WiSe 24/25: Dependence and Independence in American Culture
Hannah Spahn
Kommentar
The tension between independence and dependence has always been central to the meaning of the United States. In a democracy that retained the institution of slavery in the first eighty years of its existence and in a philosophical tradition that tended to emphasize the compatibility of liberty and necessity, the Declaration of Independence was written in a language of compulsion, the free exercise of religion was described as the ability to follow the "dictates" of conscience, and the emancipation of women and the enslaved was expected to "force" itself into American public opinion. In this seminar, we will explore the imbrications of independence and dependence in American debates about nationhood and international relations, slavery and race, women's and worker's rights by studying the Declaration of Independence both on its own terms and as a genre of writing. We will look at precursors such as George Mason's Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), alternative models such as the Haitian Declaration of Independence (1804), critical variations such as the Woman's Rights Declaration at Seneca Falls (1848), racist distortions such as the White Declaration of Independence (1898), and international echoes such as the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945). The leading scholar of Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, Peter S. Onuf (University of Virginia), will join us on October 31 to discuss his latest research on the Declaration in his lecture "Declarations of War, Aspirations for Peace."
Schließen16 Termine
Regelmäßige Termine der Lehrveranstaltung