30.09.2022 English Course - Pop Culture and Politics: The 1980s in America

New Tandem Course with Ottawa University, Kansas - Pop Culture and Politics: The 1980s in America -Taught by David Zook

In the course, we’ll be looking at selections from works of pop culture (literature, film, and music) to better understand American society and the politics of the decade. MTV ushered in the age of the music video, making stars of such telegenic stars as Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Bruce Springsteen, and the invention of the CD nearly doomed the vinyl LP to complete obsolescence. 

In addition to blockbusters like ET, Raiders of the Last Ark, and Ghost Busters, cinema was able to offer an additional attraction. Film-makers' visual vocabulary, made sci-fi works like Tron, The Abyss, and The Last Starfighter, and fantasies like Willow and Labyrinth possible. TV of the decade covered the spectrum from Miami Vice to ALF. Many books of the decade continue to hold a fascination for today’s readers, e.g., IT, The Cider House Rules, The Color Purple, and Lonesome Dove.

This course will be conducted in a unique international-tandem format, which means that students will interact in real-time with students in the United States in order to improve language and intercultural skills.  Dr. Steven Foulke of Ottawa University will be parallel-teaching the course on his campus. Students will follow lectures and participate in discourse with their counterparts abroad using free Internet teleconferencing software. In addition, students will be paired (or grouped) with their American counterparts for small group discussions and project work, with the use of a shared media blackboard. This innovative course concept was awarded the Lehre@Philipps prize for 2018.

The course starts on 17 October 2022. 3:30-5:00 pm.