This course focuses on introducing some of the interdisciplinary approaches, tools and theories currently used in cultural studies and on showing cases of cultural analysis based on and utilizing these theories and approaches.

There will be three main fields of engagement in the 6 week sequence, each field being explored in two parallel cases: Iconicity and imagology, Memory and materiality, Diaspora, exile and identity work.

In each field we will engage with material from several art forms and media, ranging from film, images and art to music and literary forms and their material basis.

The readings for each session will consist of one article written by me, as well as of theoretical background texts and excerpts of primary works elucidating the case in question. A course pack for copying can be found on the course shelf. There will be multiple film clips, images for hands-on analysis, as well as musical examples. Workshop sessions where you will be given the opportunity to 'do cultural studies' yourselves will be scheduled shortly and added to the course plan.

Course plan:

1. Feb. 9: Icons and Iconicity: The strange cases of Elvis Presley and Jane Fonda [Lecture website]
Readings:
Bent Sørensen: “Sacred and profane icon-work: Jane Fonda and Elvis Presley”, in US Icons and Iconicity, (eds. Hölbling, Rieser & Rieser), pp. 237-257, American Studies in Austria, vol. 4, LIV Verlag, Austria, 2006 (ISBN 3-8258-8669-7)
Cultural texts: Jane and Elvis icons (reproduced in my paper), Barbarella (excerpts to be shown in class), Elvis' letter to Nixon (see slides at the lecture website), Raymond Federman: The Two-fold Vibration (excerpts in course pack)

2. Feb. 16: Imagology: Adversarial and collaborative uses of Uncle Sam [Lecture website]
Readings:
Bent Sørensen: “Countercultural Icon-work: Adversarial and Collaborative Uses of ‘Uncle Sam’” (Accepted for inclusion in Communities and Connections volume, ed. Ari Helo, Helsinki, 2007)
Cultural texts: Uncle Sam icons (reproduced in my paper), Allen Ginsberg: "America" (in course pack), The Grateful Dead: "U.S. Blues" (in course pack)
Theory: Anthony Johnson: "Notes Towards a New Imagology" (in course pack)

3. March 2: Cultural Memory: Future and past memory in Raymond Federman's texts [Lecture website]
Readings:
Bent Sørensen: “Cultural and Individual Memory in Raymond Federman’s The Twofold Vibration” (Presented at Cultural Memory Conference, Nicosia, February 2004)
Cultural texts: Raymond Federman: Critifiction (excerpts in course pack), Raymond Federman: The Two-fold Vibration (excerpts in course pack)
Theory: Monica Spiridon: "Spaces of Memory: The City-Text" (Download here)
Federman on the Net: [Webpage] [Blog] [MySpace]

Icon and image workshop - Wednesday March 7, 12.30 - room (1.111)
Material for the workshop is here.

4. March 9: Text and Materiality: The scrolls of Jack Kerouac and A.R. Ammons [Lecture website]
Readings:
Bent Sørensen: “The Spools and Loops of Jack Kerouac and A.R. Ammons: Towards a Poetics of Non-Conformity” (Presented at EAAS 2006, Cyprus, April 2006)
Cultural texts: The On the Road scroll [1] [2], poems by Jack Kerouac and A.R. Ammons (in course pack)

Music video analysis-workshop - Monday March 12, 2.15 p.m. - room 1.121
Material for the workshop is here.

5. March 16: Diaspora and Exile: New Age mysticism, roving and Irish belonging in lyrics by Van Morrison [Lecture website]
Readings:
Bent Sørensen: “The Celtic Ray: Representations of Diaspora Identities in Van Morrison Lyrics”, in Re-mapping Exile: Realities and Metaphors in Irish Literature and History (The Dolphin 34) (eds. Michael Böss, Irene Gilsenan Nordin & Britta Olinder), pp. 158-177, Aarhus University Press, December 2005 (ISBN 87-7934-010-5)
Cultural texts: Van Morrison song lyrics and album artwork (available from the lecture website)
Theory: Introduction to Remapping Exile - available as PDF here

6. March 23: Identity work: Portraits in paint and fiction: Erik Stæhr-Nielsen and Nella Larsen [Lecture website]
Readings:
Bent Sørensen: “Portraits of Blacks: Nella Larsen and Early 20^th C. Danish Paintings” (Under review for Denmark and the Black Atlantic volume, eds. Bone, Petersen & Dvinge, 2007)
Cultural texts: Nella Larsen. Quicksand (excerpt in course pack), portraits and paintings by Emil Nolde, Erik Stæhr-Nielsen and others (available from the lecture website)