North American Studies

• History (Module A): North America and Its Position in the World

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  • 32410 Advanced seminar
    The 1970s: the Cold War, Globalization, and US Foreign Policy (Valeria Benko)
    Schedule: Mo 08:00-10:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-13)
    Location: 201 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    "The American 1970s were marked by an array of interconnected security, political, and economic challenges: the U.S.'s "vulnerability to large-scale Soviet nuclear bombardment," the military and political defeat in Vietnam, turbulence in the monetary system, difficulties in keeping oil prices and supply under control, and, in general, "increased domestic exposure to the [...] forces at play in the international system" (Buzan 2010). Anchored to three interpretive inquiry lines—the Cold War, Globalization, and U.S. Foreign Policy—this seminar departs from the analysis of the decade's salient events to foster a better understanding of the major historiographical debates on the 1970s and on post-1945 U.S. history at large. Students will explore these pivotal years as the crucible of complex political, economic, and cultural phenomena, tracing the decade's legacy on contemporary developments, reflecting on the types of questions historians pose, and on why and how we attempt to answer them. Engaging with different and complementary sub-disciplinary perspectives, and with the main methodological concerns that accompany the study of this era, the course will investigate the aims and modes of the American presence in the world, integrating reading, active class discussion, and evaluation of primary sources, as well as focusing on critical historical thinking and writing, and on the theory and practice of working with physical and digital archival materials."

  • 32411 Seminar
    Importing/Exporting Liberalism: Traditions and Critiques of US Liberal Thinking in the 19th and 20th Century (Marlene Ritter)
    Schedule: Mi 08:00-10:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar explores US American liberalism as “a diverse family of ideas and practices” (Button 2015, p. 22), tracing its development, contradictions, and global ambitions across the 19th and 20th century. At its core is a critical reading of Helena Rosenblatt’s book The Lost History of Liberalism (2018) – paired with and contested by primary material, critical voices, and complementary scholarship on the history of liberalism. Together, we will discuss how liberalism evolved as “the American creed” (Rosenblatt 2018, p. 245). We will trace how it became entwined with ideas of American exceptionalism and a “civilising mission”. And we will interrogate the exclusions and silences of liberal thought. With its emphasis on close reading, this seminar provides a frame for students to develop and hone key historical skills: analysing primary and secondary sources, engaging with competing interpretations, developing critiques, and building historical arguments, both in class and in writing. For active participation credits, students are expected to read around 80 pp. per week and submit weekly tasks. Student-led sessions will offer space for independent inquiry and collaborative learning.

• History (Module C): North American History after 1865

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  • 32411 Seminar
    Importing/Exporting Liberalism: Traditions and Critiques of US Liberal Thinking in the 19th and 20th Century (Marlene Ritter)
    Schedule: Mi 08:00-10:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar explores US American liberalism as “a diverse family of ideas and practices” (Button 2015, p. 22), tracing its development, contradictions, and global ambitions across the 19th and 20th century. At its core is a critical reading of Helena Rosenblatt’s book The Lost History of Liberalism (2018) – paired with and contested by primary material, critical voices, and complementary scholarship on the history of liberalism. Together, we will discuss how liberalism evolved as “the American creed” (Rosenblatt 2018, p. 245). We will trace how it became entwined with ideas of American exceptionalism and a “civilising mission”. And we will interrogate the exclusions and silences of liberal thought. With its emphasis on close reading, this seminar provides a frame for students to develop and hone key historical skills: analysing primary and secondary sources, engaging with competing interpretations, developing critiques, and building historical arguments, both in class and in writing. For active participation credits, students are expected to read around 80 pp. per week and submit weekly tasks. Student-led sessions will offer space for independent inquiry and collaborative learning.

  • 32410 Advanced seminar
    The 1970s: the Cold War, Globalization, and US Foreign Policy (Valeria Benko)
    Schedule: Mo 08:00-10:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-13)
    Location: 201 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    "The American 1970s were marked by an array of interconnected security, political, and economic challenges: the U.S.'s "vulnerability to large-scale Soviet nuclear bombardment," the military and political defeat in Vietnam, turbulence in the monetary system, difficulties in keeping oil prices and supply under control, and, in general, "increased domestic exposure to the [...] forces at play in the international system" (Buzan 2010). Anchored to three interpretive inquiry lines—the Cold War, Globalization, and U.S. Foreign Policy—this seminar departs from the analysis of the decade's salient events to foster a better understanding of the major historiographical debates on the 1970s and on post-1945 U.S. history at large. Students will explore these pivotal years as the crucible of complex political, economic, and cultural phenomena, tracing the decade's legacy on contemporary developments, reflecting on the types of questions historians pose, and on why and how we attempt to answer them. Engaging with different and complementary sub-disciplinary perspectives, and with the main methodological concerns that accompany the study of this era, the course will investigate the aims and modes of the American presence in the world, integrating reading, active class discussion, and evaluation of primary sources, as well as focusing on critical historical thinking and writing, and on the theory and practice of working with physical and digital archival materials."

