News & Events
Job announcement 1 Doctoral Research Assistantship (PhD position) in American Studies / Latinx Studies (TV-L 13, 65 %)
Within the framework of the Volkswagen Foundation’s sponsorship of the graduate research group Scripts for Postindustrial Urban Futures: American Models, Transatlantic Interventions (see http://www.amstudies-ruhr.de), we seek to fill the following position for a total of four years from the period September 1, 2018 to August 31, 2022:
1 Doctoral Research Assistantship (PhD position) in
American Studies / Latinx Studies (TV-L 13, 65 %)
Deadline for applications: June 30, 2018.
Weekly Writing Workshop 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.
Lade den Film...
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.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 | Campus Essen Passing SOLO
Performance by Nancy Cheryll Davis, Towne Street Theatre, Los Angeles, USA
Wednesday, November 9, 2016, 12:00-14:00 hrs
Glaspavillon (Universitätsstraße 12, 45141 Essen)
1920s Harlem. Like a moth to a flame, Irene Westover Redfield is drawn to childhood friend Clare Kendry Bellew, who has suddenly reappeared in her life. Both share a secret. Their birth certificates read “Negro” but both can — and do — pass as white. A memory play, PassingSOLO explores the conflicting demands of race and friendship ... the slippery line between trust and deception ... always with the danger of discovery. Nancy Cheryll Davis portrays both Irene and Clare, as their renewed friendship exposes the price we pay in a society where freedom is bought with deceit.
http://www.discoverhollywood. com/Discover-Hollywood-Blog/ 2016/October/Passing-SOLO.aspx
“African American Drama and PassingSOLO”
Nancy Cheryll Davis (Towne Street Theatre, Los Angeles)
Monday, 7 November, 2016, 4pm to 6pm
R14 R00 A04 (Audimax)
Davis is an award-winning actress, director, producer and co-founder of the Towne Street Theatre, an African-American theater company founded after the 1992 Los Angeles unrests. In her lecture, Davis will talk about the processes of adaption in the context of her one-woman show “Passing Solo” which developed not only from the Towne Street Theatre play “Passing” but also the 1929 novel Passing by Nella Larsen. Davis will also detail her experiences of founding a theater in Los Angeles and producing award-winning shows for more than two decades. The lecture will explore numerous aspects of drama in the twentieth and twenty-first century ranging from questions of race and representation to aspects of writing a literary texts and maintaining a thriving theater company.
November 8, 2016 | 6 p.m. | Café in der Brücke Presidential Election Night
We cordially invite you to the upcoming presidential election event at the Café in der Brücke (in cooperation with the Ev. Studierendenzentrum "die BRÜCKE" und ESG Duisburg-Essen). The event will begin on Tuesday, November 8th, at 6 p.m. and is scheduled to be open ended. We will start the evening off with a look back at some of the most exciting and controversial moments of this historic campaign over some cold drinks (thanks to the Fachschaft). Throughout the night we will follow live coverage as voting results will become available. Please join us for an informative, entertaining, and (hopefully not too) exciting evening.
Throughout the evening we want to provide short presentations about various aspects of the election campaigns and the two candidates - whether short video clip or media-rich presentations, the format is completely open and aims to be informative, entertaining, accessible, and short (no more than five minutes). We are still looking for contribution and encourage everyone to share their ideas and participate in the event. Similarly, if you want to help with decoration, please contact Saskia Hertlein. We are also grateful for any other form of support and contribution.
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November 2, 2016 | 18-19 hrs | R12 R04 B02 Book Launch: Pixar's America
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2016
18:00 to 19:00 hrs
R12 R04 B02
This book examines the popular and critically acclaimed films of Pixar Animation Studios in their cultural and historical context. Whether interventionist sheriff dolls liberating oppressed toys (Toy Story) or exceptionally talented rodents hoping to fulfill their dreams (Ratatouille), these cinematic texts draw on popular myths and symbols of American culture. As Pixar films refashion traditional American figures, motifs and narratives for contemporary audiences, this book ...
