A few people have come to me asking for project ideas, and here's my basic advice: Take a look at the Learning Modules in WebCT to see what topics are coming up. If we haven't broached a topic so far that interests you enough to pursue further research on it, then you might find something in the upcoming weeks that addresses your particular interests. The only "rule" is that it should have something to do with technology and/or science (in the broadest sense of those terms), gender, and German (since it is a German Studies cross-listed class). Also think about your personal "stake" in the course: What initially attracted you to the topic of the course (assuming that you knew something about it before you signed up for it)? Maybe you're interested in body image and popular culture (topics like our culture's obsession to be thin and how this might be compared to the history of the body in the German context; body dismorphic disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia; obesity as "disease" - what is the history of this? Is there a "gene" for obesity?). Or maybe you're interested in questions of racial or ethnic identity (how has "German" identity been defined against the negative images of "black," "Jewish," "Turkish," or other "minority" identities? How has science impacted these ideas about racial identity [e.g. eugenics, physiognomy, psychoanalysis])? Or perhaps you're interested in a particular genre of literature or filmmaking such as horror, science fiction, film noir, the Western, fantasy, or even videogaming - how does a particular genre construct identities, gendered, racial or otherwise? What modes of identity (gender, race, class, etc.) does a particular genre address in a way distinct from other genres? (For example, horror film and sci-fi are an obvious place to address gender, racial, and national identity, because "monsters" are so typically gendered, racialized, and nationalized in specific ways - the alien has a history of representing fears of communist or feminine threats, for example in Sci-Fi of the 1950s in particular at the beginning of the Cold War and the threat of "alien [communist] invasion").
Here are some other ideas:
- How does the newly discovered film footage from Metropolis affect the way we view this film? How have the different versions (American edited, Moroder, etc.) reflected the culture of their origin?
- Think about other films, texts, genres we might have considered in a particular unit (we obviously don't have time to read more than 1 or 2 texts each week - what other texts/films reflect similar concerns?) For example, during "Freaks" week, we probably won't have time to address the controversy surrounding the film Tropic Thunder and its satiric portrayal of films about the disabled - this is an area ripe for exploration. Another example: we've discussed the history of antisemitism and images of the Jew as monstrous "Other" - What/who are some of Germany's other Others? (look at the history of homosexuality or "gypsies" for example)
- Look at the history of "FKK" (Freie Körperkultur) in Germany - how has nakedness functioned as a political metaphor in the 20th century? (Linke has a chapter on this in her book German Bodies.)
- Look at the history of bodybuilding and "muscle culture" in Germany and the U.S.
- How has "cyberspace" changed our ideas about identity, especially bodily identity?
- Read Dürrenmatt's "Die Physiker" (The Physicists) and discuss its critique of science/technology.
- Look at some other horror and sci-fi films from Germany - I can give you a list - and discuss how these films either critique or reaffirm hegemonic identities.
- Do a Google search that includes some of the key terms of this course (gender, technology, national identity, Germany/German, representation, science, ....) and see what you come up with - Any ideas or texts you want to explore further
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