News & Events
Weekly Writing Workshop | Summer 2018 Writing Practice in Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies
Need a road map through Introduction to Literary Studies? Can’t find your spot on the Hermeneutic Circle? Finding yourself lost amongst the “aesthetically mediated references to reality,” the “poetic,” the “phatic,” the “metalingual?” Wondering whether “addresser” and “addressee” might occasionally be the same person?
The following course, Writing Workshop: Writing Practice in Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies, Module A, will demystify these concepts and help you to improve your critical writing. There are four sections of this course:
Monday, 14-16 R12 T04 E96
Tuesday, 14-16 R12 R04 B11
Thursday, 14-16 R12 R04 B21
Thursday, 16-18 R12 R04 B11
Just appear in one of these if you wish to take the course, taught by Dr. Melissa Knox-Raab.
New Lecture Series "We don't need another hero?" Heroism in Contemporary Culture
Tuesdays 1pm (sharp) to 2pm
R12 R04 B21
Every Tuesday this summer semester, you will have a chance to learn about and discuss heroines, heroes and heroism in a new lecture series entitled "We don't need another hero?" Heroism in Contemporary Culture. Both members of the department and guest lecturers will delve into different facets of heroic figures ranging from Wonderwoman to One-Punch Man and Rambo.
New ELMS program
The English Language Movie Society (ELMS) is a group of students and staff that meet during the semester to watch movies in their original language. During the semester we meet every other Tuesday at 6 pm in room S05 T00 B83. Admission is completely free and everyone is welcome to come.
Volkswagen Foundation Awards Funding for Graduate Research School on the Transatlantic Reinvention of Postindustrial Urban Futures
It is a happy moment for a group of scholars who work together at the RuhrCenter of American Studies and the University Alliance Ruhr: Barbara Buchenau, Jens Martin Gurr, Josef Raab (University of Duisburg-Essen); Walter Grünzweig, Randi Gunzenhäuser (TU Dortmund); Kornelia Freitag and Michael Wala (Ruhr University Bochum). Within the framework of a unique call for applications called “Wissenschaft und berufliche Praxis in der Graduiertenausbildung” (Scholarship and Professional Practice in Graduate Programs), the Volkswagen Foundation has awarded funding for the establishment of a four-year graduate research school Scripts for Postindustrial Urban Futures: American Models, Transatlantic Interventions (2018-2022). Internships in the fields of city administration, urban development, culture, education, transport, and sustainable building and living will allow the humanities researchers involved to work in close contact with American and German companies and municipal authorities. The goal of the graduate research school is to discover what imaginative strategies and groundbreaking scenarios centers of old industries (steel, coal and cars) in the United States and Germany are devising to forge paths into their futures.
Die Brücke | Campus Essen "One Year With Trump: Where Does the United States Go From Here?"
Monday, 22 January 2018, 6:30 p.m.
Die Brücke, Campus Essen
The event reflects on the first year of the Trump presidency beyond the headlines the new president himself provoked. Short talks by Christian Hunt, Evangelia Kindinger (RUB), and me will focus on issues, debates, and phenomena less prominent in the public. These topics may shape the future of the United States and offer a complex picture of American society behind the daily headlines today.
Studierende und Lehrende aller Fachrichtungen sind willkommen.
Diese Veranstaltung ist eine Kooperation mit dem Ev. Studierendenzentrum "Die Brücke" und der Evangelischen Studierendengemeinde Essen.
Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen (KWI) und Filmstudio Glückauf CineScience: Der Wissenschaftler als Filmheld
Dienstag, 12. Dezember 2017
20:00 Uhr - 22:00 Uhr
Filmstudio Glückauf, Rüttenscheider Straße 2, Essen
Von Fluxkompensatoren, peitschenschwingenden Archäologen und verunglückten Experimenten – Der Wissenschaftler als Filmheld
Zu Gast ist Petra Pansegrau von der Universität Bielefeld, die zusammen mit ihrem Team 220 Filme aus dem 20. Jahrhundert analysiert und die gängigsten Stereotype zusammengetragen hat. Ein Abend nicht nur für WissenschaftlerInnen und Studierende, sondern auch für alle Fans des Science-Fiction-Genres.
Guest Lecture Dr. Christine Vogt-William (U of Erlangen/Augsburg): “Twins & Disability in Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible.”