• Culture (Module A): History of Ideas in America and Theories of American Culture

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  • 32110 Lecture
    1776/2026: The American Revolution at 250 (Hannah Spahn)
    Schedule: Mi 12:00-14:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    “What do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American War?” In a letter from 1818 that has since become famous, John Adams firmly answered his second question in the negative, defining the “real American Revolution” as a “radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affection of the people” that had taken place in their “minds and hearts” before the outbreak of military hostilities. Writing in the midst of what became known as the “biographical war”—the first of a series of American culture wars that extends until today—Adams thus classified the American Revolution as an event in cultural and intellectual rather than primarily military history.

    In this lecture, we will take Adams’s influential if contested interpretation as a starting point to explore the cultural and intellectual history of the American Revolution from the perspective of its semiquincentennial. How was the founding of the United States experienced and discussed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and how can we understand it now, as the nation’s 250^th birthday approaches? We will answer these questions by examining not only the historical “records, pamphlets, newspapers and even handbills” mentioned in Adams’s letter but also other cultural artifacts, including works of fiction, poetry, drama, painting, and architecture. We will seek to get an overview of the major research questions in the historiography of the American Revolution, such as on the changing interpretations of the Declaration of Independence, on the interventions by women, African Americans, and Native Americans, on the roles played by the Great Awakening and religious freedom, by Enlightenment philosophy and British empiricism, and by classical republicanism and analogies to Greek and especially Roman antiquity. With these questions in mind, we will take a look at the later decades of the revolutionary period as well, including the discussions surrounding the Federal Constitution, the emergence of the first party system and the role of the press, the debates about the relationship to the other Atlantic Revolutions, and the controversies about the slave trade, slavery, and the “first emancipation.” Throughout the lecture, we will also reflect on our own historical moment at the end of the first quarter-millennium following 1776, aiming to take stock of competing cultures of commemorating the origins of American liberal democracy.

    The lecture course serves as “Vorlesung” of Culture-Module A (Amerikanische Ideengeschichte und Theorien amerikanischer Kultur) in the M.A. program. Registration: All participants must be registered via Blackboard and Campus Management before the first session. If you cannot register online or cannot attend the first session, please contact PD Dr. Spahn before the beginning of the term. Requirements: See Syllabus and Course Description (on Blackboard). First session: October 15.

  • 32111 Advanced seminar
    Changing Narratives about America (Winfried Fluck)
    Schedule: Mi 14:00-16:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    American Studies as a field of study has been established to gain a better understanding of “America,” both as an idea and as a nation. It does so by contributing ever new observations and research data. But these single items have to be connected in order to be able to draw larger conclusions. The form in which this is usually done is by inserting a single phenomenon into a larger explanatory pattern for which, in following the historian Hayden White, American studies scholars now use the term narrative. This course will trace some of the main narratives that have been created in order to make sense of American society and culture, starting with the foundational narrative of American studies, that of American exceptionalism, and then going on to recent revisions like the Cold War-narrative, the American Empire-narrative, the frontier-narrative and settler colonialism, the diversity narrative, narratives about the central role of slavery in the formation of the U.S., the 1619 project, but also the Project 2025. In each case, the seminar will focus on the underlying premises about what kind of society the U.S. are and what kind of society they should be. The seminar discussions will be based on a few key texts that are available on Blackboard.

    Credits:

    To receive a participation credit in this course, a 10-15 minute presentation is required, plus regular attendance. To obtain a full credit, a term paper (of about 15 pages) on one of the seminar topics or texts is required, plus regular attendance.

    Registration:

    All participants must be registered via Blackboard and Campus Management. If you cannot register online, please contact the department’s secretary Regina Götz (culture@fki.fu-berlin.de); or if you would like to participate, but cannot attend the first session, please contact me (winfried.fluck@fu-berlin.de).

    Course Material:

    All of the reading material will be posted as PDF documents on Blackboard.

    Students are expected to read the main texts for each session. A detailed syllabus will be available on Blackboard at the beginning of the winter semester.

• Culture (Module B): Cultural Analysis of Nationality and Diversity

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  • 32112 Lecture
    Reform, Diversity, and Cultural Nationalism in the Age of Romanticism (Martin Lüthe)
    Schedule: Do 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-16)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This lecture course deals with the entanglement of Romanticism, cultural nationalism, and practices of political reform, focusing on documents, debates, and literary works from the period in-between the Jacksonian era and the Civil War. Topics include: “Indian Removal,” transcendentalism, the importance of Moby-Dick and the media form of the novel, debates on slavery and national expansion, sentimentalism and the abolitionist imagination, proslavery philosophies, the slave narrative, and other issues. The lecture course serves as "Grundlagenvorlesung" of Culture-Module B in the M.A. program.

    Registration: all participants must be registered via Blackboard and Campus Management before the first session. If you cannot register online, or if you would like to participate, but cannot attend the first session, please contact Dr. Lu¨the before the beginning of the term.

  • 32113 Advanced seminar
    Genre and the American Culture Industries (Alexander Starre)
    Schedule: Mi 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    In the sprawling media ecology of our digital present, genre categories help viewers and readers sort through content and curate custom watchlists and to-read shelves. Genre dynamics often work in two opposing directions: on the one hand, narrative genres like the detective story, the western, or the romance provide creators and audiences with a set of shared rules and structures, thus reinforcing boundary lines between generic conventions and traditions. On the other hand, cultural artifacts often derive unique forms by freely mixing and adapting multiple genres (as seen in recent hybrids such as “docudrama,” “romantasy,” or “eco-dystopia”).

