notion of the American West. Films like "Brokeback Mountain" or TV series like "Deadwood" are living proof for the ongoing fascination with the West. Starting with "The Significance of the Frontier" (Frederick Jackson Turner), we will analyze how the idea of the West has changed and how it relates to the national story of the United States.
We will examine issues of race and ethnicity (e.g. cultural contact with the native population, black cowboys, Asian immigrants and the railroad), gender and violence (e.g. How violent was the ‘wild’ west really? What were the domestic gender roles in the "Little House on the Prairie"?), land rights and the environment.
A reader will be made available on ILIAS.
portfolio = 70%, participation = 30%. The portfolio consists of a number of different assignments such as a factfile, a critical movie review, a summary, a webquest, preparation for a role-play / simulation, literary text analysis, or a creative writing assignment.
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