Office hours: Please consult the official list of office hours
e-mail: martin.butler@uni-due.de
Areas of Teaching and Research
Results "A History of American Literature"
Results "The Poetics and Politics of Popular Music"
| Since 2/2008 | Research assistant at the Department of Anglophone Studies (Prof. Dr. Jens Gurr / Prof. Dr. Josef Raab) |
| Since 4/2007 | Research assistant at the Department of Anglophone Studies (Prof. Dr. Michael Gassenmeier) |
| 3/2005-3/2007 | Coordinator of the interdisciplinary BA/MA study program „Kulturwirt“ (Duisburg-Essen) |
| 10/2004- 2/2007 | Lecturer at the Department of English and American Studies (Duisburg-Essen) |
| 01/2004-9/2004 | Research assistant at the Department of Economics (Prof. Dr. Helmut Cox) |
| 11/2003 | 1. Staatsexamen (English and Social Sciences, Sek. I and II) |
| 3/2002-11/2003 | Scholarship awarded by the „Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes“ |
| 10/1998-11/2003 | Studies of English, social sciences and pedagogics at the University of Duisburg-Essen |
| 08/1997-09/1998 | Community service („Friedensdorf International“, Oberhausen) |
| 06/1997 | Abitur, Gymnasium Rheinkamp, Moers |
Generally:
British and American cultural and literary histories
Literary and cultural theories
Popular culture
More specifically:
Medial Representations of the Puritan Past in Literature and Other Media
Theories of myth & cultural memory
New Historicism, cultural semiotics, theories of intertextuality
Songs & film
Theories of popular culture
Current research project:
Mythical Memories: Variations of the Puritan Past in English and American Literature and Other Media:
The project analyzes the forms and functions of medial representations of the American Puritan past. Starting from the assumption that the U.S. American 'story of origin' has always been regarded as being of a particularly mythical quality, it aims at uncovering the ways of incorporating and instrumentalizing this mythical episode of American history in English and American literature and other media from the 19th century to the present day. In doing so, the project not only explores the different intra- and extratextual functions of these mythical memories in their specific textual, social and cultural environments, but also, taking a diachronic perspective, attempts at reconstructing the evolution and functionalization of the Puritan myth until today. Moreover, the project sets out to contribute to the understanding of the mutual relationship between the myth and its medial representations by developing a systematic and clear-cut terminology to analyze and describe the mythmaking and -breaking strategies of literature in the course of the analyses.
|
SS08 |
HS 18th Century British Literature |
| HS A Survey of American Literature | |
| Doktorandenkolloquium (14-tägig) | |
| Kolloquium für BA-ExamenskandidatInnen (14-tägig) | |
| WS 07/08 | PS: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies |
| HS: Witchcraft in English and American Literature | |
| SS 07 | HS: Zeitgenössische Kulturtheorien |
| PS: English and American Puritanism | |
| Blockseminar: Presentation Skills (Institute for Biochemical Engineering, RWTH Aachen | |
| WS 06/07 | PS: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies |
| Blockseminar: Why Literature Matters | |
| SS 06 | HS: Zeitgenössische Kulturtheorien (with Frank Erik Pointner) |
| WS 05/06 | PS: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies |
| SS 05 | PS: Renaissance Culture and Politics |
| Blockseminar: Academic Writing & Publishing | |
| WS 04/05 | PS: Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies |
| PS: Business English I | |
| SS 04 | PS: Songs of Work and Protest |
| HS: Theories and politics of market competition (with Prof. Helmut Cox) |
Books and co-edited volumes:
Butler, Martin. Voices of the Down and Out. The Dust Bowl Migration and the Great Depression in the Songs of Woody Guthrie. American Studies – A Monograph Series. Heidelberg: Winter, 2007.
---, and Josef Raab (eds.). Hybrid Americas: Contacts, Contrasts, and Confluences in New World Literatures and Cultures. Inter-American Perspectives / Perspectivas Interamericanas. Münster: LIT & Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Press, 2008.
---, and Frank Erik Pointner. „Da habt Ihr es, das Argument der Straße“: Kulturwissenschaftliche Studien zum politischen Lied. Trier: WVT, 2007.
---, Arvi Sepp, and Patrick Burger (eds.). Sound Fabrics: Studies on the Intermedial and Institutional Dimensions of Popular Music. Trier: WVT, 2009.
In preparation:
---, Jens Martin Gurr, and Olaf Kaltmeier (eds.). EthniCities. Metropolitan Cultures and Ethnic Identities in the Americas. Münster: LIT & Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Review Press (2010).