    This course seeks to provide three perspectives on genre in American cultural studies: 1) We will study a select number of key texts in genre theory, a broad field of conceptual thinking with important impulses for critical analyses. 2) We will revisit the classic “culture industry” thesis by Adorno and Horkheimer and pair it with more recent media historical and infrastructural insights concerning the evolution of the culture industries in North America in the twenty-first century, with a distinct focus on film and television production as well as literature and the publishing industry. 3) We will cover a (very limited) number of case studies, fusing the analysis of a single work with the cultural, commercial, and social workings of its genre(s). Reading and viewing selections include: the publishing satire/ thriller Yellowface (2023) by R.F. Kuang; the romance novel Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (2021); the horror movie Get Out (2016; written and directed by Jordan Peele); the dystopian office dramedy Severance (2022 - ).

    In the final part of the course, student groups will work on individual projects that further explore the key themes of the course in genre texts of their own choosing.  

  • 32114 Advanced seminar
    Digital Games and/as Contemporary North American Culture (Martin Lüthe)
    Schedule: Do 12:00-14:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-16)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    The object of this seminar is to explore the performances, discourses, and affects that emerge in the context of digital gaming as a cultural practice in the United States (and North America). There is, of course, a longer relevant history of gaming and/as entertainment in North America of relevance, but we will mostly focus on the historical convergence of gaming/play and digitization (or digitality). How do we make sense of gaming in the discipline called (digital) games studies? What are the meaningful contexts for digital gaming (and digital games studies) and what is gaming’s relationship to other media practices and media affordances? Is digital gaming primarily or originally a North American practice and if so, does that even matter? How is gaming related to late capitalism, or neoliberalism, and what are its ideological implications (if there are any)? While we will sideline some exclusively theoretical concerns, the object of this seminar is also to provide students with a language (and a set of tools) to analyze cultural and media practices such as digital gaming. After all, EA might be right: “It’s in the game!”

• Culture (C) – Cultural History of Specific Media and Aesthetic Forms of Expression

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  • 32113 Advanced seminar
    Genre and the American Culture Industries (Alexander Starre)
    Schedule: Mi 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    In the sprawling media ecology of our digital present, genre categories help viewers and readers sort through content and curate custom watchlists and to-read shelves. Genre dynamics often work in two opposing directions: on the one hand, narrative genres like the detective story, the western, or the romance provide creators and audiences with a set of shared rules and structures, thus reinforcing boundary lines between generic conventions and traditions. On the other hand, cultural artifacts often derive unique forms by freely mixing and adapting multiple genres (as seen in recent hybrids such as “docudrama,” “romantasy,” or “eco-dystopia”).

    This course seeks to provide three perspectives on genre in American cultural studies: 1) We will study a select number of key texts in genre theory, a broad field of conceptual thinking with important impulses for critical analyses. 2) We will revisit the classic “culture industry” thesis by Adorno and Horkheimer and pair it with more recent media historical and infrastructural insights concerning the evolution of the culture industries in North America in the twenty-first century, with a distinct focus on film and television production as well as literature and the publishing industry. 3) We will cover a (very limited) number of case studies, fusing the analysis of a single work with the cultural, commercial, and social workings of its genre(s). Reading and viewing selections include: the publishing satire/ thriller Yellowface (2023) by R.F. Kuang; the romance novel Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (2021); the horror movie Get Out (2016; written and directed by Jordan Peele); the dystopian office dramedy Severance (2022 - ).

    In the final part of the course, student groups will work on individual projects that further explore the key themes of the course in genre texts of their own choosing.  

• Literature (Module A): Literary History

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  • 32210 Lecture
    The American Renaissance Reconsidered (Stefanie Müller)
    Schedule: Do 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-16)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    Taking our cue from F.O. Matthiessen’s The American Renaissance (1941) and (ongoing) scholarly reassessments, we will look at the period between 1830 and 1870 in US-American literature as well as how it has been studied and interpreted by scholars in the field of American Literature. Our goal will be twofold: to learn more and gain a better understanding about this period of literary production as well as about our discipline and its practice of literary periodization. This is a lecture class, not a seminar. If you want to participate and receive credits for it, please take note of the following conditions for participation: 1. Register on Blackboard for this class – this is where you will find further information as well as reading material. 2. The shopping period is limited to week one. You must commit to the class by our second meeting.

  • 32211 Advanced seminar
    History and Memory in the African American Novel (Stefanie Müller)
    Schedule: Di 14:00-16:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-21)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Information for students

    Please note that the first session is scheduled for October 21, 2025.

    Comments

    Since its earliest expressions, African American literature has always sought to give testimony as well as to add to collective and cultural memory. African American artists, and literary writers in particular, have consistently striven to expand this archive through their autobiographical and their imaginative work, adding diverse voices and stories, and challenging and resisting master narratives. In this class, we will focus on texts that do this type of culture and memory work at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century, such as the neo-slave narrative. Our discussion will focus on how writers approached history and historiography as well as memory in their works, which includes issues such as what counts as official history, whose voices get heard and whose don’t, or what is the relationship between individual and collective memory. To better understand these issues and their literary treatment, we will draw on non-fiction as well as theoretical writings on slavery, memory, and aesthetics. This is a reading-intensive class, meaning that we will discuss several novels in addition to poetry and excerpts from longer texts. If you don’t like to read fiction, think twice about joining! Moreover, if you want to participate and receive credits for it, please take note of the following conditions for participation: 1. Register on Blackboard for this class – this is where you will find further information as well as reading material. 2. The shopping period is limited to week one. You must commit to the class by our second meeting. Set texts include Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer, and Edward P. Jones’ The Known World.

