Program Information

Below you will find a selection of classes that have been offered for the MAIAS program in the past. Please note that seminars are usually not offered more than once. We hope nonetheless that these examples give you a better idea of the range of topics you may be able to focus on during your studies.

Focus: Literature and Culture

• Theorising Literature ‘n Transcultural English Studies (Prof. Dr. Arndt)
• African and African-diasporic Feminist Literatures (Prof. Dr. Arndt)
• Introduction to Diasporic Fiction (Prof. Dr. Arndt / Prof. Dr. Klaeger)
• Recent Trends in Literary Theory (Prof. Dr. Klaeger)
• Writing Early Modern Colonialism (Prof. Dr. Klaeger)
• History and Identity on the Irish Stage (Prof. Dr. Klaeger)
• Deep Time - Transcultural Space: Reading American Cultures (Prof. Dr. Cortiel)
• Approaching Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior (1979) (Prof. Dr. Cortiel)
• Space, Place, Migration in the Contemporary American and Canadian Novel (Prof. Dr. Mayer)
• “Globalism, Eco-collapse, and the (Post-)Human: Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and David Brin’s Earth” (Prof. Dr. Mayer)
• “Postcolonial Ecocriticism” (Prof. Dr. Mayer)

Focus: Linguistics

• Language Contact and Language Change (Prof. Dr. Bieswanger)
• Southern Hemisphere Englishes ( Prof. Dr. Bieswanger)
• Postcolonial Language Competition: Anglophone/Francophone Africa in a Globalized Context) (Prof. Dr. Mühleisen / Prof. Dr. Drescher)
• Text Types and Genres across Culture (Prof. Dr. Mühleisen)
• Retranslations in Classical and Contemporary Literature (Prof. Dr. Mühleisen)
• Language in Public Space - Linguistic Landscapes (Prof. Dr. Mühleisen)
• English in Africa (Prof. Dr. Mühleisen)
• Postcolonial Pragmatics  (PD Dr. Anchimbe)
• World Englishes and Corpora (PD Dr. Anchimbe)
• Theoretical Approaches to Language, Variation and Culture) (PD Dr. Anchimbe)

Anglophone Literary Studies
Anglophone literary studies encompass seminars emerging from the disciplinary fields of American Studies, British Studies, and Postcolonial and Diaspora Studies. Among the core issues adressed are the following:

• Anglophone literatures and cultural difference and diversity
• Transculturation, transnationalism, and postcolonialism in/and Anglophone literatures and cultures
• Diaspora, globalism, and cosmopolitanism in/and Anglophone literatures and cultures
• Anglophone literatures and cultures and the planetary environmental humanities
• Adaptation, intertextuality and media change in/and literary and visual media

Anglophone Linguistics

• English worldwide - varieties of English in their cultural setting
• Language, cognition and culture
• Pragmatics in cross-cultural and intercultural communication
• Translation as cross-cultural and intercultural communication
• Electronic discourse

The module handbook literature provides an overview over all modules relevant to the "literature focus," including descriptions of their content and learning objectives, as well as information of how credits will be earned. (Seminars and lectures, which can be used in different modules, vary each semester. You can find them in the "Kommentiertes Vorlesungsverzeichnis," see: News).

The module handbook linguistics provides an overview over all modules relevant to the "literature focus," including descriptions of their content and learning objectives, as well as information of how credits will be earned. (Seminars and lectures, which can be used in different modules, vary each semester. You can find them in the "Kommentiertes Vorlesungsverzeichnis," see: News).

The following examination forms and their grades count toward final grade:

Written examination (module C4; 4 hours), topic to be agreed on with chosen examiner*. Students should begin collecting ideas for topics from early in their MA studies, and discuss these with their chosen examiner.

Oral examination (module D3; 60 minutes), three topics to be agreed on with chosen examiner*. Students should begin collecting ideas for topics from early in their MA studies, and discuss these with their chosen examiner.

Master thesis (module E2; 6 months), topic to be agreed on with chosen supervisor. Here, too, students should begin collecting ideas for a topic from early in their MA studies, and discuss these with their chosen supervisor.

The sequence of these examination forms may be chosen by each student.

For more detailed information, please see Prüfungs- und Studienordnung (Please make sure to consult the examination and study regulations effective for your course of studies)

*possible examiners (literature): Prof. Dr. Arndt, Prof. Dr. Cortiel, Prof. Dr. Klaeger, Prof. Dr. Mayer                  possible examiners (linguistics): PD Dr. Anchimbe, Prof. Dr. Bieswanger, Prof. Dr.  Mühleisen

Students seeking admission to the program as well as students that have already been admitted are strongly urged to choose THREE of the following works and to read them before beginning their studies:

• Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester UP, 2009.
  
• Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford UP, 2000.
  
• Campbell, Neil, and Kean, Alasdair. American Cultural Studies: An Introduction to American Culture. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2006.
  
• Montgomery, Martin; Durant, Alan, et al., eds. Ways of Reading: Advanced Reading Skills for Students of English Literature. Routledge, 1992. 3rd ed. 2006.
  
• Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. Routledge, 1998. 2nd ed. 2005.
  

Students seeking admission to the program as well as students that have already been admitted are strongly urged to choose THREE of the following works and to read them before beginning their studies:

• Baron, Naomi. 2008. Always on: Language in an Online and Mobile World. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  
• Blommaert, Jan. 2010. The Sociolinguistics of Globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Duranti, Alessandro, ed. 2004. Key Terms in Language and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell.
• Jenkins, Jennifer. 2009. World Englishes: A Resource Book for Students. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
• Spencer-Oatey, Helen, ed. 2008. Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. London: Continuum.
• Venuti, Lawrence. 2013. Translation Changes Everything: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.

Make sure to use the standards and conventions for citing sources. Cases of plagiarism will automatically lead to failing a class.