American Bodies

Conference of the Graduate School of North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, to Be Held May 27 and 28, 2011

№ 123/2011 from May 05, 2011

Doctoral students at the Graduate School of North American Studies, Freie Universität, will be hosting their annual international conference on May 27 and 28, 2011. This year’s interdisciplinary conference is the fourth one to be held and will center on the theme “American Bodies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Modes of Power.” The first day of the conference will be concluded with a public lecture by Robert D. Putnam beginning at 5:30 p.m. It will be based on his most recent book American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, about the influence of religion in the United States. The political scientist at Harvard University is the author of major contemporary academic works such as Bowling Alone.

The second day of the conference will open with a lecture by Wai Chee Dimock, William Lampson Professor of English and American Studies at Yale University. The lecture will start at 9:30 a.m. and is open to the public. It will deal with poetic responses to Americans’ experiences with war.

At the conference North American studies scholars from Germany and abroad will discuss facets of “American Bodies.” There will be 12 interdisciplinary panels, and the discussions will include such diverse topics as body scanners and the associated exposure of the human body, literary bodies, and regulatory bodies in the U.S. financial market.

The conference language is English. The number of attendees at the conference is limited. Please register your participation by May 24, 2011, via e-mail: gsnas.conference2011@gsnas.fu-berlin.de.

Conference Schedule:

www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/graduateschool/conference/2011/index.html

Time and Place:

Friday, May 27, 2011, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday, May 28, 2011, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Lansstr. 7–9, Rooms 319 and 340, 14195 Berlin

Public Lectures:

Robert D. Putnam, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, Ethnological Museum (entrance across from Lansstr. 7–9), May 27, 2011, 5:30 p.m.
Wai Chee Dimock, Here, Bullet: American Bodies at War, John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Lansstr. 7–9, Room 340, May 28, 2011, 9:30 a.m.

For further information, please contact:

Ben Robbins and Ruth Steinhof, Graduate School of North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 838-52868, Email: gsnas.conference2011@gsnas.fuberlin.de