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
14:00-16:00
R12 T04 E96
Campus Essen
Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen (KWI) und Filmstudio Glückauf CineScience: "Jetzt bin ich dran!" - Frauen als Heldenfiguren
Dienstag, 24. Oktober 2017
20:00 Uhr - 22:00 Uhr
Filmstudio Glückauf, Rüttenscheider Straße 2, Essen
Weibliche Helden brechen alle Rekorde und geben den Ton in den aktuellen Blockbusterproduktionen an. Sei es bei „House of Cards“ mit Claire Underwood oder im Kino mit „Wonder Woman“.
Gemeinsam mit Alexander Nolte (KWI) skizziert die Medienwissenschaftlerin Véronique Sina von der Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen die Entwicklung weiblicher Figuren auf der Leinwand. Dabei werden Filmszenen aus Ridley Scotts „Alien“, Matthew Vaughns „Kick Ass“ und Quentin Tarantinos „Kill Bill“ vorgeführt, um zu analysieren, wie Heldinnen im Laufe der Zeit inszeniert werden.
Im Herbst 2017 widmet sich die beliebte Reihe dem Thema Helden im Film. Dazu werden bekannte Film- und MedienwissenschaftlerInnen dazu eingeladen, über von ihnen ausgewählte Filmausschnitte mit dem Publikum zu diskutieren. Die Auswahl der gezeigten Filme deckt dabei ein breites Spektrum ab, von klassischen Heldenfilmen wie Moby Dick bis hin zu modernen Comicverfilmungen wie Superman.
Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen (KWI) und Astra Theater CineScience: Truth, Justice and the American Way: Gesellschaftsentwürfe im amerikanischen Heldenkino
Dienstag, 19. September 2017
20:00 - 22:00 Uhr
Astra Theater, Teichstraße 2, 45127 Essen
Aufgrund der aktuellen Masse an Superheldenerzählungen im Kino und Fernsehen, im Comic und auch im Computerspiel ist das Motiv des Helden in der Populärkultur so präsent wie nie. Der klassische, noch ungebrochene Held repräsentiert im Film dabei Idealvorstellungen von Gesellschaften, weshalb sich gesellschaftlicher Wandel insbesondere anhand der Entwicklung von Filmsparten nachzeichnen lässt, die mehrere Jahrzehnte überspannen. Beispielhaft steht dafür der amerikanische Action- und Superheldenfilm. Deren Helden repräsentieren Höhepunkte des Selbstbildes und der Ideologie amerikanischer Kultur, warum auch ein Blick auf dasjenige Genre lohnt, das die Gründungsmythen Amerikas reflektiert: den Western. Ausgehend von Filmszenen aus High Noon (1952) analysiert der Medienwissenschaftler Martin Hennig (Universität Passau) das Bild des klassischen Helden und zeigt an Superman (1978), Spider-Man 2 (2004) und Olympus Has Fallen (2013), wie sich die Vorstellungen von Helden und das Verhältnis zwischen Held und gesellschaftlicher Ordnung im Laufe der amerikanischen Filmgeschichte gewandelt haben. Der Abend wird moderiert von Armin Flender (KWI).
Guest lecture | July 19, 2017 | 4:15 p.m. Prof. Dr. Renee M. Moreno: The Legacy of the Chicano Movement
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
4:15 p.m.
R12 R04 B11
Guest Lecture New Ecological Realisms in Contemporary Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
Professor Monika Kaup, Prof. of English (University of Washington)
Wednesday, 12 July 2017, noon to 2pm
Campus Essen, R12 R04 B02(Universitätsstraße 12, 45141 Essen)
Monika Kaup's current book project, "What Comes after Poststructuralism? New Ecological Realisms in Contemporary Theory and PostapocalypticFiction" examines a paradigm shift in the wake of structuralism and poststructuralism — a trend towards new realisms. Within the broader movement of this ontological turn after poststructuralism, she orients herself towards a realism of complex wholes, actor-networks, and ecologies, rather than a realism of isolated parts and things. Kaup explores applications of these ideas in close readings of recent postapocalypticfiction (such as Atwood's Maddaddam series and McCarthy's The Road) that depicts life after the destruction of modern civilization as we know it.
June 20, 2017 | 2.15 p.m. | R12 R02 B07 Talk and Discussion with Consul General Michael R. Keller
Consul General Keller from the American Consulate in Düsseldorf will hold a brief talk about his role as a representative of the American government abroad before we open the floor for questions.
Refreshments will be provided at the end of the event.