Assistance in editorships:
---. Marion Gymnich, Birgit Neumann and Ansgar Nünning (eds.) with assistance of Martin Butler, Alexandre Segão Costa und Sara B. Young. Gattungstheorie und Gattungsgeschichte. Trier: WVT [2007] ---. Marion Gymnich, Birgit Neumann and Ansgar Nünning (eds.), with assistance of Martin Butler, Alexandre Segão Costa, Arvi Sepp und Sara B.Young. Kulturelles Wissen und Intertextualität: Theoriekonzeptionen und Fallstudien zur Kontextualisierung von Literatur. Trier: WVT.
Articles & reviews:
---. „‚Please Play This Song on the Radio‘: Forms and Functions of Metareference in Popular Music.“ In: Werner Wolf (ed.). Metareference in the Arts and Media: Theory and Case Studies. Studies in Intermediality 4. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi, 2009,
---. „Of Delusional Disorders and Schizophrenic Selves: Renegotiating the Romantic Imagination in Jeremy Leven’s Film Don Juan de Marco.“ In: Christoph Reinfandt (ed.): Romanticism Today: Proceedings of the Conference of the Society for English Romanticism at Tübingen. Trier: WVT, 159-68.
---, Patrick Burger and Arvi Sepp. „The Poetics and Politics of Sound: Intermediality and Institutionality of/in Popular Music.“ In: Martin Butler, Patrick Burger und Arvi Sepp (eds.). Sound Fabrics: Studies on the Intermedial and Institutional Dimensions of Popular Music. Trier: WVT. 1-9.
---, and Josef Raab. „Introduction." In: Josef Raab und Martin Butler (eds.) Hybrid Americas: Contacts, Contrasts, and Confluences in New World Literatures and Cultures. Inter-American Perspectives / Perspectivas Interamericanas. Münster: LIT & Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Review Press, 2008. 1-18. ---. „Cultural Knowledge and Intertextuality. Contextualizing Literature in Theory and Practice.“ In: English and American Studies in German 1991. Summaries of Theses and Monographs. A Supplement to Anglia, Tübingen: Niemeyer. ---, and Jens Martin Gurr. „The Poetics and Politics of Metafiction. Reading Paul Auster’s Travels in the Scriptorium.“ In: English Studies 89 (2), 2008. 195-209. ---. „‚Believe it or not, you won’t find it so hot‘: Californian Dreams and Californian Nightmares in the Songs of Woody Guthrie.“ In: Marion Gymnich et al. (eds.): Points of Arrival: Travels in Time, Space and the Self. Tübingen: Narr, 2008. ---, and Arvi Sepp. „Punk’s Not Dead: Erinnerung als Strategie der Abgrenzung und Neuorientierung einer (totgeglaubten) Subkultur.“ In: Christoph Jacke & Martin Zierold (eds.). Populäre Kultur und soziales Gedächtnis: theoretische und exemplarische Überlegungen zur dauervergesslichen Erinnerungsmaschine Pop. (Reihe SPIEL: Siegener Periodicum zur Internationalen Empirischen Literaturwissenschaft 24, 2008). 285-296. ---, Marc Rössler, Andreas Wagner und Wolfgang Hoeppner. „Grundlagen und Perspektiven einer Kulturwissenschaftlichen Arbeits- und Lern-Umgebung (KuWALU): Vorüberlegungen aus literaturwissenschaftlicher und computerlinguistischer Sicht.“ In: Jahrbuch für Computerphilologie 2007: 9. ---. „Das Protestlied: kulturhistorische Ursprünge, formal-ästhetische Spezifika und ideologische Implikationen einer performativen Gattung der Sozialkritik.“ In: Marion Gymnich, Birgit Neumann und Ansgar Nünning (eds.). Gattungstheorie und Gattungsgeschichte. Trier: WVT. 223-237, 2007. ---, with Arvi Sepp. „Der Meta-Cartoon: The Itchy and Scratchy Show im amerikanischen Fernsehcartoon The Simpsons.“ In: Janine Hauthal et al. (eds.): Metaisierung in Literatur und anderen Medien. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter. 361-376, 2007. ---. „‚Takes more than guns to kill a man‘: Sozialkritik und Selbstinszenierung in Liedern von und über Joe Hill.“ In: Martin Butler und Frank Erik Pointner (eds.): „Da habt Ihr es, das Argument der Straße“: Kulturwissenschaftliche Studien zum politischen Lied. Trier: WVT. 151-165, 2007. ---, with Frank-Erik Pointner. „Protest, Musik und Performanz. Vorüberlegungen zur kulturwissenschaftlichen Untersuchung des gesungenen Wortes.“ In: Martin Butler und Frank Erik Pointner (eds.). „Da habt Ihr es, das Argument der Straße“: Kulturwissenschaftliche Studien zum politischen Lied. Trier: WVT. 1-15, 2007. ---. „Erinnern und Gedenken im aktuellen Kontext. