Kommentar |
Blockseminar
Dates: April 16, 23, 30 and May 14-15, 2021
Friday, April 16: 14-16 h Orientation Meeting (online) Friday, April 23: 14.00-18.30 h (online) Friday, April 30: 12.00-18.30 h (online) Friday, May 14: 12.00-18.30h (online) Saturday, May 15: 10.00-16.00h (online)
This seminar will explore a series of literary representations that focus on border territories, border crossings, and intercultural spaces of in-betweenness. Taking our cue from Chicana border theory, we will look at different border experiences, comparing texts from the U.S.-Mexican border and the U.S.-Canadian border within a transhemispheric paradigm. Focusing on the multiple interdependencies between the United States, Canada, and their neighbors in the Americas, we will talk about a great variety of texts which deal with borders, ranging from literary texts that deal with or are set in borderlands spaces (e.g. Chicanx literature, Native American/First Nations literature) to films (e.g. Frozen River), and other cultural productions and border performances (e.g. the artwork of Guillermo Peña). Readings: Rodolfo Gonzales. I am Joaquín/Yo Soy Joaquín (1972) Sandra Cisneros’s short story ”Woman Hollering Creek” (1991) Guillermo Verdecchia’s Fronteras Americanas/American Borders (1997) Thomas King’s short story ”Borders” (1993) Courtney Hunt, dir. Frozen River (2008)
Course requirements: oral presentation, term paper. Course texts and other materials will be made available via our on-line platform. |