Prof. Dr. Josef Raab
Prof. Dr. Josef Raab

Chair of American and Inter-American Studies

University of Duisburg-Essen
American Studies
R12 S04 H11
Universitätsstr. 12
45141 Essen
Germany
 
Office: R12 S04 H11
Phone: +49 201 183-3412/-3411
Fax: +49 201 183-4224
E-mail: josef.raab [at] uni-duisburg-essen.de

Office hours: click here!

Education

Post-Doctoral Degree (Habilitation), Catholic University of Eichstätt, Germany, 2000 (Habilitation Thesis: The Borderlands of Identity in Mexican American Literature)
Ph.D., English, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1993 (Dissertation: Elizabeth Bishop's Hemisphere)
Master of Arts, English, University of Southern California, 1988
"Staatsexamen," English and French, Catholic University of Eichstätt, 1986
Studies abroad at Universidad de Granada (Spain), Université de Bordeaux III (France), Royal Holloway College, U. of London (England), Newman College, Birmingham (England)

Career

2004 - present
Full Professor of American Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen

2000-04
Associate Professor of American Studies, University of Bielefeld

1999
Visiting Associate Professor of American Studies, University of Bielefeld

1996-97
Visiting Scholar, University of Texas at Austin

1993-2000
Assistant Professor of American Studies, Catholic University of Eichstätt

1987-93
Part-Time Instructor (Comparative Literature, Composition, EFL) at Los Angeles Southwest College, Woodbury University, and California State University (Los Angeles)

1986-93
Assistant Lecturer, Department of English, University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Research Interests

  • U.S. Latina/o Literature and Culture
  • Inter-American Relations
  • Ethnicity
  • Benjamin Franklin
  • Walt Whitman
  • Emily Dickinson
  • Elizabeth Bishop
  • Tony Kushner
  • August Wilson
  • Toni Morrison
  • Literature and the Arts
  • American Film and Televison

Conferences and Projects

  • Art Exhibit "Da-Sein: Zeitgenössische U.S. Latina/o Kunst"

    For one year (2008-09) an exhibit of twenty contemporary works curated by the Hispanic Research Center at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ and organized by the Duisburg-Essen American Studies Program toured Bielefeld, Tübingen, Dortmund, and Essen.

  • Symposium "ImagiNations/ImagiNaciones"

    Documentaries and the Narration of Nation in the Americas/ImagiNations: El cine documental y la narración de la nación en las Américas, Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung, Bielefeld, 2005 Link ZIF-Bielefeld

  • Symposium "E Pluribus Unum?"

    National and Transnational Identities in the Americas/Identidades nacionales y transnacionales en las Américas, Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung, Bielefeld, 2005 link

  • Symposium "The German Presence in the U.S.A."

    Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung, Bielefeld, 2004 Announcement, Program, Abstracts  

  • Research Project "Amerikanische Fernsehwelten"

    University of Bielefeld and Museum of Radio and Television (New York), 2001-02

Honors and Awards

Since 2002
External funding for seven international conferences and symposia

1996-97
Fulbright American Studies Fellowship for post-doctoral research at the University of Texas at Austin

1993 - present
Various Conference and Research Grants, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

1990-91
Middleton Dissertation Fellowship, University of Southern California

1988-90
Vice President and then President of the Association of English Graduate Students, University of Southern California

1988
Award for Teaching Excellence, Dept. of English, University of Southern California

1986-88
Fulbright Travel Grant for study in the United States

1985
Fellowship from the Spanish Ministry for Cultural Affairs for study in Spain