  • 32212 Seminar
    Literary Robots (Birte Wege)
    Schedule: Di 16:00-18:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-14)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    Artificial Intelligence appears to be poised to transform our way of life. And, as current debates make clear, there is considerable anxiety about both the vast potential, and the equally vast perils, this will bring. In this seminar, we will explore the contribution that works of fiction can make to our understanding of this topic. Centered on the literary figure of the robot, we will investigate the ways in which, over centuries, authors have engaged with the concept of a man-made conscious entity: as a reflection of advancements in science and technology, as social critique, and as a fundamental query into the question of what it means to be human. Our readings will draw on a wide range of both American and European literature, including, among others, early literary classics like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, both hard science and experimental SciFi literature of the 20th Century, and modernist and postmodern theatre and performance art. The syllabus will be rounded out by theory readings, representations of robots in film and television, and discussions on the impact AI is already having on both literature, and academic writing.

• Literature (Module B): Literary Theory

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  • 32213 Advanced seminar
    Crisis Poetry: Poetic Encounters of Grief, Trauma, and Loss (Lea Espinoza Garrido)
    Schedule: Mi 12:00-14:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: 203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar examines how poetry grapples with notions of crisis, from personal grief to collective trauma shaped by racialized and gendered violence, environmental collapse, or the loss of trust in democratic institutions. Reading contemporary poets such as Tommy Pico, Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Craig Santos Perez, Robert Fernandez, or Suheir Hammad, we will consider how different poetic forms register and represent these affects and, at the same time, offer potential for mourning and even resistance. Throughout this course, we will discuss questions such as: What affordances do(es) poetic form(s) offer for representing trauma and crisis? How does poetry imagine alternative futures in the face of personal loss or social and environmental destruction? What temporalities of crisis emerge in their work? How do poems serve as acts of mourning and/or memorialization, and what forms of community-building and world-making do they enable around loss? To answer these questions, we will pair close readings of poetry with critical reflections on crisis, trauma, and the politics of literary form(s). If you want to participate and receive credits for this seminar, please take note of the following conditions for participation: 1. Register on Blackboard for this class – this is where you will find further information as well as reading material. 2. The shopping period is limited to week one, and you must commit to the class by our second meeting. It is highly recommended (but not mandatory) that students also attend the lecture series “Loss in the Land of Plenty: Understanding American Crisis, Decline, and Paths to Renewal” (Wednesdays, 4-6 p.m., organized by Prof. Dr. Stefanie Müller and Prof. Lora Anne Viola).

  • 32215 Seminar Cancelled
    The Scales of the “Anthropocene”
    Schedule: Mi 08:00-10:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Additional information / Pre-requisites

    This is a reading-intensive class, meaning that we will discuss several novels in addition to poetry, theory, and drama. If you don’t like to read fiction, think twice about joining! Moreover, if you want to participate and receive credits for it, please take note of the following conditions for participation: 1. Register on Blackboard for this class – this is where you will find further information as well as reading material. 2. The shopping period is limited to week one. You must commit to the class by our second meeting. 3. The first text on our syllabus is Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140 – start reading asap!

    Comments

    Scale is a central concept in the cultural and literary debates over the so-called “Anthropocene:” temporally and in particularly spatially, climate change is too vast an object to fathom, as a popular argument in this vein runs; a hyperobject, as Timothy Morton puts it. A third scale involves agents: the “Anthropocene” requires a collective effort as much as it impacts humans in the aggregate. In recent years, scholars in various disciplines have contributed to this discussion and more importantly, have begun to inquire into the precise role and significance of scale in all of this. This class is designed to do likewise, yet with a focus on literature. We will read and discuss theoretical work on scale and discuss individual literary texts and their negotiations of “Anthropocene” scales. This is a reading-intensive class, meaning that we will discuss several novels in addition to poetry, theory, and drama. If you don’t like to read fiction, think twice about joining!

  • 32212 Seminar
    Literary Robots (Birte Wege)
    Schedule: Di 16:00-18:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-14)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    Artificial Intelligence appears to be poised to transform our way of life. And, as current debates make clear, there is considerable anxiety about both the vast potential, and the equally vast perils, this will bring. In this seminar, we will explore the contribution that works of fiction can make to our understanding of this topic. Centered on the literary figure of the robot, we will investigate the ways in which, over centuries, authors have engaged with the concept of a man-made conscious entity: as a reflection of advancements in science and technology, as social critique, and as a fundamental query into the question of what it means to be human. Our readings will draw on a wide range of both American and European literature, including, among others, early literary classics like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, both hard science and experimental SciFi literature of the 20th Century, and modernist and postmodern theatre and performance art. The syllabus will be rounded out by theory readings, representations of robots in film and television, and discussions on the impact AI is already having on both literature, and academic writing.

• Literature (Module C): Literary Text Analysis

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  • 32211 Advanced seminar
    History and Memory in the African American Novel (Stefanie Müller)
    Schedule: Di 14:00-16:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-21)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Information for students

    Please note that the first session is scheduled for October 21, 2025.

