Design

By integrating perspectives from different fields and disciplines, the summer school will offer postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to explore and discuss in detail how horror and horrific beings haunt contemporary media and culture.
We have chosen a design that allows a maximum of time to discuss and develop the participants’ questions and positions. While international specialists in the field of horror will chair the different sections, provide initial input, and guide discussions; the main focus of the summer school will be essays written and presented for discussion by the participants themselves.
The summer school will be divided into three thematic sections, each consisting of three different kinds of sessions: impulse sessions, essay sessions, and open sessions. Each section will start off with an impulse session that provides an introduction to the topic and a framework for discussions. The section’s chair will make a presentation and bring in a selected theoretical text for close reading. The subsequent two essay sessions will provide extensive time to discuss the participants’ essays, with the aim of developing general conclusions. Moreover, not only will everyone present their own essay, but each person will also respond directly to another participant’s essay, in order to stimulate discussions and promote intensive exchange among all participants. The final open session will further extend the focus of the summer school beyond disciplinary borders and invite participants to explore the city of Munich.
To round things off, we plan an extensive evening social programme with a threefold aim: to provide everyone with the opportunity to get to know each other outside the classroom, to bring all the participants into contact with young fellow researchers at the University of Munich, and to complement the questions we will be discussing during the summer school.
In order to form a long-lasting and close-knit international network, all participants will be invited to join a special e-mail list allowing follow-up discussion, thematic exchange, and academic cooperation even after the end of the summer school.
The summer school “Representations of Horror in Contemporary Media and Culture” is generously supported by the Munich University Society.