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Join us over drinks to celebrate Pixar and the publication of Dietmar Meinel’s Pixar’s America: The Re-Animation of American Myths and Symbols. Screenings of Pixar short films will keep us company.
Wedenesday, November 2, 2016 | Campus Essen | 4:15 p.m. Live from the Bronx, NY: " The Afro-Latino Experience in Poetry and Hip Hop"
Reading and performance by Bocafloja
Wednesday, November 2, 4:15 p.m. T03 R04 D10
Bocafloja is an American poet, rap artist, scholar, cultural ambassador, filmmaker, and the founder of the Quilomboarte collective. He has released five music albums, published two collections of poems, stories, and essays, and recently completed a documentary film on the African diaspora in the Americas.
Wednesday. June 15, 2016 | Campus Essen Guest Lecture by Dr. Melissa Kovacs: "The 2016 Presidential Election Campaign: Disruption and Shadow"
Political scientist Dr. Melissa Kovacs (FirstEval, LLC and Arizona State University) taught in the Anglophone Studies Department at the University of Duisburg-Essen as a Fulbright Professor in 2007/08. She will now return for a guest lecture on the current race for the U.S. presidency:
The 2016 Presidential Election Campaign: Disruption and Shadow
Wednesday, June 15
2:15 p.m.
R11 T00 D01
Don't miss this unique opportunity for an exciting and insightful look at the changing political landscape of the United States. Entertainment guaranteed.
Wednesday, June 8,2016 | Mercator Research Center Ruhr, Essen Buchvorstellung: „Spaces – Communities – Representations: Urban Transformations in the U.S.A.“
„Spaces – Communities – Representations: Urban Transformations in the U.S.A.“ war das erste gemeinsame Forschungsprojekt der Lehrstühle für Amerikanistik und
Amerikanische Geschichte der Universitätsallianz Ruhr (UA Ruhr).
Von 2012 bis 2015 wurden Transformationen in der Gestaltung und Nutzung von städtischen Räumen, in der Zusammensetzung und Interaktion von Gemeinschaften sowie im kulturellen urbanen Umfeld und in Stadt-Imaginarien der Vereinigten Staaten untersucht. Das Projekt wurde gefördert vom Mercator Research Center Ruhr (MERCUR), einer gemeinsamen Initiative der Stiftung Mercator und der UA Ruhr. Als Ergebnis der Zusammenarbeit erschien im Januar 2016 der Band Urban Transformations in the U.S.A.: Spaces – Communities – Representations im Transcript Verlag.
Wir laden herzlich zur Vorstellung dieser Veröffentlichung sowie zu einem Empfang mit Projektbeteiligten und Beiträger/innen ein.
Buchvorstellung am 08. Juni 2016, 18 Uhr
Ort: Mercator Research Center Ruhr,
Huyssenallee 66-68, 45128 Essen
Um Anmeldung möglichst bis zum 01. Juni 2016 wird gebeten: julia.sattler@udo.edu
Thursday, 12 May 2016 Literary Reading by Thomas Heise
Thursday, 12 May 2016
Noon to 2pm
Universitätsstraße 12
Bibliothekssaal
45141 Essen
Thomas Heise is the author of Horror Vacui: Poems (Sarabande, 2006), Urban Underworlds: A Geography of Twentieth-Century American Literature and Culture (Rutgers University Press, 2011), and Moth; or how I came to be with you again (Sarabande, 2013), which was nominated for ForeWord’s “Book of the Year.” He is the recipient of the Gulf Coast Prize in poetry and a Robert Frost Fellowship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Heise’s work frequently focuses on the unstable relationship between time, memory, and desire in prose and poetry that returns repeatedly to real and imagined losses, centripetally swirling around them out of a need to understand, re-experience, and represent their singular nature and the aftereffects they accrue. About his most recent book, Moth, the novelist Carole Maso has said, "It's impossible to convey in a few lines the enormous pleasures of this book–the beauty of the design, the incandescent prose, its rigor and intelligence. A deeply melancholic and moving work of art."