    Comments

    Since its earliest expressions, African American literature has always sought to give testimony as well as to add to collective and cultural memory. African American artists, and literary writers in particular, have consistently striven to expand this archive through their autobiographical and their imaginative work, adding diverse voices and stories, and challenging and resisting master narratives. In this class, we will focus on texts that do this type of culture and memory work at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century, such as the neo-slave narrative. Our discussion will focus on how writers approached history and historiography as well as memory in their works, which includes issues such as what counts as official history, whose voices get heard and whose don’t, or what is the relationship between individual and collective memory. To better understand these issues and their literary treatment, we will draw on non-fiction as well as theoretical writings on slavery, memory, and aesthetics. This is a reading-intensive class, meaning that we will discuss several novels in addition to poetry and excerpts from longer texts. If you don’t like to read fiction, think twice about joining! Moreover, if you want to participate and receive credits for it, please take note of the following conditions for participation: 1. Register on Blackboard for this class – this is where you will find further information as well as reading material. 2. The shopping period is limited to week one. You must commit to the class by our second meeting. Set texts include Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer, and Edward P. Jones’ The Known World.

  • 32213 Advanced seminar
    Crisis Poetry: Poetic Encounters of Grief, Trauma, and Loss (Lea Espinoza Garrido)
    Schedule: Mi 12:00-14:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: 203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar examines how poetry grapples with notions of crisis, from personal grief to collective trauma shaped by racialized and gendered violence, environmental collapse, or the loss of trust in democratic institutions. Reading contemporary poets such as Tommy Pico, Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, Diana Khoi Nguyen, Craig Santos Perez, Robert Fernandez, or Suheir Hammad, we will consider how different poetic forms register and represent these affects and, at the same time, offer potential for mourning and even resistance. Throughout this course, we will discuss questions such as: What affordances do(es) poetic form(s) offer for representing trauma and crisis? How does poetry imagine alternative futures in the face of personal loss or social and environmental destruction? What temporalities of crisis emerge in their work? How do poems serve as acts of mourning and/or memorialization, and what forms of community-building and world-making do they enable around loss? To answer these questions, we will pair close readings of poetry with critical reflections on crisis, trauma, and the politics of literary form(s). If you want to participate and receive credits for this seminar, please take note of the following conditions for participation: 1. Register on Blackboard for this class – this is where you will find further information as well as reading material. 2. The shopping period is limited to week one, and you must commit to the class by our second meeting. It is highly recommended (but not mandatory) that students also attend the lecture series “Loss in the Land of Plenty: Understanding American Crisis, Decline, and Paths to Renewal” (Wednesdays, 4-6 p.m., organized by Prof. Dr. Stefanie Müller and Prof. Lora Anne Viola).

• Politics (A): Theories and Methods of Political Science

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  • 15414 Seminar
    Research Design and Methods in Political Science (Lora Anne Viola)
    Schedule: Di 12-14 (Class starts on: 2025-10-14)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This course introduces students to research design in the social sciences, with a particular focus on political science. The seminar offers both a theoretical and a hands-on approach to understanding research design. Part I of the course addresses core questions from the philosophy of science (e.g. what is causation and (how) can it be evidenced?); Part II introduces research design with an emphasis on hands-on exercises meant to enhance familiarity with principles through practice; Part III discusses techniques of data collection and analysis; Part IV is dedicated to honing the skills of writing a problem-oriented research proposal. The course is limited to students who are about to begin, or in the midst of writing, their MA or PhD thesis.

  • 32510 Advanced seminar Cancelled
    Research Design and Methods Political Science (Lora Anne Viola)
    Schedule: Di 12:00-14:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-14)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Information for students

    Students who wish to enroll in this course are requested to register under course number 15414.

  • 32514 Seminar
    Reading Hayek (The Road to Serfdom) (David Bosold)
    Schedule: Do 08:00-10:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-16)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    Depending on where people stand politically, Friedrich August von Hayek’s 1944 book The Road to Serfdom has either been hailed or condemned as the blueprint for current US libertarianism (or the MAGA movement). Unsurprisingly, therefore, his work (or rather a specific interpretation thereof) has led to wildly diverging assessments ranging from Glenn Beck’s “the best thing you can read” to condemnation by figures on the left such as Naomi Klein who considers Hayek a “fundamentalist” (capitalist). In this class we will read The Road to Serfdom and engage with the interpretation of Hayek’s work by his strongest critics and most ardent supporters.

• Politics (Module B): Institutions, Actors, and Processes

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  • 32513 Advanced seminar
    Money, Power, and Democracy: Understanding the Political Consequences of Income Inequality (Christian Lammert)
    Schedule: Di 18:00-20:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-14)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar delves into the political ramifications of growing income and wealth inequality in the United States. It focuses on how concentrated economic power shapes political agendas, policymaking processes, and democratic responsiveness. Critical topics include the influence of campaign contributions, policy capture, and the feedback loop between economic elites and political outcomes. The seminar aims to equip participants with a nuanced understanding of how economic disparities challenge democratic ideals and the prospects for achieving greater political equality.

