LFU:online

Acquisition of basic skills for dealing with historic sources and presentations of Austrian History as well as skills in presenting the newly acquired knowledge orally as well as in writing. Acquisition of basic knowledge and application of relevant methods aiding scientific research.

Satire takes up social and/or (daily) political topics, is a contemporary tool of articulation and agitation. For this reason, its historical manifestations and contents are relevant historical sources. When approached in a source-critical manner, they can provide insights into past discourses.

In Austrian history since the 19th century, satirists found a multitude of opportunities to be more or less effective with the public. The multilingualism and multiethnicity of the Habsburg monarchy, its tightrope walk between liberal concessions and restrictive measures until its end, the transformation into a democratic order and the construction of an identity after monarchy and world wars, and much more were addressed using various media.

This proseminar focuses on key milestones in Austrian history to spotlight individual satirists, their chosen media, and their content: from political caricatures to satirical stage plays, from the Good Soldier Švejk to Herr Karl, from the Tyrolean “Schuhplattler“ to the grumbling Vienna. On the basis of the media diversity of historical satire, the critical analysis of different source genres (text, image, sound, film) is practised, and on the basis of the thematic diversity, important events in the history of the expiring Habsburg Monarchy, caesuras of the First and Second Republics and their reverberations in the artistic and intellectual landscape will be addressed.

Brief introduction to the subject; reading and analyzing scientific essays and historical sources in class; oral presentation(s) and written paper(s).

The students are expected to take actively part in discussions, present their own topics and hand in a paper.
 

Basic literature will be announced in the course; research of further specific literature is part of the students' tasks.

Positive assessment of compulsory module 1

Online registration necessary!