In American Studies, our research and teaching routinely cover the historical spectrum of US-American Studies from pre-colonial times to the present. We consider many different cultural artefacts in their media-specific form and content, such as texts, photographs, films, video games, and music, as we both embed them in their historical, political, and social contexts and highlight their current relevance. Taking a transnational and postnationalist approach to our discipline, we emphasize cross-cultural aspects and inquire into the ways in which American cultures and identities are imagined, constructed, and challenged. Our students learn to critically engage with these concerns on different levels of abstraction: They train in the detailed analysis of specific cultural artefacts as they understand broader contexts, patterns, and perspectives, and they acquire a variety of theoretical and methodological skills as they also self-critically question and contextualize their own disciplinary practice.
Professors
Senior professor
Retired professor
Office managers
Faculty
Affiliated faculty / Lehrbeauftragte
Student assistants
Visiting Scholars
Assoc. Prof. Zachary Turpin
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program | U of Idaho ++++ E-Mail: zachary.turpin@tu-dortmund.de | zturpin@uidaho.edu
Prof. Dr. Fahri Öz
Philipp Schwartz Initiative fellow | Alexander von Humboldt Foundation ++++ E-Mail: fahri.oez@tu-dortmund.de
Trevor Sikorski
TA | U of Iowa ++++ E-Mail: trevor-sikorski@uiowa.edu
Former visiting scholars
Georgie Fehringer, MFA (U of Iowa) (GeorgieFehringerTUDgmailcom)
Elliott Niblock (UVA) (ejn8ufvirginiaedu)
Dr. Patrick Brown (U of Iowa) (psaxtonbrowngmailcom)
Matthew Helm (U of Iowa) (matthew.helmtu-dortmundde)
Heather Mease (UVA) (heather.measetu-dortmundde)
Sam Walker (UVA) (samuel.walkertu-dortmundde)
Doctoral students
Barbara Behrendt-Metzner (barbara.berendt-metznertu-dortmundde)
Hilary Meuter (hilary.meutertu-dortmundde)
Dilara Serhat-Sawitzki (dilara.serhat-sawitzkitu-dortmundde)
Hanna Rodewald (hanna.rodewaldtu-dortmundde)
Katharina Wood (katharina.woodtu-dortmundde)