In addition to his three books, Heise’s writing has been anthologized in Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century (2006) and The Americas Anthology of New Writings: From Patagonia to Nunavut (forthcoming, 2016). He has taught at the University of California at Davis, New York University, McGill University, and is currently a professor at Ryerson University in Toronto.
2nd RUDESA Spring Academy: March 14-18, 2016
The American Studies Department in Nijmegen and the University of Duisburg-Essen are continuing their international project within their Master’s programs: RUDESA. The Radboud University & University of Duisburg-Essen Spring Academy represents a joint initiative to engage in transnational American studies, exchange ideas, research agendas, and establish new academic contacts.This year Eric Sandean and students from the University of Wyoming are joining the Spring Academy for a tri-national exchange.
February 18-19, 2016 | Casino (Campus Essen) Workshop "Neurosis & Social Transformations"
Building on the Postgraduate Forum “Empire & Neurosis” held at the University of Duisburg-Essen in October 2015, this international workshop will broaden the focus on empire and Post-colonial Studies to engage with the theme of “Neurosis & Social Transformations.” Our focus lies on the concept of neurosis, since this phenomenon has often been linked to transformations of established borders in the present, but continues to be marginalized even in contemporary assessments of global developments of cultural, economic, political, and social transformation. As an international and interdisciplinary project, the workshop contributes to (and has received financial support from) the main research area “Transformation of Contemporary Societies” at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
> schedule
January 29-30, 2016 Ruhr Phd Forum
Friday, 29 January, hosted by the Ruhr University Bochum
Saturday, 30 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.
October 8 to 10, 2015 "Empire & Neurosis"
Postgraduate Forum “Postcolonial Narrations” of the Gesellschaft für Anglophone und Postkoloniale Studien (GAPS)
The third edition of the postgraduate forum “Postcolonial Narrations” addresses the interconnections between imperial practices and neurosis. The forum theme proposes to investigate the range of ‘neuroses’ that are generated by or connected to colonial or imperial experiences, but transcends any strictly clinical meaning of ‘neurosis’ and expands into philosophical, literary, and metaphorical implications of the term. Papers at the postgraduate forum come from the field of Anglophone literature and cultures, Postcolonial Studies, Media Studies, and Film Studies as the forum aspires to facilitate dialogue, exchange, and collaboration among junior scholars. Students and academic faculty are invited to join the event.
October 8 to 10, 2015
Location: Casino, University of Duisburg-Essen, Reckhammerweg 3, 45141 Essen
> flyer
> program
Award for Didactic Innovations in Higher Education Teaching Practices 2015 Dr. Dietmar Meinel and Courtney Moffett-Bateau Recipients of UDE's "2015 Innovative Teaching Award"
Since 2009 the University Duisburg-Essen has been conferring the “Award for Didactic Innovations in Higher Education Teaching Practices” to commend excellent teaching and counselling practices. The award aims to laud innovative didactical approaches to higher education at our university and grands 5000 € to be used for future teachings.
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Dietmar Meinel and Courtney Moffett.Bateau, M.A., receive this year’s “Award for Didactic Innovations.” Their seminar "Now You See It, Now You Don't: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Race in a 'Postracial' America" persuaded the jury with its varied use of teaching methods and the integration of a student conference format into the curriculum. We thank the two winners for their innovative ideas and their commitment and say: congratulations.
Student Conference “Now You See It, Now You Don’t:” Interdisciplinary Explorations of Race in a “Postracial” America
Wednesday, 29 April, 2015, 10am to 6pm,
Campus Essen, Casino (Reckhammer Weg 1, 45141 Essen)
The conference is the concluding session of the seminar “’Now You See It, Now You Don’t:’ Interdisciplinary Explorations of Race in a ‘Postracial’ America” in which student present their individual research in fifteen minutes academic papers. Over the course of the semester, students were asked to find a research question dealing with the idea of a “postracial America,” develop a sound understanding of the scholarship, and write an academic presentation. All participants will critically examine contemporary notions of race in America while testing their ability to contribute to the scholarly debates in the fields of literary, cultural, and social studies.
