Events

"Stories of the Pacific North West: Indigenous Perspectives on Land and Literature" UNBC, Prince George, BC organisiert von Prof. Dr. Caroline Rosenthal, Amanda Halter, M.A., und Florian Wagner, M.A. (21.07.2022-01.08.2022)

Since the 1970s, there has been a powerful revival of indigenous traditions in North America, especially in Canada. In recent times this has expressed itself in the demand for a comprehensive “decolonization” of all areas of society, especially regarding education and training in schools and universities. The aim is to question the westernized production and transfer of knowledges and to add indigenous knowledges and traditionally indigenous forms of learning that express a different “worldview”. The University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) at Prince George is well advanced in the process of "decolonizing" its academic practice. Not only is indigenous knowledge taught there, but indigenous traditions are also utilized in instruction, such as land-based learning or storytelling practices.

The University of Northern British Columbia is therefore the ideal place to implement the central objective of our Summer School: together with students and lecturers from UNBC, we want to look at indigenous perspectives as they are portrayed in contemporary literature and other arts as well as in academic publications. The center of the Summer School will be a five-day block event at UNBC. Thematically, the five days ask about the connection between the linguistic and narrative representation as well as the scientific order of nature and indigenous knowledges. It is divided into two strands: (1) an intensive reading and discussion of selected literary and scientific texts and (2) indigenous forms of learning outside of the classroom, for example a botanical hike led by an indigenous herbalist, a circle-talk with the Elder in Residence, a workshop on indigenous storytelling as well as options for practices in creative endeavors like writing and sketching in the beautiful landscape around the UNBC campus. This block course in Prince George is preceded by a two-day stay in Vancouver, which will be used for acclimatization and introduction to our topic. Here, we will visit several museums (e.g. the Museum of Anthropology) and other places that are important for our Summer School (e.g. the Totem Poles at Stanley Park).

Spring School in Concord, MA, organisiert von Prof. Dr. Caroline Rosenthal, (apl.) Prof. Dr. Peter Braun, Gina Comos und Felix Haase (25. März-02. April 2017) 

Concord, a small town near Boston, Massachusetts, was the intellectual center of the United States in the early 19^th century. It is the place where both Transcendentalism and American Romanticism have their roots. Philosophers, writers, and naturalists shared the small town space in order to promote not only the political but also the intellectual independence from Europe. The most influential among them was Henry David Thoreau, who has recently been enjoying somewhat of a renaissance.

In 1842, he spent two years at Walden Pond, which is located a mere two miles from Concord. His aim was to lead a simple, self-sustained life close to nature. Several years later, he was to write about the experiment in Walden, or Life in the Woods, a book that has since become a classic. Before its first publication in 1854, Thoreau rewrote Walden seven times.

The Spring School will give you the unique opportunity to discover and explore Henry David Thoreau, the place Walden Pond, his nature writing and its impact - intellectually and up close. In cooperation with the Thoreau Institute, which harbors the archives of Henry David Thoreau, we will trace his life and philosophical thinking by discussing his works and experiencing the genius loci of Walden Pond. Other sites on our travels through Concord will include the Emerson House, Hawthorne’s Old Manse, and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. At the Thoreau Institute, we will take part in discussions and workshops about Thoreau’s nature writing, environmental ethics, deep ecology, and more. Spring School participants are expected to have read selected texts by Thoreau (a list will be distributed beforehand) and to keep a journal about their experiences and reflections. These readings and journals will be the basis for discussions with renowned Thoreau expert Jeffrey Cramer and Brandeis University Professor Brian Donahue, among others.

The Spring School will be conducted by Prof. Caroline Rosenthal, chair of American Studies, and Dr. Peter Braun, head of the Jena writing center. Intensive writing exercises will also be part of the program. In addition, students will be tutored by five PhD students who will accompany us on the trip.

