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Modern American Carceral Narratives: Forms and Contexts
DozentIn: Jatin Wagle
Veranstaltungstyp: Seminar
Ort: 01/106
Zeiten: Di. 14:00 - 16:00 (wöchentlich)
Beschreibung: Simon Rolston asserts, “in prison life writing, the prison is writing too,” arguing that the American prison is not merely a setting for carceral narratives but acts as a generative, structuring, and authorial force. This interdisciplinary seminar in American Studies examines the poetics and politics of carceral narratives in the United States, focusing on how the prison system shapes such writings and how incarcerated individuals document, resist, and reimagine carceral life through narratives.
We will explore a range of modern carceral narratives, including oral histories, life writing, nonfiction, and fiction, considering the ways in which these texts articulate and contest the conditions of confinement. The course draws on a challenging selection of theoretical, analytical, fictional, and nonfictional texts, all of which demand careful preparation and engaged, critical discussion.
A list of primary texts and mandatory readings will be posted before our first session.
Please note that some of the texts taken up for intensive reading in this seminar depict varied forms of violence. Do not hesitate to approach me, if you believe any of these aspects would cause you distress. We will try and find ways to address such issues.
This course takes up texts that might be viewed as offensive and/or disturbing, especially because of their racially and/or ethnically explicit vocabulary and imagery. This should not be seen as an attempt at normalizing racist epithets or attitudes, but on the contrary as an opportunity to appreciate and examine literary and cultural expression that tackles and critiques the murky realities of racism.
As part of your assigned work in this seminar, all the course participants would need to carefully prepare the reading(s) allotted for a session, develop points of discussion, and occasionally respond to the reading(s) via annotations on Google Docs. Our weekly, in-person meetings will be assisted by session support groups.