March 21, 2015 Lunch talk with Paula M.L. Moya
Paula M.L. Moya (Department of English at Stanford University) presents her forthcoming book The Social Imperative: Race, Close Reading, and Contemporary Literary Criticism on Thursday, May 21st, 2015 at the Department of Anglophone Studies.
Time: 12:00 to 14:00 o'clock
Location: Campus Essen, Universitätsstrasse 12, room R12 R04 B11
7.-9. Mai 2015 | John F. Kennedy Institut, FU Berlin 8. Internationale Graduierten Konferenz der Graduate School of North American Studies
Die Konferenz "Alliances: Un/Common Causes and the Politics of Participation" wird vom 7.-9. Mai 2015 am John F. Kennedy Institut der Freien Universität Berlin stattfinden.
Neben Doktoranden, Post-Doktoranden und Professoren, sind ganz besonders Studierende willkommen, die den akademischen Alltag außerhalb von Seminaren und Vorlesungen kennenlernen möchten und sich für spannende, interdisziplinäre Vorträge und Diskussionen interessieren.
First RUDESA Spring Academy on Grounding Transnational American Studies successfully completed
Master’s programs: RUDESA RUDESA Spring Academy: March 16-20, 2015
The American Studies Department in Nijmegen and the University of Duisburg Essen are launching a new international project within their Master’s programs: RUDESA. The Radboud University & University of Duisburg-Essen Spring Academy represents a joint initiative to engage in transnational American studies, exchange ideas, research agendas, and establish new academic contacts.
> program
> poster
March 27 and 28, 2015 | TU Dortmund 2015 Symposium "Urban Transformations": The City as America, America as the City – Approaching Urban American Studies
The final symposium of the project “Spaces—Communities—Representations: Urban Transformations in the USA” will present the results of three years of research. The six projects address Urban American Studies from a variety of perspectives, pointing out its potential as a critical intervention into American Studies research at large.
January 23-24, 2015 Ruhr PhD Forum 2015
Friday, 23 January, hosted by the Ruhr University Bochum
Saturday, 25 January, hosted by the University of Duisburg-Essen
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.
Friday January 9, 2015 | 17 h | Glaspavillon, Campus Essen Verleihung der Ehrendoktorwürde der Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften an Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter Freese
Die Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften der Universität Duisburg-Essen ehrt Herrn Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter Freese (Universität Paderborn) für seine herausragenden Leistungen in der Amerikanistik und in der Fachdidaktik des Englischen sowie für sein Engagement für die deutsch-amerikanischen Beziehungen und seinen Einsatz für die Nordamerikastudien an der Universität Duisburg-Essen. Professor Freese hat sich insbesondere durch die Zusammenführung von Fachwissenschaft und Fremdsprachendidaktik, die Herausgabe kultur- und literaturwissenschaftlich fundierter Unterrichtsmaterialien und seine prägende Rolle bei der Forschung zu zentralen Themen und Autoren der Amerikanistik höchste Verdienste erworben.
Der Festakt zur Verleihung der Ehrendoktorwürde mit anschließendem Empfang fand am
Freitag, 9. Januar 2015, 17.00 Uhr statt.
Im Rahmen der Feier hielt Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Peter Freese einen Festvortrag mit dem Titel
„The Journey of Life in American Fiction and Intercultural Learning in the EFL Classroom“.
Das musikalische Rahmenprogramm gestaltete die Big Band des Burggymnasiums Essen.
> Programm
Thursday, December 4th, 2014 || 2 p.m. Guest lecture: Prof. Erik Mortenson (Koc University, Istanbul)
Prof Erik Mortenson from Koc University in Istanbul will talk about his recent research at the Sohm Archive in Stuttgart for his latest Beat Studies project. His publications include the book-length study Capturing the Beat Moment: Cultural Politics and the Poetics of Presence (Southern Illinois UP, 2010). His talk is entitled "Translating Counterculture: The Reception of the Beat Generation in West German and Turkish Underground Journals."