Summer School in Jena, organisiert von Prof. Dr. Caroline Rosenthal und Mareike Dolata (July 13-17, 2015) 

"Indianerschwärmerei": Eindrucksvolle erste internationale Amerikanistik-Sommerschule ging jüngst zu Ende (Meldung vom 22.07.2015 )

Sie ist ungebrochen populär in Deutschland: die "Indianerschwärmerei". Apachenhäuptling Winnetou ist bis heute ein Held und die jährlichen Karl May-Festspiele sind gut besucht. Dieser "Indianthusiasm" war ein wichtiges Thema der ersten gemeinsamen Summer School von 16 Studierenden der University of Washington aus Seattle (USA) und deutschen Studierenden der Amerikanistik der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität. Unter der Leitung der Literaturwissenschaftlerin Prof. Dr. Caroline Rosenthal diskutierten die Studierenden vom 13. bis 17. Juli in Jena Aspekte amerikanischer und deutscher Identitäten. Unterschiedliche Identitätskonzepte in der Beziehung von Ost und West - seien es die USA und Deutschland, oder spezifischer Ost- und Westdeutschland - wurden analysiert. Durch Impulsreferate und Workshops der deutschen Studierenden aus Prof. Rosenthals Seminar "Cowboys and Indians in East Germany" angeregt, arbeiteten die Studierenden heraus, welche Bedeutung Indianervereinen in der DDR  zukam und welche Wurzeln dieser sozialistischen Imagination der "roten Brüder" im fernen Amerika zugrundelagen.

Der rege Austausch zwischen den deutschen und amerikanischen Studierenden fand jedoch nicht nur in Seminaren und Diskussionsrunden in Jena statt. Auf dem Programm stand eine Exkursion ins Karl-May-Museum nach Radebeul und die Dresdner Altstadt sowie gemeinsame Stadttouren durch Jena und Weimar.

"Western Cultures in Eastern Germany"

Die Gäste aus Seattle besuchten Jena im Rahmen eines einmonatigen Honors Programs. Unter dem Rahmenthema "Re-enacting German and American Identities" fand der erste Teil der Summer School an der Humboldt-Universität in Berlin statt, mit einem Fokus auf deutschen Amerikabildern sowie Themen der Immigration und Migration. Im zweiten Teil in Jena ging es dann um "Western Cultures in Eastern Germany". Jena  bot den amerikanischen Gästen dabei eine weitere Premiere: Die Sommerschule klang am 16. Juli mit dem Amerikatag des Masterstudiengangs Nordamerikastudien aus. In dessen Rahmen diskutierte der amtierende Generalkonsul der USA in Leipzig, Scott Riedmann, über die deutsch-amerikanischen Beziehungen. Daran schloss sich ein Vortrag der Civil Rights-Aktivistin Lecia Brooks zu Martin Luther King an sowie die Eröffnung der Ausstellung "Martin Luther King in der DDR" durch Prof. em. Dr. Heinrich Grosse - vielfältige Eindrücke für die amerikanischen Gäste, die inzwischen die Heimreise angetreten haben.

24. - 26. April 2013
organisiert von Prof. Dr. Caroline Rosenthal und Prof. Dr. Dirk Vanderbeke 

KonferenzprogrammExternal link

Veröffentlichung:
Rosenthal, Caroline und Dirk Vanderbeke, eds. Probing the Skin: Cultural Representations of Our Contact Zone. Cambridge Scholars, 2015.

Link zum BuchExternal link

• Sebastian Suttner (JMU Würzburg): "Observing Time in Time: What Society Can Learn from its Perception of Time" (11.01.2022)
• Blanca Schorcht (UNBC, Prince George): "First Nations Canadian Literature" (05.05.2022) 
• Andrew Wildermuth (FAU Nürnberg/Erlangen): “Margaret Fuller’s Life and Work” (19.05.2022)
• Michelle M. Wright (Emory Unviersity, Atlanta): "Blackness and Time" (21.06.2022)
• Alisa Preusser (Universität Potsdam): "Stó:lō Storytelling Traditions, Storywork & Lee Maracle’s Celia’s Song“ (30.06.2022)

• Kurt Korneski (Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland): "Settler Colonialism" (29.04.2021)
• Aritha van Herk (University of Calgary): "The Memory-Life of Cities: Place as Text" (01.02.2021)
• Jaspreet Singh (Calgary): "Race and the City" (18.01.2021)

• Shaun Hunter (Calgary Public Library): "Reading My City" (16.11.2020)
• Vanessa Evans (York University Toronto/Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz): “Stories are Animate, too: Indigenous Literatures, Self-Determination, and the Problem of the Space-Time Divide” (06.07.2020)

