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Compulsory Modules

The courses in the module "Introduction to InterAmerican Studies" are aimed at introducing the participants to this interdisciplinary field, and bringing together students from different disciplines. These courses provide the framework necessary for the interdisciplinary integration of the acquisition of knowledge and research, while also offering the possibility to transform knowledge into field practice.

As far as the the topics are concerned, the study project is grounded in an interdisciplinary context and covers a cluster of subjects that correspond to the compulsory modules. The main goal is for the courses to serve as an introduction to the thematic spectrum of InterAmerican Studies, while working in groups in the block seminar to analyze specific cases. Ethnicity and indigenous movements, spaces and areas of transnational cultural contact, gender issues, migration and exile, urbanization, political communication, cultural hybridity and Border Studies, among others, constitute some of the thematic areas which link the Inter-American theoretical framework to research activities at Bielefeld University. The group project during the semester aims to delve into the topics of the module through further processing and research, the outcome of which will be presented at the end of the semester.


The module "History of the Americas" consists of studying the dynamics, global processes, colonization, dependence, and contact between cultures that occur within the region of the Americas. Historical theories (such as systems theory, social history, history of ideas, and postcolonial studies), and methods (historical hermeneutics, oral history), will be divided and explored through the Inter-American context.
The courses included in this module relate to and investigate common themes which focus on issues of world history. The historical contextualization seminar focuses on questions raised by research in the region of interest, and aims at establishing connections with other regions of the world. Meanwhile, the seminar deepens regional, trans-regional, theoretical, and methodological research. 

This module provides the methodology and various theoretical approaches to literary, media, and cultural analysis. The central focus is the question of transculturalization, particularly in relation to cultural exchange within the area known as North America. Therefore, in this module, historical and contemporary North American literatures are analyzed, along with various cultural productions.

In the seminar, "Cultural Theory" students get an overview of the theories pertaining to this field (such as cultural materialism, gender studies, media studies, New Historicism, cultural anthropology, and intercultural communication). Alternatively, in the seminar "Literary Theory" students learn to work with a variety of literary theories (including hermeneutics, New Criticism, structuralism, reception theory, and postcolonial theory), as the main objective of the seminar is to analyze the cultural role of literature in the context of Anglophone cultures. The seminars "Literary and Cultural Contact in the United States I and II" introduce students to the broader picture of the areas of contact and processes of exchange taking place in the United States, especially in relation to discursive and communicative structures.

The module "Latin American Literatures and Cultures" enables the understanding of the central role of literature and other cultural products within the transformation, deconstruction, and reproduction of different identity processes in Latin America. Part of the module is based on postcolonial theory and the research of contact and cultural hybridization applied to literature and audiovisual media, especially in relation to Latin American cultures. The phenomena of cultural mixes of people of indigenous, European, and African ancestry (cultural miscegenation, syncretism) is also examined. This module provides a theoretical framework which explores the methods of philosophical analysis, audiovisual media studies, theories about the field of literary and cultural studies, discourse analysis, and gender and media theory.

The seminar "Latin American Literature in its Historical and Social Context" focuses on the literary production in Latin America from colonial times to the modern and postmodern era. Two of the main focal points of this seminar are the processes of transculturalization (Ortiz) and the literary production within the areas of contact (Pratt).

The seminar "Latin American Cultural Studies" serves as an introduction to cultural theories of both past and present, with a Latin American focus. Students will be introduced to the early thinkers in Latin American cultural theory, such as Martí, Rodo, and Retamar, along with those who have questioned the Latin American postcolonial stance (Mato, Quijano, Mignolo), and the processes of the hybridization of the classification between popular, mass, and high culture (García Canclini, Monsiváis).

In the research colloquium "InterAmerican Studies" students present their MA theses. In addition to university professors and peers, guest researchers from within the thematic spectrum of InterAmerican Studies may be present during the presentations.

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