LFU:online

- The students get to know "the Walsers" as a current and at the same time historically oriented and is relevant for various regions of the Alps.

- The students reconstruct circulations, functions and logics of folkloristic-ethnological knowledge and understand its (identity-)political-ideological effects.

- The students learn to deal with (subject) historical sources and texts in a reflective way and recognise the close relationship between (cultural) science and society in different contexts.

Anyone travelling in the Alps inevitably comes across them: Between the Paznaun in northern Tyrol and the Alps of Vorarlberg, in the Aosta Valley in northern Italy, in the mountain settlements of Liechtenstein, in the villages and valleys of the Swiss canton of Graubünden and in the Upper Valais, traces of the "Walsers" can be found everywhere. Today, about 150 scattered villages in an area of the Alpine arc stretching over a distance of 300 kilometres are considered Walser settlements. The Walsers are portrayed as a 'mountain people' who live and farm on steep slopes and at the highest altitudes, who are closely connected to the harsh life in the mountains, who speak their own German-language dialect and have special customs.

Such 'cultural knowledge' about Walser is widely received and constantly reproduced by numerous actors today. Tourist players and specialized "Walser" associations are particularly active. In view of these current narratives charged with identity politics, it is easy to overlook the fact that the knowledge about 'the Walsers', which has been increasingly circulating since the 1880s, was not present in a broad population until around 1920.

The course aims to trace the observable complex overlapping of scientific interpretive power, ideological objectives and everyday life practices and to ask what position "historical" arguments have, especially in the Alpine region, what role cultural studies plays in this and what views of "being Walser" are conceivable in the Anthropocene.

Reading and discussion of selected texts (German and English), group or team work, oral input on provided texts, independent research and presentation, written elaboration of concept and written work.

Combined: oral (discussions and input) and written (written elaboration). 1. course-accompanying: Preparation of reading, active participation, oral input presentation on a text.

1. during the course: preparation of the reading, active participation in the discussions, oral input presentation of a text.

2. research and written elaboration of an independently chosen in-depth topic.

Successful completion of the course requires at least satisfactory completion of both coursework requirements.

To be announced, helpful as introduction:

Tschofen, Bernhard: Walser sein? - Vom Nutzen der Tradition in modernen Alltagen, in: Ortner, Birgit (ed.), Gemeindebuch Lech, Lech am Arlberg 2014, pp. 238-249.