SUMMER ACADEMY
Fifth International Summer Academy
American Studies in a Transatlantic Perspective:
Critical Regionalism in Politics and Culture
May 20 - June 3, 2013 in Munich and Nuremberg
Regionalism, i.e. the study of regions and regional identities, has always been an important
dimension of American Studies-scholarship: regions have been examined, on the one hand, as
symbolic spaces foundational for dominant national discourses (like the mythical conception of the
American West) and, on the other hand, as sites of 'authentic' local cultures (like the 'local color' of
the South). Both approaches are equally problematic, and the allegorical as well as the essentialist
view have recently been deconstructed. Instead, questions of how regions are discursively fabricated
and how they are (de)stabilized in the context of nation-building, empire, and globalization are
foregrounded.
The summer academy addresses historical and current debates about American
regions and regionalism from an interdisciplinary perspective. This focus on a "critical regionalism"
highlights the connections between regional identities and global (power) structures, the
construction of specific regions in and beyond the United States, micro- and macro-structures of
space and place as well as processes of cultural contact and mobility at play in the formation of
regions. Such an approach covers aspects of cultural identity, political participation, and economic
developments that will be discussed in a comparative perspective on regions as seemingly distant
from each other as the Midwest and Ireland, the Greater Detroit and Greater Berlin areas, or Toronto
and Jamaica. Drawing on various case studies, the summer academy also seeks to reflect on the
theoretical and methodological problems of "critical regionalism."
The program of the academy is structured into three parts:
1. Work-in-Progress Presentations by participants (doctoral students and junior faculty)
2. Keynote Lectures on crucial issues of "critical regionalism" in politics and culture by
Prof. Klaus Benesch (LMU Munich)
Prof. Philipp Gassert (Augsburg U)
Prof. Miles Orvell (Temple U)
Prof. Cheryl Temple Herr (U of Iowa)
Prof. Claudia Sadowski-Smith (U of Arizona)
Prof. Martha Schoolman (Miami U)
Prof. Winfried Siemerling (U of Waterloo)
Prof. Barrett Watten (Wayne State U)
3. Cultural program including city tours of Munich and Nuremberg as well as visits of several museums and places of special interest
Detailed program
Please Note: Participants of the summer school also take part in the annual conference of the
German Association for American Studies (GAAS/DGfA) on the topic of Rural America at FAU
Erlangen-Nuremberg, including keynotes by Barbara Ching (Iowa State U), David·B. Danbom (North
Dakota U), Brigitte Georgi-Findlay (TU Dresden), Mary Gray (U of Indiana), Jerry Hagstrom (National
Journal), and Rogelio Saenz (U of Texas). The conference fee will be covered by the BAA.
Information as pdf, click here
APPLICATION
We invite doctoral students and junior faculty to apply electronically with
- a statement of purpose
- a CV
- a 2-page project description
- one letter of recommendation
Please send your application by March 1, 2013 to both
Participants will be selected on the basis of the strength of their application.
The tuition fee is 150 €.
Acceptance to the summer academy includes a full academic and cultural program, accommodation,
and travel grant.
The summer academy is organized by
the Bavarian American Academy, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Augsburg University, LMU Munich, and Wayne State University