Current Issues in North American and Cultural Studies
Each term renowned national and international scholars share their expertise in their respective research areas in our lecture series “Current Issues in North American and Cultural Studies.” All lectures are open to the public, so come join us for one of our upcoming events.
You can find this semester's program here.
Next Event
Panel Discussion “The Winner Took It All: Debating the Outcome of the US-American Presidential Election 2024”
Tuesday | 26 November 2024 | 6:00 c.t. 8:00 pm | 53111 Bonn | Rabinstraße 8 | Room 7
Introductory statements by PD Dr. Simone Knewitz | apl. Prof. Dr. Jasper Trautsch | Prof. Dr. Sabine Sielke | North American Studies Program
Though certainly painful and hard to digest for many voters, commentators, and observers, the outcome of the 2024 US-American presidential election was not an ‘accident’ of history – neither was the decision American citizens made in 2016. This time, though, this vote may not so much result in “chaos,” as some predicted, but set a course that was clearly foreseeable and is rapidly taking shape.
Three weeks after the election we like to debate – with our audience – the outcome of the contest and the impact that “commander-in-chief” Donald Trump and his administration can have on the institution of the US-American presidency, on the state of “checks and balances” in the US-American political system, on the future politics of the United States, and on the ongoing shifts in the global geopolitical landscape.
Program
Monday | 14 October 2024 | 6:00 c.t. 8:00 pm | 53111 Bonn | Rabinstraße 8 | Room 7
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Sabine Sielke
Tuesday | 22 October 2024 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | 53111 Bonn | Rabinstraße 8 | Room 7
Tuesday, 29 October 2024 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Room 7
Tuesday, 5 November 2024 | 9:00 pm to 2:00 am | bpb:medienzentrum | Bundeskanzlerplatz 2E | 53113 Bonn
Election Night Special – watch CNN, listen to live music, share the excitement!
Co-organized with the Amerika Haus NRW e.V. and the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb)
Tuesday | 26 November 2024 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | 53111 Bonn | Rabinstraße 8 | Room 7
Thursday, 28 November 2024 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Room 02-025
Alexei Kazakov | University of Ottawa, Canada: "Nostalgia and Constructions of National Identities"
Tuesday, 10 December 2024 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Room 7
Dr. Simon Schleusener | John F. Kennedy Institute, FU Berlin, and North American Studies Program: "Images of Degradation: Social Photography and the Politics of Visibility"
Tuesday, 17 December 2024 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Room 7
James Mendelson, PhD | Independent scholar and writer: "An Archive of Postcards: The Intersection of Cultural and Personal Memory"
Thursday, 9 January 2025 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Room 02-025
Sarah Becker | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: “Water Corpses in US-American Visual Culture”
Thursday, 16 January 2025 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Room 02-025
Dr. Imke Lichterfeld | IAAK, University of Bonn: "‘My consciousness flowing’: Outdoor Swimming and the Immediacy of Water in Roger Deakin’s Waterlog and Victoria Whiteworth’s Swimming with Seals"
Monday, 20 January 2025 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Room 7
Martin Luther King Day Lecture
Dr. Nadja Klopprogge | University of Tübingen: "Intimate Constellations as Sites of Multidirectional Memory: Relating African American and German History"
Tuesday, 28 January 2025 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Room 7
Madita Oeming | Independent writer: "America’s War on Porn: Anti-Pornography Discourses Across Ideologies"