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen von Gedenkstätten. / Remembering and Commemorating Today – Forms and Functions of Memorial Sites“ In: Albrecht Frenz (ed.): Zukunft im Gedenken. Orte und Personen der Erinnerung in Indien und Europa. 17-26, 2007. ---. „The Power of the Sung Word: Reconstructing the Social and Cultural Significance of Songs.“ In: Marion Gymnich, Birgit Neumann und Ansgar Nünning (eds.): Kulturelles Wissen und Intertextualität. Theoriekonzeptionen und Fallstudien zur Kontextualisierung von Literatur. Trier: WVT, 165-181, 2006. ---. Review. „Alexandra Hissen, Bowling for more than Columbine. Subjektivität und Wahrhaftigkeit in den Filmen Michael Moores. Trier: WVT 2004.“ In: Wissenschaftlicher Literaturanzeiger, 2006. ---. “Die Toten Hosen.” In: Sobriquet Magazine Encyclopedia of Punk Rock, http://www.sobriquetmagazine.com/ encyclopedia/index.htm, 2006. ---. Review. „Alfred Hornung (ed.), Sexualities in American Culture, Heidelberg: Winter 2004.“ In: KULT_online (6), http://www.uni-giessen.de/graduiertenzentrum/magazin/rezension-1875.php, 2006. ---. Review. „Moritz Baßler, Die kulturpoetische Funktion und das Archiv. Eine literaturwissenschaftliche Text-Kontext-Theorie, Francke Verlag 2005.“ In: KULT_ online (8), http://www.uni-giessen.de/graduiertenzentrum/magazin/rezension-1945.php, 2006.
---. „Stephen Wright. Going Native.“ In: Kindlers Literaturlexikon. Stuttgart/ Weimar: Metzler. [2009]
---. „Stephen Wright.“ In: Kindlers Literaturlexikon. Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler. [2009].
---. „Stewart O’Nan. A Prayer for the Dying.“ In: Kindlers Literaturlexikon. Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler. [2009].
In press or accepted for publication: ---. "It's All About the Music, Baby!" Making Sense of the Metareferential Momentum in Contemporary Popular Songs." In: Werner Wolf (ed.). The Metareferential Turn in the Arts and Media: Forms, Functions, Attempts at Explanation.
---. "(Dis)Remembering the Puritan Past: Silence as Strategy and Theme in Literary Representations of the American 'Story of Origin.' In: Jörg Helbig (ed.). Anglistentag 2009 in Klagenfurt: Proceedings. WVT: Trier. ---. "Towards a Topography of Hybridization in US Urban Popular Music." FIAR (Forum for Inter-American Research)
---, Jens Martin Gurr, and Olaf Kaltmeier. "Semiotic Cityscapes: Urban Spaces, Tactics of Communication, and Ethnic Identities in the Americas." In: Butler, Gurr, and Kaltmeier (eds.). EthniCities: Metropolitan Cultures and Ethnic Identities in the Americas. Münster: LIT & Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Review Press. ---. "'All you Fascists Bound to Lose'": Pro-War and Anti-Nazi Rhetorics in Woody Guthrie's Songs about World War II." In: John Partington (ed.): The Life, Music and Thought of Woody Guthrie: A Critical Appraisal. Aldershot: Ashgate ---. "Changing Faces, Changing Voices: Woody Guthrie's Strategies of Self-Fashioning and Image-Formation." In: John Partington (ed.): The Life, Music and Thought of Woody Guthrie: A Critical Appraisal. Aldershot: Ashgate. ---. „Signifying Skins: Chicano Tattoo Art, Ethnic Identities and the (Re-)Distribution of Cultural Capital." In: Josef Raab (Hg.): New World Colors: Ethnicity, Belonging, and Conflict in the Americas. Inter-American Perspectives / Perspectivas Interamericanas. Münster: LIT & Tempe, AZ: Bilingual Review Press.
---, with Arvi Sepp. „Constructing Gender in Contemporary African-American Rap Videos: 50 Cent and the G-Unit.“ In: Marion Gymnich, Stefanie Hoth und Kathrin Ruhl (eds.): Gender in Audiovisual Media.
---. „Contesting the Disneyfication of Gender in Contemporary Computer-Animated Films.“ In: Marion Gymnich, Stefanie Hoth und Kathrin Ruhl (Hrsg.): Gender in Audiovisual Media.
---. Review. „Ivan Raikoff & Robert Dean Tobin (eds.). 2007. A Song for Europe. Popular Music and Politics in the Eurovision Song Contest. Aldershot: Ashgate.“ In: Popular Music and Society.
Conference papers and guest lectures:
---. "It's All About the Music, Baby!" Making Sense of the Metareferential Momentum in Contemporary Popular Songs." Konferenz "The Metareferential Turn in the Arts and Media: Forms, Functions, Attempts at Explanation." Universität Graz, 01.-03. Oktober 2009.
