Cultural Narratives and National Identities

Revisiting Rodney King, the Film The Fugitive, The Gulf Wars, and Disney’s Aladdin

What role does narrative play in our definition and understanding of culture? In this seminar, we will consider those narratives that we simply take for granted or as self-evident; those narratives that we, as a cultural collective, treat as absurd; and those narratives which we treat as viable alternatives. This seminar will combine a lecture and presentation with robust discussion. Our main material will be several popular films and television series as well as readings.

Facilitator: Alan Nadel, Ph.D. is the William T. Bryan Professor of American Studies at the University of Kentucky. He has published widely on the representation of race in the United States, American film and television, and post-WWII American literature and culture. His books include: Television in Black-and-White America: Race and National Identity (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2005); Flatlining on the Field of Dreams: Cultural Narratives in the Films of President Reagan’s America (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1997); Containment Culture: American Narrative, Postmodernism, and the Atomic Age (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995); and Invisible Criticism: Ralph Ellison and the American Canon (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1988).

Date: Saturday, February 10, 10am-3pm.

Cost: $95

Cultural Narratives and National Identities

Registration

$95.00