Welcome to the Obama Institute
for Transnational American Studies!
The Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz offers a dynamic and wide-ranging program in both research and teaching for all students interested in topics related to the Americas in a global context.
With a special focus on interculturality, transnationalism, and interdisciplinarity, our expertise lies in the fields of Early American Studies, Indigenous Studies, Life Writing/Life Sciences, Political & Intellectual History, Film & Media Studies, Religion and American Culture, and Materiality.
Contact
Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies
University of Mainz
Jakob-Welder-Weg 20
55128 Mainz
Germany
+49 6131 39-22357
+49 6131 39-29097
Email

July 4 Event 2025 – Lecture, Exhibition, Get-together, Food and Drinks 🗓
Fourth of July Event at the Obama Institute July 4, 2025, 2-6 p.m., P5 & Foyer P2-P5 (Philosophicum) 2-4 p.m. I Keynote Lecture I P5 Speculative Plantations: Reimagining Past, Present, and Futures through Gothic HorrorAmy King, PhDTuskeegee University, AL, USA...
read moreJuly 3 – Guest Lecture “‘You can go dig him out of his grave’: Anishinaabe Resistance to Racialization in the 1910s” 🗓
Jill Doerfler(University of Minnesota, Duluth) “You can go dig him out of his grave”: Anishinaabe Resistance to Racialization in the 1910s July 3, 2025, 18:15-19:45, P 15, Philosophicum Professor Jill Doerfler will detail the various ways in which White Earth...
read moreJuly 1 – Guest Lecture “From Geeks to Tech Titans: Apple and the Making of Silicon Chic” 🗓
Susan Ingram & Markus Reisenleitner(York University, Toronto, Canada) From Geeks to Tech Titans: Apple and the Making of Silicon Chic July 1, 2025, 09:40-11:10, Campus Germersheim, N.106 (Stufenhörsaal) AbstractEver since Annie Leibovitz’s photos of coders playing...
read moreJune 24 – Info Session: New American Studies M.A. Curriculum 🗓
Join us for an info session about the new American Studies M.A. curriculum! Starting in the winter semester of 2025/26, the American Studies M.A. program at JGU will launch a newly accredited curriculum. The updated program offers greater flexibility:You can now...
read moreJune 25 – Guest Lecture “Periodicals as Foundations of Black American Culture” 🗓
Scott Zukowski(Universität Graz) Periodicals as Foundations of Black American Culture June 25, 2025, 10:15-11:45, P 2, Philosophicum (Jakob-Welder-Weg 18) Since they first appeared in the early nineteenth century, periodicals published by and for Black Americans...
read moreJune 25 – Guest Lecture “Water Poetics in Aotearoa New Zealand” 🗓
Workshop Series with Lectures: Transpacific Literary Perspectives Water Poetics in Aotearoa New Zealand June 25, 2025 | 16:15-18:00 | P 102 (Philosophicum) Marine Berthiot (University of Lorraine) This lecture is part of the workshop series "Transpacific Literary...
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