Women in Crime

7.110119

Dozenten

Beschreibung

SoSe 2024: Women and Crime - Liana Paznikova (lpaznikova@uni-osnabrueck.de)

In crime and true crime narratives, representations of women often seem limited to a fairly small number of generic archetypes. First and foremost, women in these texts tend to appear as victims of violent crime, in many cases deceased before the narrative even picks up, made to fit the mold of an ‘ideal’ victim. They might fall into the bad mother archetype, villainized for their role in shaping criminal sons. Both archetypes construe women’s role in these narratives as relational, i.e. on the margin of and solely relevant in relation to the true narrative focus: the male perpetrator. Yet there is another subset of representations of women in crime and true crime media, and one that both transgresses the boundaries of acceptable femininity, and centers these women in the respective narratives: women who commit crimes.

In this course we will explore the aforementioned representations of women in crime and true crime narratives, specifically in the context of violent crime, the type of crime most commonly represented (and distinctly overrepresented) in these narratives. We will explore socio-cultural contexts of those representations and analyze an array of meanings they produce and perpetuate, taking into account cultural notions of femininity, women’s experiences within the criminal legal system, ideal and ‘valid’ victimhood, and queer womanhood.

CW for required watching/reading/listening list: sexual violence, violent imagery.
Our primary texts will be:
Lorena (2019), a documentary TV mini series (available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video);
Monster (2003), a film based on a true story, directed by Patty Jenkins (available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video).
Additionally, for mandatory reading: “An Unbelievable Story of Rape” (2015), an investigative article by Ken Armstrong and T. Christian Miller.
For our engagement with cultural construction and mythification of transgressive women in American culture, we will analyze two podcast episodes about Lizzie Borden.
Tenfold More Wicked – “Cara Robertson: Lizzie Borden Took an Axe” (Released on 22.08.2022)
You’re Wrong About – “Lizzie Borden with Princess Weekes” (Released on 16.10.2023)

Please note that you will need to engage critically with primary and secondary texts, which includes reading scholarly texts in preparation for our sessions.
Please also note that some of the material that we watch, read, and discuss in the course deals with different types and degrees of violence. If you feel unable to engage with any particular topic, you can let me know outside of the classroom and we will find a way to work around it.

This course is NOT open for the ANG-I module, and as part of the examination requirements, you will need to hand in a term paper by 31. August 2024!

Weitere Angaben

Ort: 41/E07
Zeiten: Di. 16:00 - 18:00 (wöchentlich)
Erster Termin: Dienstag, 02.04.2024 16:00 - 18:00, Ort: 41/E07
Veranstaltungsart: Seminar (Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen)

Studienbereiche

• Veranstaltungen > Anglistik; Englisch > Kulturwissenschaft > Bachelor
• Courses in English > Language and Literary Studies
• Veranstaltungen > Anglistik; Englisch > Literaturwissenschaft > Bachelor