---. "(Dis)Remembering the Puritan Past: Silence as Strategy and Theme in Literary Representations of the American 'Story of Origin.' Anglistentag 2009 in Klagenfurt, 20.-23. September 2009.
---. "Ramblin' Men: The Figure of the Hobo in American Folk Culture." Konferenz "Imagining Alternative Mobilities: Pirates, Drifters, Fugitives in the U.S. and Beyond." Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 18.-20. Juni 2009.
---. "Towards a New Responsibility: (Urban) Cultural Studies, Ecocriticism, and the Need for Sustainable Development." DGfA-Jahrestagung Education and the U.S.A. Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 04.-07. Juni 2009.
---. "Sound Tracks: Towards a Topography of Hybridization in U.S. Urban Popular Music." Konferenz „Cornbread and Cuchifritos“: Ethnic Identity Politics, Transnationalization, and Transculturation in American Urban Popular Music. Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung (ZiF), Universität Bielefeld, 8.-10. Oktober 2008.
---, and Jens Martin Gurr. Introductory Notes to the Conference "EthniCities: Metropolitan Cultures and Ethnic Identities in the Americas," ZiF Bielefeld, 18-20 March 2009.
---. „Signifying Skins: Chicano Tattoo Art, Ethnic Identities and the (Re-)Distribution of Cultural Capital." Konferenz E Pluribus Unum? Ethnic Identities in Processes of Transnational Integration in the Americas / Identidades étnicas en procesos de integración transnacional en las Américas. Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung (ZiF), Universität Bielefeld, 8.-10. Oktober 2008.
--. „‚Please Play This Song on the Radio‘: Forms and Functions of Metareference in Popular Music.“ Conference: Metareference in the Arts and Media. Karl-Franzens-University Graz, 22-24 May 2008.
---. „Giving a Voice to the Down and Out: Woody Guthrie’s Political Vision.“ 16th NASA Amerikanistendag: Transatlantic Ties. The Netherlands and „America.“ Radboud University Nijmegen, 7 March 2008.
---, with Arvi Sepp. Organisation of the panel “The Power and Politics of Popular Music” at the Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/ American Culture Association, Philadelphia, PA, 2-4 November 2007.
---. „Arbeit im Archiv: Zur Theorie und Praxis der Kontextualisierung von Literatur.“ Guest lecture, University of Antwerp, 18 October 2007.
---. „Of Delusional Disorders and Schizophrenic Selves: Renegotiating the Romantic Imagination in Jeremy Leven’s Film Don Juan de Marco.“ Conference of the German Association for English Romanticism, Tübingen, 4-7 October 2007.
---. „Grundlagen und Perspektiven einer Kulturwissenschaftlichen Arbeits- und Lern-Umgebung (KuWALU): Vorüberlegungen aus literaturwissenschaftlicher und computerlinguistischer Sicht.“ Workshop Suchbefehl Analog/Digital, Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin, 27 April 2007.
---. „American Exodus: Forms and Functions of Religious Imagery in Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads.“ Guest lecture, University of Joensuu, Finnland, 22 November 2006.
---. „Songs of Socialist Salvation: Joe Hill and the Counterculture of the Industrial Workers of the World.“ Guest lecture, University of Joensuu, Finnland, 20 November 2006.
---. „‚Believe it or not, you won’t find it so hot‘“: Californian Dreams and Californian Nightmares in the Songs of Woody Guthrie.” Conference: Points of arrival. Travels in time, space and the self, University of Stockholm, 19-21 October 2006.
---. „(De-)Constructing the ‚Sunkist State’: Memories of California as Political Subversion in the Dust Bowl Songs of Woody Guthrie.“ University of Stirling Poetry and Politics Conference, University of Stirling, Scotland, 12-17 Juli 2006.
---. „Vorüberlegungen zur kulturwissenschaftlichen Untersuchung des gesungenen Wortes.“ Conference:‚Da habt ihr es, das Argument der Straße‘: Das politische Lied als Inszenierung zeitgenössischer Diskurse, University of Duisburg-Essen, 7/8 Juli 2006.
---. „Woody Guthrie’s Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd: The Outlaw as Antihero in Great Depression Oklahoma.“ Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/ American Culture Association, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 4-6 November 2005.
---. „Singing with the Dead: A Contribution to the Contextualization of Popular Songs.“ Conference: Methoden der Kontextualisierung: Kulturelles Wissen – Intertextualität – Writing Back, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, 3/4 November 2005.
---, with Arvi Sepp. „The Itchy and Scratchy Show: Beobachtungen zur Metaisierung im amerikanischen Fernsehcartoon ‚The Simpsons‘.“Conference of the Section “Metaisierung” of the Giessen Graduate Centre for the Studies of Culture (GCSC), Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, 14/15 April 2005.