  • 32512 Advanced seminar
    Trade and Security (Elisabeth Winter)
    Schedule: Do 16:00-18:00, zusätzliche Termine siehe LV-Details (Class starts on: 2025-10-16)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar examines the changing relationship between trade and security in U.S. politics and international relations. We will analyze how political and economic logics have become increasingly intertwined, both in theory and practice, since the late 20th century. The course focuses on U.S. trade policy as a case study to understand broader transformations in global political economy, including the rise of new institutional actors, shifts in multilateral and bilateral arrangements, and the securitization of economic relations in the 21st century. Students will engage with theoretical debates in International Relations and Political Economy, while also assessing current developments such as U.S.–China trade tensions, supply chain security, and technology competition.

• Politics (Module C): Political Domains / Policy Research

  0024eA4.3
  • 32512 Advanced seminar
    Trade and Security (Elisabeth Winter)
    Schedule: Do 16:00-18:00, zusätzliche Termine siehe LV-Details (Class starts on: 2025-10-16)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar examines the changing relationship between trade and security in U.S. politics and international relations. We will analyze how political and economic logics have become increasingly intertwined, both in theory and practice, since the late 20th century. The course focuses on U.S. trade policy as a case study to understand broader transformations in global political economy, including the rise of new institutional actors, shifts in multilateral and bilateral arrangements, and the securitization of economic relations in the 21st century. Students will engage with theoretical debates in International Relations and Political Economy, while also assessing current developments such as U.S.–China trade tensions, supply chain security, and technology competition.

  • 32513 Advanced seminar
    Money, Power, and Democracy: Understanding the Political Consequences of Income Inequality (Christian Lammert)
    Schedule: Di 18:00-20:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-14)
    Location: 340 Hörsaal (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar delves into the political ramifications of growing income and wealth inequality in the United States. It focuses on how concentrated economic power shapes political agendas, policymaking processes, and democratic responsiveness. Critical topics include the influence of campaign contributions, policy capture, and the feedback loop between economic elites and political outcomes. The seminar aims to equip participants with a nuanced understanding of how economic disparities challenge democratic ideals and the prospects for achieving greater political equality.

• Sociology (Module A) - Sociological Theories of North America

  0024eA5.1
  • 30207 Basic Course Cancelled
    Sociological Theory
    Schedule: Mo 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-13)
    Location: keine Angabe
    
  • 32614 Lecture
    Sociological Theory (Jayme Gomes Neto)
    Schedule: Mo 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-13)
    Location: HFB/D Hörsaal (Garystr. 35-37)
    
  • 32610 Advanced seminar
    Introduction to the Political Economy of the USA in comparison (Jonas von Ciriacy-Wantrup)
    Schedule: Di 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-14)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This course is meant to introduce students to the study of Political Economy (PE), encompassing central concepts, theories and contemporary scholarship of the discipline, with a particular focus on the case of the United States. The course consists of three main parts. In the first part we will discuss classical theories and concepts which shape contemporary scholarship in PE. We will develop a profound understanding of the main characteristics of a capitalist economy and how Political Economy scholars approach the relationship between politics and economics. The second and third part of the seminar are dedicated to the analysis of the US case in Political Economy, especially in Comparative Political Economy (CPE). We will cover contemporary theoretical frameworks for the comparative analysis of capitalism within CPE. We will set a particular focus on the case of the United States, and how it compares to other political economies – especially those in Europe – and analyze the role of the US in global developments of the political economy in the last decades. Students that want to take this course should be willing to do the weekly readings and have a basic understanding of concepts and theories in political science, sociology, and economics.

  • 32611 Advanced seminar
    Investigating Representations of Race, Gender, and Queer Identity in News (Channing Joseph)
    Schedule: Do 14:00-18:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-16)
    Location: 201 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar critically examines how race, gender, and LGBTQ+ identities are represented in North American and European news media. Drawing on foundational works by scholars like Kimberlé Crenshaw, Frank B. Wilderson, Michel Foucault, and bell hooks, we will explore the historical and social contexts that shape media portrayals of marginalized groups. Case studies will include the role of U.S. newspapers in promoting racial violence, European media narratives surrounding migrant communities, and recent controversies in LGBTQ+ representation. Using frameworks from sociology, gender studies, and media studies, students will conduct content analyses and original research on a topic of their choice, critically evaluating media bias and its societal impact. 
    

  • 32612 Advanced seminar Cancelled
    TBA
    Schedule: -
    Location: keine Angabe
    

• Sociology (C) - Investigation of Social Processes - Problems, Conflicts, Crises

  0024eA5.3
  • 32613 Seminar
    Sociology of Agriculture (Osman Demirbag)
    Schedule: Mo 12:00-14:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-13)
    Location: 203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This seminar surveys the historical sociology and political economy of agriculture across theory, statecraft, and contentious politics. We examine how states render land legible and governable; how markets, credit, and global value chains reshape production and consumption; and how parties and social movements mobilize agrarian interests. Moving from classic debates on agrarian capitalism to the political economy of contemporary agricultural policy, we link these literatures to macroeconomic questions of growth, finance, and distribution and to comparative party and movement politics. Throughout, we treat policies as struggle arenas that allocate rents, risks, and voice across classes and regions and as components of state-building projects. Readings and cases span the Americas, Europe, and the Global South; scales range from democratic land reforms and enclosure to agricultural credits and food regimes. By the end of the course, students will be able to link theories of agrarian change to scholarly discussions.