Thursday, December 4th, 2014
2 p.m.
V15 S05 D16
In the wake of the transnational turn in American studies, many sources in languages other than English have provided new insights into phenomena that are considered “American” but are, in fact, involved in a global network of appropriation in other cultural discourses. Comparing West German and Turkish Beat-influenced journals with their American Beat precursors reveals exactly what is at stake when counterculture travels. This paper examines the content, layout, and goals of these journals alongside one another in order to examine not just what is shared in this “Beat” aesthetic, but likewise to look for points of rupture and contrast that reveal how contexts of time, place, and culture influence reception. All of these journals attempted to intervene in their cultural moment in order to change the direction of the times, but each of these interventions, while sharing similarities common to their Beat theme, performs a different critique. This paper seeks to answer the questions of what exactly defines the notion of Beat for each journal, why these journals would choose to employ the Beat theme as a method of critique, and how each journal deploys this critique in their manner, style, and content. Examining journals that all revolve around the Beats yet appear at different times, in different countries, and in different languages has the potential to highlight exactly how the concept of Beat functions in a global context and the ways in which local concerns must alter the idea of Beat in order to appropriate it.
Ludwig Galerie | Schloss Oberhausen | 25. Mai – 7. September 2014 EVE ARNOLD (1912-2012) - Eine Hommage an die große Magnum-Fotografin
Portraits von Marlene Dietrich, Malcolm X und Marilyn Monroe – Reisefotografien aus Afghanistan, China und Indien
Eve Arnold gehört zu den wichtigsten Fotografinnen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Als Kind russischer Einwanderer repräsentiert ihre Lebensgeschichte ein Stück weit den amerikanischen Traum: Ende der 1940er Jahre beginnt sie ihre Karriere als Autodidaktin mit einer Rolleicord-Kamera und tritt 1957 – als eine der ersten Frauen – der legendären Fotoagentur MAGNUM bei. Berühmt wird sie mit ihren ungewöhnlichen Modeaufnahmen in Harlem zur Zeit der Rassendiskriminierung oder ihren politischen Reportagen zu Malcolm X, dem Anführer der Black Muslims. Aber auch ihre feinfühligen Beobachtungen gerade beginnenden Lebens und die Fotografien ihrer Reisen nach Afghanistan, China und Indien beweisen ihre singuläre und zutiefst humanistische Bildsprache. Sie thematisiert die Verschleierung der Frau in den arabischen Ländern und zeigt ein China, das sich Ende der 1970er Jahre mitten im Umbruch befindet. Ihre Themen sind hier stets von gesellschaftspolitischer Relevanz. ...
Girardet-Haus | 4. September 2014 | 20 Uhr US-Autor Stewart O`Nan liest aus seinem neuen Roman „Die Chance“
Literaturbüro Ruhr e.V. präsentiert im Rahmen der Reihe „Von Sinnen. Eros und Illusion“:
US-Autor Stewart O`Nan liest aus seinem neuen Roman „Die Chance“ („The Odds. A Love Story“) und spricht mit David Eisermann, Thomas Sarbacher liest aus der Übersetzung ins Deutsche
Ein Abend in deutscher und englischer Sprache
In Kooperation mit dem Katakomben-Theater Essen
Donnerstag, 4. September 2014, 20 Uhr
Katakomben-Theater im Girardet Haus, Girardetstraße 2 – 38, 45131 Essen
Eintritt: 8/10 € (Vorverkauf/Abendkasse)
Karten unter 0201. 43 04 67 2/- 43 04 67 1 oder katakomben-theater@web.de
Kartenreservierung empfohlen
katakomben-theater.de
Gemeinsam machen Marion und Art Fowler eine Pauschal-Busreise zu den Niagarafällen, wohin sie dreißig Jahre zuvor auch ihre Hochzeitsreise führte. Im Gepäck befindet sich ihr gesamtes Barvermögen, denn Art glaubt zu wissen, wie man beim Roulette gewinnen kann. Sie schmuggeln das Geld nach Kanada ein, wechseln es in Jetons und beziehen in einem Casino eine teure Hochzeitssuite. Arbeitslos und verschuldet, wie sie sind, haben sie nichts mehr zu verlieren. Das Haus, in dem ihre Kinder groß geworden sind, muss verkauft werden, ihre Ehe, von Seitensprüngen untergraben, steht vor dem Aus.
