"My life is like a poorly written sitcom."

"This is a recipe for disaster."

"I mean, that’s what happens. It's textbook."

 (Various sources)

From sitcoms to drama, horror to comedy, heavy metal to jazz, genres are convenient labels that allow us to classify what we are interested in. As such, all labels also serve a communicative purpose. But what happens if this communication fails? How can we make sure that our idea of a "Bildungsroman" or a "horror film" is similar to someone else's? Or worse: what if we disagree on what can be considered a "Hausarbeit"?  

Genres are everywhere, and genre awareness as well as connected expectations are important factors that guide our everyday interactions. In addition to this notion of genre and related aspects like the concept of the text type or register variation and code switching, important questions are the effect genres have on shaping society, the acquisition of genre knowledge and the individual understanding of what constitutes a genre.

Genre and Society, which is offered to second and third year students at the level of the Aufbaumodul, Advanced Module or Praxismodul, will focus on the effect genres and labels can have on our daily interaction. We want students to do research and organise projects that are related to these questions, based on their own interests. In order to help with these projects, students will receive assistance and supervision by the project team as well as an introduction to important techniques and tools for the organisation and presentation of their research.

The finished research projects will be presented as part of the project "Study Outside the Box" and the accompanying students' conference at the end of the summer term.

If you are interested in participating in one of these projects, check out the classes linked to "Genre and Society" in the LSF, the classes connected to the research class "Studying Genres" (Do 10.30-12.00) or send us an e-mail.