  • 32615 Advanced seminar
    Difference, Revolution, Empowerment: Theories and Epistemologies of Emancipation and Resistance (Alexander Niessen)
    Schedule: Fr 12:00-14:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-17)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    Sociological theories have often served as tool for sense-making of what makes us different and what makes us similar. While uniquely designed to analyze and represent a variety of forms of inequality, both theoretically and empirically, many widely accepted underpinnings of sociological research are often formulated from a dominant, hegemonic perspective, and critical theories are too often only read in their immediate historical contexts. All this is most acute when it comes to the realm of gender representations and expressions and class. This course serves to counteract this problematic phenomenon by in depth feminist and queer theories of the social world and look at how they interact with resistance against forces of domination. These theories critically evaluate not only the institutions shaping our daily lives, but also reimagine omnipresent categories of deviance, normality, and agency, and how they intersect. We will discuss sociological theories, research, and other forms of engagement in, from, about, and adjacent to the United States. Moreover, students will apply these findings to empirical research in order to evaluate biases, hegemonies, and potentialities for emancipation. The core of our course will concern intersectional perspectives of queerness, race, class, and gender. Overall, students will improve their strategies for formulating critical and inclusive research questions in the future targeting oppressive social structures without merely reproducing them.

• Economics (Module C) - US Foreign Economic Policy

  0024eA6.3
  • 32711 Seminar
    International Trade, Migration and Health - Case Studies (Luca Stella)
    Schedule: Mo 16:00-18:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-13)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This course provides a graduate-level introduction to the study of international economics, covering some of the most important theories and applications of international trade, health, and migration. Each week, the presentation of theorethical contributions is accompanied by a comprehensive overview of the corresponding empirical validations. The course is divided into three parts. During the first part, we will introduce the basics of international trade. Current debates surrounding globalization and international trade are assessed against the concepts and empirical evidence taught in class. In particular, we will investigate the determinants of trade patterns, the Ricardian model and its empirical applications, the employment effect of the China shock, and study the causes and effects of trade policy. The objective is to gauge how international trade and globalization affect welfare, firms, labor markets and wages. During the second part, we will illustrate how economists analyze the production of health and the delivery of health care services. Substantial attention is given to socio-economic determinants of health and health consequences of the digital revolution. This part will emphasize the link between economic theory and health policy introducing students to topical issues such as the economics of sleep. During the third part, we will introduce the basics of the economics of immigration. Topics to be covered include: selection in immigration, immigrant assimilation, labor market effects of immigration, and the effects of immigration on various outcomes (e.g., health, attitudes, voting, crime, and fertility). For active participation: regular attendance of lectures and seminar presentations. All students are required to present one of the different seminar papers or to summarize an assigned chapter. Presentations should be 20 minutes long and outline the content of the article/topic to be discussed. In cases of research papers, this includes identifying the research question, methodology, and findings. Presenters should be prepared to answer questions related to the reading. For a grade: written final examination. The final exam will cover all topics discussed in class. Once you have been accepted to the seminar you will be added to the second part of the lecture shortly after the registration period ends. Attendance at the first session is mandatory.

  • 32710 Advanced seminar
    International Trade, Migration and Health (Luca Stella)
    Schedule: Mo 14:00-16:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-13)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    This course provides a graduate-level introduction to the study of international economics, covering some of the most important theories and applications of international trade, health, and migration. Each week, the presentation of theorethical contributions is accompanied by a comprehensive overview of the corresponding empirical validations. The course is divided into three parts. During the first part, we will introduce the basics of international trade. Current debates surrounding globalization and international trade are assessed against the concepts and empirical evidence taught in class. In particular, we will investigate the determinants of trade patterns, the Ricardian model and its empirical applications, the employment effect of the China shock, and study the causes and effects of trade policy. The objective is to gauge how international trade and globalization affect welfare, firms, labor markets and wages. During the second part, we will illustrate how economists analyze the production of health and the delivery of health care services. Substantial attention is given to socio-economic determinants of health and health consequences of the digital revolution. This part will emphasize the link between economic theory and health policy introducing students to topical issues such as the economics of sleep. During the third part, we will introduce the basics of the economics of immigration. Topics to be covered include: selection in immigration, immigrant assimilation, labor market effects of immigration, and the effects of immigration on various outcomes (e.g., health, attitudes, voting, crime, and fertility). For active participation: regular attendance of lectures and seminar presentations. All students are required to present one of the different seminar papers or to summarize an assigned chapter. Presentations should be 20 minutes long and outline the content of the article/topic to be discussed. In cases of research papers, this includes identifying the research question, methodology, and findings. Presenters should be prepared to answer questions related to the reading. For a grade: written final examination. The final exam will cover all topics discussed in class. Once you have been accepted to the seminar you will be added to the second part of the lecture shortly after the registration period ends. Attendance at the first session is mandatory.

