Summer Term 2016

VL: Narrating Australian and New Zealand Lives

Professor Dr. Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn

Mi 14 – 16 c.t. HS 0.03, Geb. B3 2

In this lecture series we will be looking at transcultural self-/other-representation in general and at particular examples of this topic as found in literary and/or film texts in an Australian and New Zealand context. For one, we will be looking for answers to the question: what do these texts perhaps share in a manner that makes them unique to the Pan-Pacific region? And, following on from this: are there characteristics specific to texts produced in and for 'Australians' as against 'New Zealanders'?

These texts will form the focus of the lecture series:

The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) (film)

The Whale Rider (print)

Rabbit-Proof-Fence (film)

An Angel at My Table (print)

Samson and Delilah(2009) (film)

 

HS: Playing by the Rules of Whose Game? Games and Texts

Professor Dr. Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn

Mi 16 – 18 Raum 1.20, Geb. C5 3

Games form an integral part of every society, and they especially cannot be ignored in the context of colonial rule, as well as of nation-building.  Transcultural games in fact illustrate this particularly well. Having been almost universally lauded for having spread the concept of 'fair play' and 'sportsmanship' to all areas comprising the British Empire, what exactly was the contribution of British rule in India with regard to the kind of games considered to be 'worthwhile'? What kind of examples of 'fair play' did the rulers set? To what extent did Indians seek to emulate their rulers? Which games did the Indian nation, once free of direct British rule, set up as embodying national ideals, and to what extent was India successful? We will be looking for answers to these and other questions by taking a close look at films made in India on the topic of games and how they are played.

Please note that a conference on Games (April 21st-23rd) is scheduled for the first week of the teaching term; participants of this HS are expected to attend at least one of the sessions as preparation for the seminar.

FILMS: Any film text not otherwise available will be placed in the online seminar materials:

A Game of Chess

Lagaan

Chak De India

 

Sprechstunde: Mittwochs ab 18:00. Raum 1.15, Geb. C5 3

Terminanfragen bitte an c.plach(at)mx.uni-saarland.de

 

 

HS: Writing Against Stigma, Writing Oneself into the Mainstream

Professor Dr. Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn

Do 14 – 16 Raum 1.20, Geb. C5 3


We will be focusing on autobiographical texts in general, and on a particular type of writing against stigma stemming from India that has only come to the notice of a more general reading public in the past few decades. Written by persons who designate themselves as "Dalits" rather than continue to be called the "untouchables", Dalit autobiographical texts are remarkable examples of self-representation. Instead of leaving it to those located higher up the Hindu caste ladder to 'represent' them, Dalit writers invite us to venture where, just a few years ago, knowledge about the lives of circa 20% of the Indian population lay beyond the ken of the mainstream. Dalit texts very personally address what it means to experience discrimination on account of one's "descent" as a person 'outside/below' the Hindu caste system, while at the same time exploring possible avenues of escape from this stigma.

TEXTS: Any text not otherwise available will be placed in the online seminar materials

Ray, Satyajit. Sadgati (TV film) 1981.

Bama.  Karukku. Chennai: Macmillan India, 2000.

Jadhav, Narendra. Untouchables: My Family's Triumphant Escape from India's Caste System. Berkeley: U of California P, 2005.

Limbale, Sharan Kumar. TheOutcaste. New Delhi: OUP, 2003.

Pawar, Urmila.  The Weave of My Life: A Dalit Woman’s Memoirs. New York: Columbia UP, 2009.

Valmiki, Omprakash.  Joothan. Calcutta: Samya, 2003.

 

 

Kolloquium for B.A., M.A. and Lehramt Candidates

Professor Dr. Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn

Do 16:00 – 18:30 Raum 1.20, Geb. C5 3

All TAS students in the semi-final stages of their studies are encouraged to attend.

Those intending to take any part of their final examinations in TAS are strongly advised to participate in this colloquium a semester prior to the final run through. Those students starting out / meanwhile engaging with their written academic work, i.e. those doing an M.A. or a B.A. thesis, are also expected to attend and therewith to present their work to peer-review.

The colloquium's focus is on developing study skills while providing on-going guidance during exam preparation. Further, it provides a supportive forum for presenting theses-in-progress and mock exams, all within the frame of engaging with the application of TAS theory parameters to selected texts.

 

 

 

Ü/PS: Introduction to Media Studies (Transcultural Anglophone Studies Proseminar / Cultural Studies II)

Dr. Anna Maria Lemor

Mi 8:30-10:00, Geb. C5 3 Raum 1.20

Introduction to Media Studies/ Proseminar in Transcultural Anglophone Studies and Cultural Studies II is designed for students who have grown up in a rapidly changing global multimedia environment and want to become more literate and critical consumers and producers of culture. In the first half of the semester we will look at the nature of mediated communication, the functions of media, the history of transformations in media and the institutions that help define media's place in society as well as we will review the main theoretical and analytical frameworks involved in the analysis of mass media texts, in particular audiovisual ones. Whereas, in the second half of the course we will concentrate on a particular topic to examine how media "works" within our society as meaning-making agents and spaces. We will focus on immigration and its social and political consequences in Britain and how these topics are dealt with in movies. Questions of race, identity and multiculturalism in Britain will be discussed through the analysis of films such as My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), My Son The Fanatic (1997), and Bend It Like Beckham (2002).

Reading texts and watching films in preparation for each class is mandatory for all participants.