Advanced Seminar America and its Discontents
26.04.2017 – 26.07.2017
Leitung
Prof. Dr. Klaus Benesch
Zeit & Ort
Mi 16-18 Uhr; Schellingstr. 3, VG, Raum S 106
This class traces the tradition of a radical critique of American society, both from within and without of the US. From the 18th through 21st century critics of American politics, lifestyles, and the nation's excessive materialism and religious orientation abound. Setting the stage for a more far-reaching critique of modern society discontent with America often sees the nation as both laboratory and nemesis of modernity at large. In each session we will discuss individual representatives of this critical tradition – from the "degeneracy thesis" to Henry David Thoreau and David Walker, from Ferdinand Kürnberger to Amiri Baraka and Noam Chomsky. Its stark ideological differences notwithstanding discontentment with America may after all be as American as apple pie.