Also greifen sie nach dem letzten Strohhalm: tagsüber beim Sightseeing an den spektakulären Wasserfällen, vor allem aber abends, im Casino. Sie spielen am ersten Abend und am zweiten. Und setzen alles auf eine Karte.
Stewart O'Nan wurde 1961 in Pittsburgh geboren und wuchs in Boston auf. Er arbeitete als Flugzeugingenieur und studierte in Cornell Literaturwissenschaft. Heute lebt er mit seiner Frau und seinen zwei Kindern in Avon, Connecticut. Für seinen Erstlingsroman „Engel im Schnee“ erhielt er 1993 den Pirate's Alley Faulkner Prize. stewart-onan.com
David Eisermann ist Kulturjournalist und Hörfunk-Moderator, Moderator von Literaturlesungen sowie Übersetzer. Er arbeitete für den WDR und den Deutschlandfunk und moderiert die WDR 3-Sendung „Mosaik“. David Eisermann führte Bühnengespräche u.a. mit T.C. Boyle, Louis Begley und Robert Harris. Er lebt in Bonn. david-eisermann.de
Thomas Sarbacher arbeitet als Theater- sowie Film- und Fernsehschaupieler. Er liest Hörbücher ein und ist gern gesehener Gast bei Autorenlesungen, u.a. mit Salman Rushdie oder John Banville. thomas-sarbacher.com
Thursday, July 10, 2014, 12:00 (st), Glaspavillon, Campus Essen Stephanie L. Batiste (author, performer) Stacks of Obits
In a combination of poetry, spoken word, drama, and storytelling, Batiste weaves the tale of lives crossing against the backdrop of late 20th century Los Angeles’s epidemic of street murders. Stacks of Obits relays the entangled experiences of love, loss, and family of two sisters against very real experiences of murder and death. Through performance, the solo-show interprets the experience of Los Angeles as a crucible of violence and mass emotional victimization and also a place called Home. In Stacks, I "process" the obituaries of young black people killed with guns in Los Angeles contained in a scrapbook started by a young woman in 1992 when she was 15 years old. The show uses music and projected still and filmed images to explore the role of empathy in the development of social consciousness and action. The pace of the piece is “fast, with the main character tripping over syllables at rhythms ranging between storytelling and spoken word, sometimes slowing lyrically into song-like cadences of gospel. At times the language piles up--pushing ideas into one another--like the experiences described, like the violence that drives the piece.” Stacks of Obits uses and takes seriously hip hop and rap’s musical odes to urban death by popular artists who have imagined, and found, murder to be a certain future either through victimization or association. These popular and yet popularly misunderstood songs are contextualized within the set of social conditions that gave rise to them. They, like the obituaries and newspaper articles that float over the audience during the show, are artifacts of a legacy of murder. Protests against anarchic slaughter. Odes to the dead--personal responses to loss that lie at a space of collective experience through event-sharing, listening, and reading. These artistic moments become repositories for collective memory, witness, and truth-telling as community-making practice. They are testaments of a powerful, yet dispersed collective despair and protest. Praise for the work calls it “powerful,” “provocative,” “controversial,” “stunning,” “beautifully told,” and “tragically moving.”
Running Time: 45 minutes
> Poster
July 9, 2014 Guest lecture Stephanie Batiste (U of California, Santa Barbara): "Voodoo Macbeth"
Stephanie Batiste from the English Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara will talk about her current research and her latest project. Her publications include the book-length study Darkening Mirrors: Imperial Representation in Depression-Era African American Performance (Duke University Press, 2011). Her talk is entitled "Voodoo Macbeth".
July 9, 2014
16:00 to 18:00 o'clock
Campus Essen, Universitätsstraße 12, R11 T00 D05
