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SoSe 13: Tourism and Photography. Pictures of people and places in everyday culture and tourism culture in the United States

Lina Tegtmeyer

Comments

What is the difference between a picture postcard of New York City, a photography of New York City and the city of New York? Unfortunately, in this seminar we will not take a tourist trip to produce our own snapshots of a reality that we will find at our chosen destination; neither will we travel abroad to shop for postcards to send "home". Instead, we will stay in Berlin and research possible relations between tourism and photography to understand the cultural meanings of tourism and in tourism imagery. We will analyze pictures with Stuart Hall, Rolande Barthes and Susan Sontag. They form the theoretical base for our close readings of various photographic genres. Questions that guide close readings include concepts of American Studies, for example, to read guidebooks with a plot in search for the American Dream. We will look into consumer culture and national identity formation as part of early tourism culture in the United States. We will also read into critical tourism theory to understand the basics of critical tourism discourse on a theoretical level: how is "tourism" different from "migration" or getting lost in our hometown? Who is a "tourist"? And what is "staged authenticity"? Visual representations of place for destination marketing in tourism (websites, postcards, advertisement) will be part of our analyses as well as non-touristic genres like television series, film posters, book covers, magazine illustrations, photography and fiction film. Please bring any form of printed (out) picture that you consider "tourism imagery" to the first session; it must portray any part of the United States (or you need to be ready to convince us that it does). To receive a Schein, I expect you to 1) attend the seminar regularly, not because I will have an attendance list, but because you will want to be there. 2) Actively participate - that means to speak out loud what you think and to learn to listen to each other. 3) You need to prepare one session alone or in a team (instead of the good old oral presentation). 4) Depending on the size of the class, you will either have to write two short term papers or one long term paper (Hausarbeit). I also expect you read your texts on a weekly basis and to spend time in the library with Mr. And Mrs. OPAC. The google machine and wikipedia will not substitute for letters on paper written by someone who can be identified as author. Be prepared for old school techniques of university education! close

13 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Mon, 16:00 - 18:00 13 Class schedule

Mon, 2013-04-08 16:00 - 18:00

Lecturers:
Lina Tegtmeyer