• Alexandra Hauke (Passau): "ImagiNative Images: Visual Sovereignty in Canadian Indigenous Film." (07.05.2019)
• Prof. Kevin Hutchings (UNBC): "Green Transatlantic Romanticisms" (15.05.2019)
• Alessandra Magrin (Strathclyde): "Rodeo Culture in the U.S. and Canada: Cody Rodeo and the Calgary Stampede, two 'Rodeo Capitals' compared" (25.06.2019)
• Dr. Cedric Essi (Osnabrück): "Gone with the Wind v. The Wind Done Gone: Literary Property in the Afterlife of Slavery" (26.11.2019)

• Dr. Johann Fehrle (Mannheim): "Gender, Nation and Genre in the 'Mild West'" (18.01.2018)
• Prof. em. Dr. Ludwig Fischer: "Die lesbare Natur. Über Nature Writing" (28.06.2018)

• J-Prof. Kylie Crane (Universtät Mainz): "Environmental Postcolonialism" (20.04.2017)
• Prof. Hubert Zapf (Universität Augsburg): "Literature as Cultural Ecology: Sustainable Texts" (27.04.2017)
• Prof. Dr. Reingard M. Nischik (Universität Konstanz): "Multiple Liminality: Aging in the Canadian Short Story" (02.05.2017)
• Prof. Gabriele Dürbeck (Universität Vechta):"Environmental Humanities and Narratives of the Anthropocene" (04.05.2017)
• Prof. Dr. Leonard Barkan (Princeton University): "Why Do Poets Wish They Were Painters?" (09.05.2017)
• Prof. Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (Universtät Trier): "The Anthropocene in French CanadianLiterature and Culture" (11.05.2017)
• Prof. Gerhardt ()Universtät Bamberg: "Ecopoetry" (18.05.2017)
• Prof. Catrin Gersdorf (Universität Würzburg): "Political Ecology and Climate Change Discourses in the Era of Thomas Jefferson" (15.06.2017)
• Prof. Gillian Harkins (University of Washington): "Predators on Screen: Cinematic Monsters in the New Century" (20.06.2017)
• Dr. Dunja Mohr (Universtät Erfurt):"Posthumanism" (22.06.2017)

• Prof. Dr. Günter Leypoldt (Heidelberg): "Specters of Feminization in Nineteenth-Century Literary Culture" (2. Feb. 2016)
• Prof. Dr. Louise Barnett (New Jersey): "Leslie Marmon Silko and the Land: the Role of Resource Exploitation in her Work" (10. Mai 2016)
• Prof. Dr. Michael Grimwood (Raleigh): "Walt Whitman on the Eve of the American Civil War" (29. Juni 2016)
• Picador Professor Paul LaFarge (Columbia/Leipzig): "The Deep Space of Digital Reading" (9. Nov. 2016)
• Prof. Dr. Sylvia Mayer (Bayreuth): "Environmental Risk Narratives: Climate Change and the American Novel" (1. Dez. 2016)
• Dr. Katharina Gerund (Erlangen-Nürnberg): "Sentimental Political Storytelling and Black Feminities in Contemporary Television" (8. Dez. 2016)

• Prof. Dr. Arlene Keizer (Irvine): "Staging Black Woman: Contemporary African American Drama, Visual Art, and Performance" (14. Jan. 2015)
• Prof. Dr. Katja Sarkowsky (Münster): "’On the margins of one group and three countries’: Autobiographical Migration Narratives" (27. Apr. 2015)
• Dr. Georgiana Banita (Bamberg): "Alternatives to Sex: Gender, Mobility, and the Female Road Narrative" (11. Mai 2015)
• Dr. Katharina Gerund (Nürnberg): "The Fugitive Figure in African American Autobiography" (8. Juni 2015)
• Prof. Dr. Brigitte Georgi-Findlay (Dresden): "Women’s Western Journeys on Screen" (15. Juni 2015)
• Prof. Dr. Uta Felten (Berlin): "Flâneurs and Flâneueses: Reflections on Urban Protagonists Cinema" (22. Juni 2015)
• Prof. Dr. Gillian Harkins (Seattle): "Restrictions of Movement in The Woodsman" (24. Juni 2015)
• Dr. Jason Stevens (Baltimore): "The Hardboiled Detective in Hollywood: Raymond Chandler, Postwar Los Angeles, and Film Noir" (29. Juni 2015)
• Grashina Gabelmann, Ricarda Messner (Berlin): "Presentation of the Magazine Flâneur: Fragments of a Street" (6. Juli 2015)
• Lecia Brooks (Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, Alabama): "Martin Luther King and the Achievements of the Civil Rights Movement" (16. Juli 2015)