American Studies

Areas of particular interest include the overlap between class membership and weight in the States, confessionalism in American culture and literature, and the criticism of current American policy towards prisoners at home and abroad. (See publications for related essays.)

Related activities have included:

  • Lecture: "Size Zero and Obesity - Eating in the Land of Extremes" (25 January 2010) Carl-Schurz-Haus, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, Freiburg.
  • Lecture with Podcast: "Reading 9/11" (2 December 2009), part of the WS 2009-2010 Ringvorlesung "New Theories, Models and Methods in Literary and Cultural Studies" University of Gießen.
  • Lecture on "Torture, Guantánamo and the Bush and Post-Bush Era: Remembering Human Rights?" (18 February 2009) Deutsch-Amerikanisches-Institut, Tübingen.
  • Lecture on "Reinventing the Self and the American Presidential Race" (13 November 2008) Carl-Schurz-Haus, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, Freiburg.
  • Radio program about the lecture called "Männlichkeitswahn in der Präsidentschaft" in Uniwelle Tübingen.
  • Lecture on "'Indiana McCain' oder 'Obambi': Bestimmt Männlichkeitswahn den US-Präsidentschaftswahlkampf?" ("'Indiana McCain' or 'Obambi': Will the Obsession with Masculinity Determine the Presidency?") Deutsch-Amerikanisches-Institut Tübingen (7 October 2008) (Abstract).
  • Performance of Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo’s Guantánamo: 'Honor Bound to Defend Freedom' (July 2007) Freiburg University.
  • Lecture on "Men Who We Love To Hate: George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and the Use and Abuse of Masculinity" (Männer, die wir zu hassen lieben – George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney und ihre Darstellung von Männlichkeit) for the WS 2006 – 2007 Ringvorlesung über Männlichkeit (February 2007) Freiburg University
  • Participation in "Amerikanische Autoren und Europäische Leser: Lesung, Gespräch und Symposium zur Gegenwartsliteratur in den USA"; Talk on "The Novel after 9/11: Politics & Paranoia" and moderation of a discussion between Mark Costello, author of Big If, and Philipp Schweighauser and the audience (26 – 27 January 2007) Literaturhaus: Basel
  • Organization of the podium discussion "Machtmissbrauch im Gefängnis: Das Stanford Prison Experiment, Guantánamo Bay, Abu Ghraib" (The Abuse of Power in the Prison: The Stanford Prison Experiment, Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib) (June 2004) Freiburg University
  • Talk with students on: "Why Women Suffer More from Eating Disorders and Cutting" (May 2004) Kreisgymnasium Hochschwarzwald
  • Paper on "Divisions Within and Divisions Without: 9/11 and E. Lynn Harris's A Love of My Own" at the conference "Die US-amerikanische Gesellschaft im Spiegel ihrer zeitgenössischen Literatur" (December 2003) Evangelische Akademie Loccum
  • Paper on "America's Two Bodies Society" at the AAAS conference: US Icons and Iconicity (November 2003) Graz University
  • Lecture on "American Visions, Values, and Contradictions" (September 2003) Amerika Haus Köln
  • Performance with students of "Gender Benders: Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues and Gloria Steinem’s If Men Could Menstruate" (3 June 2003) Bonn University and (17 und 18 July 2003) Freiburg University
  • Moderation of the podium discussion "The Transatlantic Drift of the Transatlantic Rift – The German-American Relationship Revisited" for "Germany Today 2003: Bi- and Multilateral Patterns in an Enlarged European Union" (June 2003) Bonn University
  • Interview with Dom Radio on the introduction of fingerprinting for European visitors to the United States (May 2003)
  • Paper on "The In-your-faceness of Bodies in American Literature and Culture Now" at the conference: The Flesh Made Text (May 2003) Thessalonica University
  • Talk on "Discursive Elements of Anti-Americanism and Anti-Europeanism" for the symposium "Anti-Americanism in Wartime" (May 2003) Bonn University
  • Organization and introduction of the symposium "Anti-Americanism in Wartime" (May 2003) at Bonn University
  • Paper on "Inarticulate, Violent White American Men" at the AAAS conference: Anti-Americanisms (November 2002) Vienna University
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