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Events Winter 2023/2024

Oct. 27, 2023, noon (via Zoom): Talk by Jun.-Prof.' Dr.' Judith Rauscher: Introducing the Departent of English I and American Studies at the University of Cologne.
To register for the event, please contact american-studies[at]uni-koeln.de.

Oct. 31, 2023, 6 p.m. (Building 103/Room 1.111): Halloween Get-Together

Nov. 7, 2023, 6-7:30 p.m. (Hybrid Event: S 63 and via Zoom): Info Event: Graduate Studies in the US:
University of Rochester Exchange program; Language Assistantship at Union College, NY, and programs offered by the VDAC. For more information, click here.

Nov. 28, 2023, (Building 103/Room 0.012): NAS Open House Party
For more information, click here.

Nov. 30, 2023: Application Deadline Rochester Exchange Program
Two students each year are selected for a scholarships/TA-assistantships to complete an M.A. in Comparative Literature while teaching introductory German language courses and recitations for the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures. For more information, click here.

Nov. 30, 2023, 6 p.m. (Philosophikum/Room S93): Guest Lecture: "Stranger In My Own Country: Hip Hop, Disenfranchised Identities, and Performances of Resistance" Prof. Travis Harris (Norfolk State University)
To register for the event, please contact american-studies[at]uni-koeln.de.

Dec. 20, 2023, 6pm (via zoom): Guest Lecture: “Contexts for Literary Analysis: Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun.” Prof. Jeffrey Tucker (U of Rochester)
To register for the event, please contact american-studies[at]uni-koeln.de.

Past Conferences

For more information, see Research.

Summer 2021

Sept. 23-25, 2021, via Zoom: Conference "Speculative Fiction and Ethics," annual conference of the German Association for the Study of the Fantastic (GFF), organized by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher (U of Cologne), Mareike Spychala (U of Bamberg), Sara Tewelde-Negassi (U of Cologne), Lorena Bickert (U of Bamberg)

Special Events:

Sept. 23: Keynote Lecture by Prof. Dr. Ingo Cornils (U of Leeds): "Dark Mirrors: German Science Fiction in the 21 Century"
Sept. 24: Author Reading by Sofia Samatar: "Fairy Tales for Robots"
Sept. 25,: Panel-Diskussion mit deutschen SFF Autor*innen: "Queere Fantastik: Gegenwart und Zukunft"

Past Workshops

For more information, see Research.

Summer 2023

May 24, 2023, 12-2 p.m. (International House, Kringsweg 6): Poetry Workshop with American poet and essayist Rita Dove: "Can I Get a Witness?," organized by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher and Giulia Sperduti.

Winter 2022/2023

Oct. 13-14, 2023 (a.r.t.e.s/ Room Skyfall): Symposium: "Eco-temporalities and Geo-politics," organized by Verena Wurth, Friederike Ahrens, Sarah Mund, Lorenzo Gineprini, Felix Lussem (members of the Environmental Humanities Reading Group of a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School.
The workshop "Eco-temporalities and Geo-politics" takes place in cooperation with MESH and is co-funded by the Competence Area IV, University of Cologne, and the AG Eco Media. For more information, please contact ehrg-artes@uni-koeln.de.
March 21, 2023, 5-7 p.m. CET, via Zoom: Workshop "Energy and Popular Culture," organized with Verena Wurth and Dr. Victoria Herche in collaboration with the Network for Energy and Literature as part of the Workshop Series Local Practices - Transatlantic Conversations with the University of Oregon (USA)

Winter 2021/2022

Jan. 29 & Feb. 12, 2022, 4-8 p.m., via Zoom: Creative Writing Workshop with American Poet Laura Passin, organized in collaboration with Mareike Spychala (U of Bamberg)
Feb. 3, 2022, 7.30-9.15 p.m., via Zoom: “Teach-In 2: Re-reading bell hooks - Being with bell,” organized by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Nele Sawallisch (University of Trier).
Dec. 6, 2021, 5.30-7.30 p.m., via Zoom: Workshop "Ecomedia Writing: Local Practices, Transnational Conversations," organized by Verena Wurth (U of Cologne) and Dr. Stephen Rust (U of Oregon)

Winter 2020/2021

March 16-17, 2021 : Workshop "Critical Environmental Education and American Popular Culture," co-organized by Prof. Dr. Betsy Wheeler (University of Oregon) supported by the Bayerische Forschungsallianz (BayFor).
Feb. 4, 2021: Teach-In: "The 1776-Report and its Afterlives: Critical Reponses from American Studies," co-organized with Dr. Stefanie Schäfer (University of Vienna). Click here for a critical bibliography to the 1776-Report.

Past Guest Lectures

Summer 2023

May 23, 2023, 2-3.30 p.m. (Building 105/ Hall C): Guest lecture by Andrew Erickson (University of Potsdam): “Rehearsing the Past Through Afrofuturism,” organized as part of the lecture "American Speculative Fiction" taught by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher.
June 13, 2023, 4-5.30 p.m. (Building 103/ S82): Guest lecture by Dr. Stefan Benz (University of Bonn): “‘This that sound of a medicine drop’: Anishinaabe Hip Hop and the Quest for Cultural Sovereignty,” organized as part of the seminar "MS: Sound, Silence, and Noise in US Literature and Culture" taught by Dr. Mahshid Mayar.
June 27, 2023, 10 a.m. (Building 105/ Hall C): Guest lecture by Dr. Mareike Spychala (University of Bamberg): “Forever Wars – Wars Forever? Military Conflict in American Speculative Narratives,” organized as part of the lecture "American Speculative Fiction" taught by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher.

Winter 2022/2023

Oct. 25, 2022, 2 p.m., via Zoom: Guest Lecture by Prof. Julia Leyda (Norwegian University of Science and Technology): "Theorizing Black Anthroposcreens: Queen Sugar and Black Panther,” organized as part of the seminar "OS: Ecocriticism and Mobility Studies" taught by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher.
Nov. 9, 2022, 2:30 p.m., via Zoom: Guest Lecture by Prof. David Caplan (Dedman College): "Erasure as Creative Poetry Writing,” organized as part of the seminar “MS: Poetry of Erasure: Theory and Practice,” taught by Dr. Mahshid Mayar.
Nov. 29, 2022, 4 p.m., via Zoom: Guest Lecture by Prof. Catherine Larochelle (U of Montréal): "Canadian Childhoods in the 19th Century,” organized as part of the seminar “PSSP: American Childhoods Through Literature and Culture,” taught by Dr. Mahshid Mayar.
Dec. 21, 2022, 2 p.m. (Building 103/ Room S63): Guest lecture by Anne Korfmacher (U of Cologne): “TV Series and Fan Podcasts,” organized as part of the seminar "PSSP: New Golden Age TV: Crimes and Other Disasters," taught by Verena Wurth.
Jan. 9, 2023, 4 p.m., via Zoom: Guest lecture by Dr. Ina Batzke (U of Augsburg): “Gender, Race, Reproduction – and Vampires? Interrogating Reproductive Ideologies in Octavia E. