Icons and
Images in Cultural Studies
***
Bent Sørensen,
Aalborg University
Oulu, April 10 -13, 2007
These four
sessions, two lectures and two workshops, aim to explore the role and
function of icons and images in the world of cultural texts and in
cultural studies in general.
Course
plan:
1 - Tuesday, April 10. Icons and
Iconicity: The
strange cases of Elvis Presley and
Jane
Fonda [Lecture
website]
Presentation:
Bent Sørensen: “Sacred and profane icon-work: Jane Fonda and
Elvis Presley”,
in US Icons and Iconicity, (eds. Hölbling, Rieser &
Rieser), pp. 237-257, American Studies in Austria, vol. 4, LIV Verlag,
Austria, 2006 (ISBN 3-8258-8669-7)
Cultural texts:
Jane and Elvis icons (power
point), Barbarella
(excerpts to be shown in class), Elvis' letter to Nixon (see slides at
the lecture website),
Raymond Federman: The Two-fold
Vibration (excerpts to be read aloud in class)
2 - Wednesday, April 11. Imagology:
Adversarial
and collaborative uses of Uncle Sam [Lecture
website]
Presentation:
Bent
Sørensen: “Countercultural
Icon-work: Adversarial and Collaborative Uses of ‘Uncle Sam’” (Accepted
for inclusion in Communities and
Connections volume, ed. Ari Helo, Helsinki, 2007)
Cultural texts:
Uncle
Sam icons (power point), Allen Ginsberg: "America"
(sound recording),
The Grateful Dead: "U.S. Blues" (sound
recording)
3 - Thursday, April 12.
Icon and
image workshop -
Material for the workshop is here.
4 - Friday, April 13. Music video analysis-workshop -
Material for the workshop is
here.
Students are invited to write term papers following the course
sequence. Go here
for suggested topics and bibliography. From there you can also
e-mail me.