Annual Report 2008/09
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Annual Report 2008/09 Special Feature: Rashida K. Braggs: “Manuel de Saint-Germain-des-Prés: Guide Book to African American Freedoms“ Annual Report 2008/09 Editorial Editor: Additional Contributors: Detlef Junker Tatjana Eichert Philipp Gassert Iris Hahn-Santoro Editorial Staff: Alexander Holmig Martin Klimke Jens Hofmann Anne Lübbers Mischa Honeck Jennifer Rodgers (University of Pennsylvania) Matthias Kutsch Dietmar Schloss Elena Matveeva Katrin Schreiter (University of Pennsylvania) Wilfried Mausbach Laura Elizabeth Wong Anja Schüler Martin Thunert Heidelberg Center Coverdesign: for American Studies (HCA) Bernhard Pompeÿ Curt und Heidemarie Engelhorn Palais Hauptstraße 120 Layout: D-69117 Heidelberg Germany Elena Matveeva T +49 6221 / 54 37 10 F +49 6221 / 54 37 19 [email protected] www.hca.uni-heidelberg.de © Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) 2009. All rights reserved. The HCA Annual Report is published yearly and is available free of charge. ISSN 1862-1201 2 Contents Rector‘s Welcome ...................................................................................... 5 Preface ....................................................................................................... 6 Introduction Mission Statement ..................................................................................... 10 Benefactors of the HCA ............................................................................. 10 HCA Board of Trustees ............................................................................... 12 HCA Board of Directors ............................................................................. 17 Foundation and Development of the HCA ................................................. 20 Organization and Staff .............................................................................. 22 The Curt und Heidemarie Engelhorn Palais ............................................... 31 An Institute for Higher Education The Master of Arts in American Studies (MAS) ......................................... 36 HCA Teaching Staff .................................................................................... 37 MAS Course Outline .................................................................................. 42 MAS Class of 2009 .................................................................................... 55 MAS Social Activities ................................................................................. 64 MAS Commencement 2009 ....................................................................... 66 A Center for Interdisciplinary Research Ph.D. in American Studies ......................................................................... 72 Ph.D. Candidates ....................................................................................... 75 HCA Research Projects .............................................................................. 92 The HCA Spring Academy ......................................................................... 97 Conferences 1968 in Japan, Germany and the USA ...................................... 105 Black Diaspora and Germany Across the Centuries ...................108 The Transcultural Atlantic .......................................................... 111 Modernization and Intellectual Authority in U.S. Literary Culture, 1750-1900 ................................................................... 113 Arnold Schwarzenegger............................................................. 114 The Decline of the West? ........................................................... 116 HCA Research Staff and Research Fellows................................................. 120 Individual Research ................................................................................... 130 Selected Publications ................................................................................ 134 Selected Talks ............................................................................................ 142 Jolanta and Soheyl Ghaemian Travel Fund for Scholars ............................ 148 Special Feature Rashida K. Braggs: “Manuel de Saint-Germain-des-Prés: Guide Book to African American Freedoms“.............................................. 150 A Forum for Public Debate The Baden-Württemberg Seminar ............................................................. 158 Hot Off The Press at the HCA .....................................................................161 Further Activities Julius E. Williams Distinguished Community Service Award ......................... 164 Celebration of the HCA’s 5th Anniversary and the 70th Birthday of its Founding Director Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Detlef Junker ......................................... 165 Cooperation and Support .......................................................................... 167 HCA Interns ............................................................................................... 168 Media Coverage ........................................................................................ 169 Rector‘s Welcome Dear Reader, As the Ruperto Carola braces itself for the challenges of the twenty-fi rst century, the university contin- ues to foster its international bonds. The ties that bind us to the United States of America have been growing steadily over the last two centuries and will, if anything, become even more important in the years ahead. Academic collaboration and exchange involving professors, researchers, and students testify to the strong relationship between the Universität Heidelberg and the United States. This close relationship is also evident in the generous moral and fi nancial backing from American graduates and friends. In this very spirit, we recently launched our fundraising campaign “Dem Lebendigen Geist,” through which we hope to win American support for the modernization of the “Neue Universität.” I am proud to say that the Heidelberg Center for American Studies has played an important part in getting this campaign off the ground. The HCA is uniquely qualifi ed to assist the Ruperto Carola in building and sustaining bridges across the Atlantic. Over the past fi ve years, it has become one of the leading centers for American Studies in Europe, an international beacon for research, higher education, and public dialogue about the United States. Its Master- and Ph.D. programs continue to attract students from America and all over the world. With the establishment of two new chairs in American geography and theology, the HCA will expand its teaching activities and also offer a B.A. in North American Studies, which is scheduled to commence in the winter semester of 2010/11. All this will help the HCA to fulfi ll its mission of imparting in-depth knowledge about U.S. history, politics, culture, and society to students from all over the world and a wider public in Germany. I congratulate the HCA on its impressive growth and remarkable achievements, which are amply evident in its sixth Annual Report. Kindest regards, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Bernhard Eitel Rector of the University of Heidelberg 5 Preface Dear Friends and Benefactors, Colleagues and Students, It is a great privilege and pleasure to present the sixth Annual Report of the Heidelberg Center for Ameri- can Studies. In 2008/09, the HCA took a decisive leap forward. Faculty, students and staff can therefore look back with a feeling of great accomplishment. October 20, 2009, was an especially important day for the HCA. We celebrated both the graduation of the MAS Class of 2009 in the Alte Aula of the University and the dedication of our new academic facili- ties – only hours after the craftsmen had left the construction site. The HCA added a new glass-covered atrium, a new lecture hall with galleries and a new seminar room to its splendid home, the Curt und Heidemarie Engelhorn Palais. In a moving ceremony our generous benefactors, Honorary Senators Curt and Heidemarie Engelhorn, presented this modern and elegant building to the public. At the HCA, the America-related research of six faculties and ten disciplines converges. With the deter- mined support of the Rector of the University of Heidelberg, Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Bernhard Eitel, the HCA was able to further institutionalize its multi disciplinary mission and intensify its co-operation with several disciplines. Two new professorships were granted by the state of Baden-Württemberg, one in the history of American religions and churches, especially the history of Christianity in the U.S., the other in the human geography of North America. Starting in the winter term 2010/11, the two new professors will take up their joint appointments at the HCA and the Faculty of Theology and the Department of Geography, respectively. We are fi nalizing negotiations with the Center for European Historical and Cultural Studies regarding a joint appointment of the Curt Engelhorn Chair in American History (Prof. Dr. Manfred Berg). The HCA has also initiated negotiations with the Faculty of Modern Languages about a similar arrangement for the chair in American literature (Prof. Dr. Günter Leypoldt). Meanwhile, a joint appointment of Prof. Dr. Dietmar Schloss has strengthened our long-standing co-operation with the English Department. We are planning to establish tighter bonds with the Institute for Political Science as well. We are proud to inform you that our newly restructured Master’s program was successfully accred- ited. The now three-semester program enables students to develop a more in-depth academic profi