The OI will be hosting an informal first meet & greet for students and alumni of American Studies and cordially invites all students of the BA and MA programs to connect with each other and our alumni. This is your chance to talk about possible careers after finishing an American Studies program and ask any question you might have on how to make the most of your degree and ambitions.
Two alumnae, who are holding qualified positions, will speak about their jobs and their working experiences to students interested in finding out more about opportunities and perspectives for American Studies graduates.
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA)
“Attention Shoppers: American Retail Capitalism and the Rise of the Amazon Economy”
April 25, 2023, 4:15pm, Fakultätssaal (01-185, Philosophicum)
American Retail Capitalism traces the origins of the Amazon economy to the late 19C as large-scale retailers capitalized on the uniquely permissive regulatory landscape of the American political economy to outgrow the capacity of the government to regulate them. Thelen’s explanation focuses on features of the legal context, in particular a uniquely congenial competition regime, and on the impact of a fragmented regulatory landscape that invited regulatory arbitrage and outright rule-breaking. As they grew, America’s large retailers were able to assemble an ever- growing political support coalition that could be weaponized to head off the regulatory efforts they faced.
Kathleen Thelen is Ford Professor of Political Science at MIT. Her work focuses on the origins and evolution of political-economic institutions in the rich democracies. She is the author, among others, of Varieties of Liberalization and the New Politics of Social Solidarity (2014) and How Institutions Evolve (2004), and co-editor of The American Political Economy: Politics, Markets, and Power (with Jacob Hacker, Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, and Paul Pierson, 2022). Thelen has served as President of the American Political Science Association (APSA), Chair of the Council for European Studies, and as President of the Society for the Advancement of Socio- Economics. Thelen is General Editor of the Cambridge University Press Series in Comparative Politics, and a permanent external member of the Max Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung in Cologne, Germany.
(Anthropology/ Religious Studies, McGill University)
“Materialism and Consumption: Circulating Christian Love with American Things”
March 21, 2023, 3.00-4.30pm, 02.102 (Philo II, Jakob-Welder-Weg 20)
Please join us for a short presentation and discussion with Prof. Hillary Kaell (Anthropology/Religious Studies, McGill University) of the chapter “Materialism and Consumption: Circulating Christian Love with American Things” from her book Christian Globalism at Home: Child Sponsorship in the United States (Princeton University Press, 2020).
Materialism and Consumption: Circulating Christian Love with American Things
For two hundred years, Christians have run charitable projects to “sponsor” children abroad. Through these plans, individuals in the Global North—notably in the United States–send money to support an individual child in need. The popularity of these plans rested, in part, on how they offered donors what amounted to consumer choice: one could choose what type of child to support. However, by the 1970s Christian donors began to worry about their own “materialism” and its effects on child sponsorship. Based on my recent book Christian Globalism at Home (Princeton University Press, 2020), this presentation will explore the tight link between sponsorship and early forms of capitalism, along with the “anti-materialist” tactics that sponsors use to soften the ambivalence inherent in this form of global charitable giving.
February 14, 2023: Screening of Yehuda Sharim’s film Letters2Maybe (2021)
February 15, 2023: Workshop with Yehuda Sharim (“A Map of Light: Creativity & Inspiration during Dark Times”)
On behalf of The Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies, Prof. Dr. Mita Banerjee cordially invites everyone to two events with filmmaker Professor Yehuda Sharim (UC Merced, California):
Yehuda Sharim is a writer, photographer, filmmaker, and poet. As the son of Persian immigrants to Israel, his work focuses on the relationship between the quotidian and poetic. Sharim’s films have appeared in film festivals, artistic venues, and universities across the world. Oscillating between fiction and documentary filmmaking, his work offers an intimate portrayal of those who refuse to surrender amidst daily devastation and culminating strife, offering a vision for equality and a renewed solidarity in a divisive world. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Program of Global Art Studies, University of California, Merced.
