Learning Outcomes
The students practice academic writing by working on a topic of their choice. They will conduct bibliographic research, engage with primary and secondary literature, and plan, structure, and compose a written paper.
Course Content (Syllabus)
Since antiquity, philosophers and poets have been creating alternative social orders, the unreal character of which is expressed in the term u-topia. Since the end of the 19th century, such visions have increasingly taken on the character of nightmares, expressed by the prefix “dys”. The seminar will examine dystopian concepts in literature and film from the 20th and 21st centuries and question them with regard to their critical potential, focusing in particular on the role of technology, religion and nature.