Tuesday June 20th, 2017
14:15–15:30 h
Campus Essen R14 R02 B07
Guest Lecture Coffeehouses and the Art of Social Engagement: An Analysis of Portland Coffeehouses
Michael Broadway, Prof. of Geography (Northern Michigan University)
Campus Essen, R12 R04 B02 (Universitätsstraße 12, 45141 Essen), 25 April 2017 2-4 pm
Coffeehouses have been a part of America's cultural landscape since the seventeenth century. Their fortunes have risen and fallen with the changing demand for coffee and changing consumer preferences. This paper examines their historic function of promoting social engagement as so-called third places among independently owned coffeehouses in the city of Portland, Oregon. Individual coffeehouses were evaluated to determine the extent to which they provided a supportive physical environment for social engagement in which a space is transformed into a place and detailed patron behavior was recorded over a three-week period. The study found that very few coffeehouses provided a supportive physical environment. The majority of patrons entering coffeehouses during the weekday and weekend ordered drinks 'to go.' Among those who stayed during the weekday most sat alone and worked on their laptops. It was only on lunchtime weekends that coffeehouses were full of the sound of conversations. It is suggested that further study be expanded to include the effect of eliminating free Wi Fi and banning laptops on social engagement in coffeehouses and whether other place attributes need to be incorporated to promote social engagement.
Guest Lecture The Uncanny Return of (Trans)national Anxieties
Donald E. Pease (Dartmouth College)
Wednesday, 15 March, 2017, 5pm to 7pm
Glaspavillon (Universitätsstraße 12, 45141 Essen)
In his lecture, Donald E. Pease interrogates the current political developments in the United States and particularly the election of Donald Trump as president from a transnational perspective. Pease particularly examines the narratives of fear Trump exploited during his campaign and asks in what ways the transnational turn in American studies helps to understand this shift in American politics and to what extent a neoliberal transnationalism may have contributed to the “uncanny return of national anxieties.”
Donald E. Pease is one of the leading scholars in American studies and an authority on nineteenth and twentieth century American literature and literary theory. With his numerous books, essays, and articles, Pease has not only shaped American studies as a critical thinker since the 1980s. As the founder and director of the Futures of American Studies Institute and as an editor of The New Americanist series, his work has also transformed the premise of the field.
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Master’s programs: RUDESA 3rd RUDESA Spring Academy: March 2017
Internationalization@home and across the Dutch border: in March 2017, the American Studies programs of the University of Duisburg-Essen, Radboud University (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) and the University of Wyoming (Laramie, USA) are again co-hosting the annual RUDESA Spring Academy. If you are a Master student in Anglophone Studies/American Studies or related fields, have a deep appreciation for knowledge and learning, and want to become involved in the latest research in American Studies, please visit the public events of RUDESA 2017 and apply for RUDESA 2018. Thanks to generous funding by the three universities, this unique trinational blend of lectures, seminars, cultural labs and peer reviews is still free of charge. What to expect: free transportation to and accommodation in Nijmegen, NL, a trinational student:staff ratio of 5:1, keynote addresses by international authorities in the field, and an exciting program that asks you to put your academic training and your intellectual curiosity into action. This year, we will discuss, reflect and exchange ideas about migration, cultural commemoration, transatlantic deindustrialization. Guests include and Alex Blue V, a doctoral researcher at UC Santa Barbara our distinguished keynote speaker Donald Pease, Dartmouth College, USA. We look forward to seeing you!
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January 27-28, 2017 Ruhr PhD Forum 2017
Friday, 27 January, hosted by the U of Duisburg Essen
Saturday, 28 January, hosted by the TU Dortmund
The annual dissertation colloquium offers young scholars in American Studies a forum to present current research projects as work in progress. It was founded in 2004 by the American Studies Departments at Ruhr-University Bochum and TU Dortmund. In order to highlight the strong connection between the two, the conference was named "BOND" indicating the two venues BOchum and DortmuND. In 2011, the colloquium expanded and since then it has welcomed PhD students and faculty from the University of Duisburg-Essen under the new designation "Ruhr PhD Forum in American Studies."
The organizers, oftentimes PhD students themselves, welcome contributions by PhD candidates of the three participating Departments as well as by PhD candidates from other universities. Travel stipends are available.
Every year, the presentations are accompanied by special guests (senior experts) with a comprehensive perspective on American Studies to provide outside commentaries and methodological advice to the PhD students.