Cultural Turns

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Course Description and Goals This course aims to help graduate students become conversant in recent “cultural turns” in the humanities and social sciences, with special emphasis on their impact on German studies in the U.S. The interdisciplinary analytical concepts developed in each of these “turns“ have been fruitful for a wide variety of disciplines. We will explore four of the most significant “turns” since the 1960s: the linguistic and interpretative turns, the performative turn, the postcolonial turn, and the iconic turn. Students will examine these key “turns” in light of their respective historical contexts and theoretical and methodological impacts, focusing on the following questions: What constitutes a cultural “turn?” How can these “turns” be made productive for the interpretation of literary texts as well as performances, films, visual materials, and works in other modes/genres? How can students profit from these “turns” in their own research projects? Course Organization The course consists of four units of about 3-4 weeks each. In addition to the theoretical readings, each unit includes an overarching question, a writing assignment, and an analysis of case studies; each will end with the relevant chapter from Doris Bachmann-Medick’s book Cultural Turns (2016). Readings will be in English and German, in-class discussions in German. I. The linguistic and interpretative turns (4 weeks) The first unit starts out with an introduction to the Linguistic Turn (and its impact on critical theory), since all of the subsequent turns are informed by this initial turn. The remainder of the unit focuses on the Interpretative Turn, starting out with Gadamer’s foundational work on hermeneutics, continuing with reader response theory, and concluding with readings in cultural anthropology. The unit ends with articles from the spring 1989 GQ issue on “Germanistik as German Studies: Interdisciplinary Theories and Methods,” several of which draw on the “interpretative turn” and discuss issues of inter/disciplinarity. Together with recent reports on the state of the field, they will help us to “locate” the discipline of German studies in the professional and academic context of the U.S. Readings include: C. Belsey, F. de Saussure, H. Gadamer, W. Iser, P. Schweickart, C. Geertz, GQ Spring 1989 special issue (H. Seeba, J. Peck, A. Teraoka), GQ Fall 2018 special issue (H. Baer, M. Shafi, et al.) Case studies: • Ingeborg Bachmann, “Ihr glücklichen Augen,” “Gebell” from Simultan. Erzählungen (1971) OR • Gottfried Keller, “Berlocken,” in Sinngedicht (1850/1881). II. The performative turn (3 weeks) This unit will explore the various iterations of the “performative turn” in the humanities and social sciences through readings of foundational theoretical texts in three key areas: (1) the anthropological analysis of ritual and social drama (Victor Turner), (2) action-based speech act theory (J.L. Austin, John Searle), and (3) theater and performance studies (E. Fischer-Lichte). In addition to the abovementioned areas, the unit will foster reflection on the critical and activist legacies of queer performativity theory since the 1990s (E. Sedgwick, J. Butler). In what ways does the performative “turn” allow us to discern processes of struggle, conflict, and resistance to hegemonic conventions at work in literature and art? How can it help us to understand what art and literature ”do” in the world? Readings include: J.L. Austin, J. Searle, W. Iser, J. Culler, J. Butler, E. Sedgwick, V. Turner, E. Fischer-Lichte, E. Landgraf Case study: • M. Abramovic, Lips of Thomas (1975) and The Artist is Present (2010) OR • Heinrich von Kleist, „Über die allmähliche Verfertigung der Gedanken beim Reden“ (1805/6) and „Allerneuester Erziehungsplan“ (1810) III. The postcolonial turn This unit looks at key texts in postcolonial studies written by literary scholars (Said, Bhabha, Spivak, Zantop, Berman) and historians (Young, Stoler), as well as the anti-colonial theorist and poet Aimé Cesaire. Central questions discussed in class include whether we still need postcolonial studies, and to what extent our current condition qualifies as imperial or neo-imperial. The unit also traces the arrival of postcolonial studies in German studies (Zantop, Berman, et al) in the 1990s, when scholars first began to chart a long history of colonial fantasies and fictions that far preceded the German state’s acquisition of colonies. Readings include: A. Cesaire, E. Said, M. Rothberg, H. Bhabha, G. Spivak, R. Young, A.L. Stoler, F. Verges, S. Zantop, R. Berman Case study: • H. Fichte, San Pedro Claver (1976) (radio play) and/or M. Götting, Contrapunctus (2015) IV. The iconic turn This unit seeks to introduce scholarly debates surrounding issues of “visuality” that took place in German as well as Anglo-American academia since at least the early 1990s. Rather than chronologically reconstructing the history of scholarship on these topics the aim is to familiarize students with key issues, questions and terms that defined this “turn”, such as image vs. text, description vs. narration, surveillance, the observer or spectator, the (othering/fetishizing) gaze, the visual subject etc. The readings comprise not only the most essential essays that represent the wave of research starting in the 1990s known as the Iconic Turn, but also key texts and academic “classics” from earlier periods of scholarship that have been “rediscovered” and reinterpreted during the turn (e.g., Lessing, Benjamin, Foucault). Readings include: W.J.T. Mitchell, N. Sousanis, G.E. Lessing, S. Poppe, R. Köhnen, M. Foucault, W. Benjamin, J. Crary, N. Mirzoeff, M.A. Doane Case studies: • E.T.A. Hoffmann, “Des Vetters Eckfenster“ (1822) • Simon Spruyt, Junker (graphic novel) (2014) OR Quentin Tarantino, Death Proof (film) (2007) Materials: - Weekly readings and films will be made available via Canvas. - Doris Bachmann-Medick, Cultural Turns: New Orientations in the Study of Culture. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2016. Requirements: - Intensive reading and active participation in class discussions - Three short papers and a final essay (10-12 pages)