Popular Seriality (8-9 June 2012)

Serial narration is widely regarded as a defining characteristic of popular aesthetics. In studies of popular culture, the connection between seriality and popularity is often considered to be so obvious that questions are rarely raised concerning the specific nature of popular serial narratives, the cultural and historical circumstances they presuppose or support, and the differences between popular seriality and serial structures in other cultural fields. This workshop will address such questions, investigating the forms, dynamic processes, and functions of serial narration. It will discuss popular culture as a field of cultural practice (first arising in Europe and America at the beginning of the nineteenth century) which involves the serial production, perception, and use of mass-addressed aesthetic artifacts.
Four invited speakers―Sean O'Sullivan (Ohio State University), Matt Hills (Cardiff University), Ruth Page (University of Leicester) und Robyn Warhol (Ohio State University)―will be representing various approaches to the study of popular seriality. From the Göttingen-based Research Unit “Popular Seriality―Aesthetics and Practice,” Jason Mittell, Frank Kelleter, Kathleen Loock, and Ruth Mayer will also be giving talks. There will be two panel discussions on the topics “Distinction” and “Media Transformations” with members of the Research Unit and Kathleen Fitzpatrick (Modern Language Association).

Link to the Research Unit website: http://popularseriality.uni-goettingen.de/

The workshop was initiated by Prof. Dr. Jason Mittell (Fellow 2011/12) and Prof. Dr. Frank Kelleter (Chair of American Studies and speaker of the Research Unit, Göttingen).