Europeans and 'America' - US Popular Culture in Europe

label Diverse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:01 history_edu Silviu Marinescu
The twentieth century was, as Henry Luce (Time/ Life) famously dubbed it, "the American Century"; a time when the United States emerged as a dominant cultural, political and economic power in the global arena. From 1945 onwards, "America" became an unmistakable presence and influence in many European cultures. But European attitudes towards America varied (and vary) sharply, running the full gamut from fervent adulation to ambivalence to sharp rejection. In this course we will examine and interpret how different European cultures have responded to the process of Americanization and how "America" has been perceived, received and mediated in different local, regional and national European cultures.This course will focus on the reception and mediation of American popular culture (film, music, TV) and consumerism (advertising, media) in European cultures. We will examine these in the context of West and East, pre and post-Cold War and pre and post-9/11. We will seek to place these developments within a cultural-historical perspective, with special attention to the last 25 years. Because the Netherlands served as an entry point and a transit point for American cultural products, Dutch reception and mediation of "America" will be used for the purpose of contrast and comparison. Dutch scholars of American Studies (Kroes, Kooijman) have produced compelling theoretical reflections that will set the conceptual framework for our analysis of Americanization and anti-Americanism. Their insights will be supplemented with literature from other European scholars as a basis for examining local/national forms of mediation and appropriation of "America" (Baudrillard, Eco, Barbu, Debeljak).The course aims to bring students from different (non-) European cultures into a transnational dialogue with each other on a common object of inquiry. To what extent has my culture been Americanized and is this a good or a bad thing? To what extent have developments after 1989 - and again after 9/11 - been continuous or discontinuous with earlier processes of Americanization? In a unifying Europe, how important are national cultural identities? The reading material will be tailored to the nationalities of the participating students. The course will also include excursions to sites of Americanization in the Nijmegen area.

Period
11-08-2014 - 15-08-2014 (1 weeks)

Target group
International students from European and non-European countries/cultures interested in the processes of cultural transfer and eager to gain a comparative understanding of the impact of American culture on their own and (other) European countries.

Course aim
After this course participants will be able to:1. Identify how different national cultures have used "America" to define and/or defend their own cultural identity, norms and values;2. Place those cultural responses in a cultural-historical perspective;3. Possess a theoretical-conceptual toolkit for understanding and interpreting notions and manifestations of Americanization, anti-Americanism, cultural imperialism/appropriation and globalization; 4. Gain a better and more informed sense of how their own cultural responses to America compare to those of other cultures, both inside and outside (Western) Europe.



Credits
2.0 ECTS credits

Course fee
EUR 450[Convert to USD]The course fee includes the registration fee, course materials, access to library and IT facilities, coffee/tea, lunch, and a number of social activities. The fee does not include accommodation, travel costs, dinner, insurance and other costs. Discounts10% discount for early bird applicants. The early bird deadline is 1 April 2014.15% discount for students from Radboud University and for students from partner universities

Course leader
Prof. Dr. J.T.J. (Hans) Bak, Professor English Language and Culture, Chair American Literature and American Studies, Radboud University

Radboud University
Address: P.O Box 9102 Nijmegen
Postal code: 6500 HC
City: Nijmegen
Country: Netherlands
Website: http://www.ru.nl/radboudsummerschool/
E-mail: radboudsummerschool@ru.nl
Phone: +31 (0)24 8187706