This class will invite you on a journey, mentally and, if you wish to come along, physically (in the fall of 2017), to the American frontier, of which we all have images and stereotypes in our minds, no matter whether we have actually been there or not.
Setting out on such a trip means we need to explore the concept of frontier geographically, historically, and culturally. We will do this by reading fictional and non-fictional texts, paintings, photography and films and analyses by cultural historians and other experts. We will compare these analyses to our readings and, in that way, try to diversify and expand our notions of what the American frontier meant in the past and to which extent those meanings are still relevant today.
If you are considering of joining us on our journey, you should buy and read the following novels:
• Louise Erdrich, Tracks (1988)
• James Welch, Winter in the Blood (1974)
• Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie (1934)
Other reading material will be accessible on stud.ip once you have signed up for this class.