North American Studies

The Graduate School of North American Studies, which is affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Institute of North American Studies, received distinction in the first round of the Excellence Initiative, in 2006. The graduate school is dedicated to the analysis of the American ideal of freedom. In its activities, the school relies on the potential for innovation brought by interdisciplinary cooperation in the humanities and the social sciences: Research and teaching activities at the school encompass the fields of linguistics, literature, cultural and media studies, the history of ideas and social history, sociology, political science, and economics.

The core value of American society is freedom, a concept that has spurred social and cultural change time and again since the founding of the American nation. At the same time, however, it has triggered cycles of debate regarding the economic and social conditions that must be met in order for freedom to exist.

The rise of the United States to become the world’s sole superpower, and the export of democratic ideals – by force if need be – has brought a new intensity to the conflict surrounding the meaning of freedom between liberal and conservative forces. The far-reaching consequences of this development with regard to the American national understanding of the United States as a country and its role in the world, along with the normative and institutional fundamentals of the international system, make up the essential spheres of research at the graduate school.

The interdisciplinary cooperation that takes place within the Institute, the fact that well-known scholars in the field from Freie Universität are participating in the graduate school’s borrowing program, and the school’s hosting of international visiting scholars all serve to guarantee that the education students receive at the school is of outstanding international quality.

Further information:

www.gsnas.fu-berlin.de