• Current topics and research fields in North American Studies 1

  0024eA7.1
  • 32516 Seminar
    Sovereignty and Statehood in North America (including Greenland), (David Bosold)
    Schedule: Fr 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-17)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    DJT’s proposed acquisition of Greenland and repeated attempts to question the sovereignty of Canada (by referring to it as the 51st state) have led to a renewed interest in questions of (national) sovereignty and statehood. Recent decades have seen two (seemingly) contradictory trends. On the one hand, we can observe attempts by states to assert and reclaim sovereignty (over territory, resources and/or people). Historical and ethnographic research has highlighted that indigenous conceptions of sovereignty (unsurprisingly) do not easily square with the settler-colonial foundations of American and Canadian statehood and legalistic understandings of sovereignty. In addition, territorial disputes on the status of the Artic, including the North West Passage, point to geopolitical tensions between countries – globally and, looking at the US, Canada and Greenland, in the hemisphere. On the other hand, military (NORAD) and economic integration (NAFTA/USMCA) has resulted in a diffusion or shared form of sovereignty that transcends aspects of statehood. We will seek to make sense of these alleged contradictions by studying research from political scientists, economists and historians.

• Current topics and research fields in North American Studies 2

  0024eA7.2
  • 32516 Seminar
    Sovereignty and Statehood in North America (including Greenland), (David Bosold)
    Schedule: Fr 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-17)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    DJT’s proposed acquisition of Greenland and repeated attempts to question the sovereignty of Canada (by referring to it as the 51st state) have led to a renewed interest in questions of (national) sovereignty and statehood. Recent decades have seen two (seemingly) contradictory trends. On the one hand, we can observe attempts by states to assert and reclaim sovereignty (over territory, resources and/or people). Historical and ethnographic research has highlighted that indigenous conceptions of sovereignty (unsurprisingly) do not easily square with the settler-colonial foundations of American and Canadian statehood and legalistic understandings of sovereignty. In addition, territorial disputes on the status of the Artic, including the North West Passage, point to geopolitical tensions between countries – globally and, looking at the US, Canada and Greenland, in the hemisphere. On the other hand, military (NORAD) and economic integration (NAFTA/USMCA) has resulted in a diffusion or shared form of sovereignty that transcends aspects of statehood. We will seek to make sense of these alleged contradictions by studying research from political scientists, economists and historians.

• Current topics and research fields in North American Studies 3

  0024eA7.3
  • 32000 Lecture
    Loss in the land of plenty: Understanding American Crisis, Decline, and Paths to Renewal (Stefanie Müller, Lora Anne Viola)
    Schedule: Mi 16:00-18:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-15)
    Location: Gr. Hörsaal (Raum B.001) (Arnimallee 22)
    

    Comments

    America is in the midst of turbulent changes to its social, political, economic, and cultural fabric. While certainly the result of long-ongoing processes, the current erosion of democratic norms and institutions, loss of economic stability, systemic racial injustices, political polarization, the stoking of culture wars, and the restructuring of global commitments and priorities appear to be taking on a qualitatively different character and a new magnitude, marking something like a critical juncture. The concept of “loss,” we propose, offers a framework for examining the multifaceted crises shaping and re-shaping the United States of America. Problems of loss include depletion, dispossession, destruction, disappearance, and collapse: of the environment, of social and political trust, of the boundaries of political discourse, of economic productivity, of equality, of power. Loss can be material, affective, or symbolic; it can be a mobilizing force for political action and it can be a motor of transformation. In this lecture series, guest experts from a range of disciplinary fields including literature, culture, sociology, political science, history, and law, discuss how the concept of loss helps us to understand social, economic, political, and cultural changes in the US.

• Colloquium North American Studies

  0024eA8.1
  • 32115 Colloquium
    MA Colloquium Culture/Literature (Martin Lüthe)
    Schedule: Do 16:00-18:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-16)
    Location: 319 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Comments

    The colloquium is designed to support MA students in the processes immediately before and during the writing of their respective theses. So, the overall purpose of the course is to provide you with a space to present potential theses (topics, outlines, arguments, ideas) in whichever state they currently come in. ----- Course requirements: We will discuss course requirements and the syllabus in our first session. In addition to regular attendance, you should be prepared to present a tentative trajectory of your project to get the participation credits.

  • 32412 Colloquium
    M.A. Colloquium History (Sönke Kunkel)
    Schedule: Mo 16:00-18:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-13)
    Location: 203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    
  • 32515 Colloquium
    MA Colloquium Politcal Science (Lora Anne Viola)
    Schedule: Di 14:00-16:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-14)
    Location: 203 Seminarraum (Lansstr. 7 / 9)
    

    Information for students

    Please note that the first session on October 14 will start at 3.30 pm.

    Comments

    The MA colloquium reviews key concepts in research design, including crafting a good research question, writing a compelling literature review, and selecting strategies for empirical analysis. The majority of the course is devoted to student workshopping of their thesis projects. During the colloquium students will present drafts of their own work and provide constructive feedback on the work of their peers. The course is designed for students who already have a thesis topic and are ready to develop a research plan. There is no hybrid option and students have to be present for the entire semester.

  • 32712 Colloquium
    MA-Colloquium Economics (Max Steinhardt)
    Schedule: Do 10:00-12:00 (Class starts on: 2025-10-16)
    Location: Raum 233
    

• Modules w/o courses in this semester

  4 Modules
  • History (Module B): North American History before 1865 0024eA1.2
  • Sociology (B) - Social Systems, Institutions and Organisations – Meaning and Function 0024eA5.2
  • Economics (Module A) - Historical Dimensions of North American Economic Policy 0024eA6.1
  • Economics (Module B) - US Domestic Economic Policy 0024eA6.2