AP/HUMA 3603 3.00
Vienna: City of Appearances
Vienna is now a relatively minor European capital in the heart of Central Europe, but its history and culture can be seen as exemplary for traditions and imaginaries that define European-ness. As the former capital of the Holy Roman Empire and the multinational Habsburg lands which comprised much of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, the city's shape and texture is constituted by a rich medley of cultural lineages that are still visible today and lay bare flows of cultures, languages and people that define its urbanity through migration, cultural exchange and hybridity but have also produced periods of xenophobic backlash and totalitarian politics. This course investigates Viennese intellectual and cultural production and situates it in the city's larger history of imperial Baroque splendour, radical politics, psychosexual obsession, and refined taste culture. It explores the strands of culture that have impacted the city in its contemporary state, both those strands that are highly recognizable and clichéd, such as gilt palaces, classical music, fin-de-siècle
coffeehouse culture, and associations with Freud, Schnitzler, Wittgenstein, Klimt, Zweig, Loos, etc., as well as strands that are lesser known internationally, such as the city's proletarian, anarchist and countercultural traditions, environmental awareness, technological innovation, cutting-edge fashion design, and social housing projects. Understanding these traditions, and how they constitute and have an impact on the city's present-day shape, development and politics in the European context should give course participants insight not only into Vienna itself but also help them understand urbanity from a cultural studies and humanities perspective.
Course Credit Exclusions: AP/GER 3601 3.00