32202 Advanced Seminar

SoSe 16: Furiously Funny: Contemporary Racial Satire

Johannes Kohrs

Comments

In this seminar we will investigate the role of satire and humor in complicating our understanding of identity and difference in the cultural paradigm of the post-Civil Rights era. Through a comparative framework consisting of readings of novels, poems, essays and plays by the authors Frank Chin, Percival Everett and Sherman Alexie we will engage with literary provocations that exemplify furiously funny attacks on 'race' and its realities, specifically the so-called Chinese, African and Native American "experience". Resonating with an era of both unprecedented social progress and inequity these works are variations of the ambivalent attempt to negotiate between sardonic response and moral responsibility. Everett's own assessment of this challenge will serve as an overarching guideline for our inquiry: "Humor is hard to do, but it allows you certain strategic advantages. If you can get someone laughing, then you can make them feel like sh*t a lot more easily." In order for us to properly enjoy this satiric confrontation please make sure to purchase a copy of Percival Everett's novels "erasure" (2001) and "I Am Not Sidney Poitier" (2009). Additional reading material will be provided via blackboard and the Handapparat. close

13 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Mon, 2016-04-18 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-04-25 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-05-02 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-05-09 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-05-23 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-05-30 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-06-06 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-06-13 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-06-20 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-06-27 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-07-04 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-07-11 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Mon, 2016-07-18 14:00 - 16:00

Lecturers:
Johannes Kohrs

Location:
203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)

Subjects A - Z