To content
Department of Cultural Studies
AMERICAN STUDIES

Give Me Your Tired. Your Poor? Contemporary Refugee Narratives

Course Information

Nr. Name Type Time Room Lecturer
154670 Give Me Your Tired. Your Poor? Contemporary Refugee Narratives 2 HS Th 12:15 - 13:45 R.  0.406 Laemmerhirt

According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are currently 89.3 million people forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of confilct, persecution, or conflict. 27.1 million of these people are officially classified as refugees. When discussing American literature, it becomes obvious that while many American narratives include, even embrace, immigrant experiences that are often connected to the American Dream and the Rags to Riches narratives, only few refugee narratives can be found.

This class will dive into the complex and challenging topic of refugee narratives and discuss different texts from this genre within a transnational context. We will read and closely analyze texts written by refugees from different backgrounds and investigate similarities and differences of refugee/immigrant narratives.

Please purchase and start reading the following novels/memoires:

Loung Ung. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. (2000)

Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner. (2003)

Lopez Lomong and Mark A. Tabb. Running for My Life: One Lost Boy’s Journey from the Killing Fileds of Sudan to the Olympic Games. (2012)

 

A reader with additional texts will be available at the beginning of the semester.

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, 7a
Komp: 3abcd
Kern: 6bc
Komp:4a 
1abcd, 3b, 4d 2ab
PO ab WS 21/22 Kern: 6ac, 7a
Komp: 3abcd
Kern: 6bc
Komp: 4a
1abc, 3b, 4a 2ab

Return to American Studies