Letters2Maybe is an intimate portrayal of those who refuse to surrender amidst daily devastation and culminating strife, offering a vision for equality and a renewed sense of solidarity in a divisive country. Letters2Maybe offers a fluid and eclectic tapestry of physical and emotional movement of different immigrant communities as they encounter impossible challenges in a country of compounded catastrophes. By embracing a kaleidoscopic style of storytelling to highlight the poetics and precarity that follow the craving for freedom, Letters2Maybe is an unfinished letter, articulating the ever-growing yet unflinching demand for justice and tenderness in our world today. (2021; 92 min.)
A Map of Light: Creativity & Inspiration during Dark Times (workshop) – The camera is obsessed with light. Darkness is never considered aesthetically pleasing. We are told that we need to see: we need to see as a way to learn, and make sense. And light is the most critical ingredient in shaping that illusion of “seeing” as “being.” We are like our cameras, chasing lights, forgetting that darkness and the uncertainty that accompanies darkness are inseparable from any source of light. In this talk, we will interrogate what it means to follow a creative vision (start a film, book, and more), exploring this desire to create, shape, and enter a space of experimentation. We will examine different aspects of community-cinema and take into consideration the various personal/collective challenges and doubts that keep us away from the work that we know we are meant to do. This talk is about that thirst to film and create new visions during calamitous times.
January 26, 2023
Thu, 14:00-17:00
Landesmuseum Mainz (Forum)
Große Bleiche 49-51, 55116 Mainz
Exhibition
“Intersecting Lives: Life Writing and the U.S. Military in Germany and Beyond”
Die in Deutschland stationierten U.S.-amerikanischen Truppen sind fester Bestandteil der deutschen Nachkriegszeit. Aber wie übersetzt sich politische Realität in das Leben und die Biographie von einzelnen?
Unter dem Stichwort „Intersecting Lives“ betrachtet diese Ausstellung, wie sich deutsche und amerikanische Leben kreuzen. Wie nahm und nimmt die deutsche Bevölkerung das amerikanische Militär wahr? Und wie dachten und denken Angehörige des U.S.-Militärs über ihr Leben in Deutschland?
Die Veranstaltung ist kostenfrei und öffentlich. Everyone welcome!
14:00 Eröffnung | Grußworte | Einführung Prof. Dr. Mita Banerjee (Kursleiterin und Organisatorin der Ausstellung) Prof. Dr. Alfred Hornung (Sprecher des Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies) Dr. Jörg Zorbach (Ministerium des Innern und für Sport) Jonathan Jones (Veteran & Former Firefighter)
anschließend Ausstellung Projektarbeiten | Sektempfang
Reasons Beyond Patriotism: Why Young People Join the Military
Mental Health in the U.S. Military: An Active Duty Major’s Perspective
Belonging: Growing up in Military Culture
An Intercultural Experience: Life on Different Military Bases Abroad
PTSD and the U.S. Military
Die hier ausgestellten studentischen Beiträge beruhen auf einem Projektseminar mit dem Titel „Intersecting Lives: Life Writing and the U.S. Military in Germany and Beyond“, das im WiSe 2022/23 an der Universität Mainz in der Amerikanistik unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Mita Banerjee (mita.banerjee@uni-mainz.de) stattfand.
You can download the poster for the exhibition here.
Für Bachelor-Vollzeitstudierende mit Migrationshintergrund aller Studiengänge an deutschen Universitäten und Fachhochschulen
Fulbright Sommerstudienprogramm in den USA: „Diversity Initiative” an der Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas vom 17. August bis 16. September 2023
Zusammen mit amerikanischen Studierenden besuchen die Teilnehmenden Seminare und Workshops zu Geschichte, Politik, Gesellschaft und Bildungssystem der USA. Im Dialog mit US-Kommiliton:innen gewinnen sie wichtige Einblicke in das amerikanische Studium und Campusleben. Ausflüge und Begegnungen im multikulturellen San Antonio und Umgebung komplementieren das akademische Programm.
Ausführliche Informationen zum Stipendienprogramm finden Sie auf unserer Webseite.
Für die Ausschreibung auf LinkedIn, Facebook und Instagram verwenden wir das Hashtag #FulbrightGermany
