GER 341 - Borderland Europe: Cultural Productions on the Move

Instructor
Ellis

Framed by the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, this course will engage with contemporary and historical discourses of borders, migration, and belonging in Europe through the lens of cultural production. By examining key developments since WWII - including post-colonial migration, guest-worker programs, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of the European Union - we will situate current debates within a longer historical trajectory. Looking at films by Stephen Frears and Fatih Akın, music videos by Advanced Chemistry and M.I.A., literary texts by Yoko Tawada and Amara Lakhous, and a variety of online content, we will ask how these works respond to and intervene in political discussions of Europe’s borders. In doing so, we will attend to transnational circulations, supranational institutions, as well as the ongoing significance of the nation-state; countries of focus will include Greece, Italy, Germany, France, and the U.K.

Satisfies the Liberal Studies distribution requirement.