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Department of Cultural Studies
American Studies

“But we do lan­guage.” The power of stories

Course Information

Nr. Name Type Time Room Lecturer
154672 “But we do lan­guage.” The power of stories 2 HS Fr 10:15 - 11:45 R. 0.406 Klemm

“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives,” Toni Morrison said during her Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 1993. Starting with her speech, this course will explore some of the manifold meanings of storytelling for human experience and evolution. Deep in human history, some scholars (Gottschall and Gazzaniga) argue, storytelling provided a survival advantage by bringing humans together sharing information, skills and values. Maybe it was already then that storytelling served as a means to attract potential mates.

Brian Boyd concludes about the value of stories, “A work of art acts like a playground for the mind.” So let us investigate this playground: the fun, the fears, the conflicts, the cleansing, the comfort, and the restoration.

In addition to the analysis of fictional texts we will study how storytelling is applied these days in areas like conflict resolution, community building (https://storycorps.org), urban development or sustainability.

Readings will include texts by Joan Didion, Toni Morrison, Maria Popova, Natasha Trethewey and others.

Modules

Lehramtsstudiengänge

LABG G HRG/HRSGe GyGe/BK SP
2009 703, 704 602, 1001, 1002 602, 701, 702, 1002, 1003 703
2016 602, 703, 704 602, 1002, 1003 602, 701, 702, 1002, 1004 703

Angewandte Sprachwissenschaften &
Angewandte Literatur-/Kulturwissenschaften:

PO B.A.ALK B.A.AS M.A.ALK M.A.AS
PO ab WS 16/17 Kern: 6ac
Komp: 3abd
Kern: 6bc
Komp: 4a
1ac, 3b 2ab
PO ab WS 21/22 Kern: 6ac
Komp: 3abd
Kern: 6bc
Komp: 4a
1ac, 3b 2ab