Vampires and Empires

The course explores the vampire's changing meanings as a travelling concept in the visual and literary cultures of Eastern Europe and beyond. We critically examine the vampire's role in illustrating and reinscribing power dynamics between historical empires and their former colonies and peripheries. The vampires of our course materials are self-contradicting metaphors expressing both the resilience of the disempowered and the obstinacy of traditions resistant to change. Readings and class discussions in English.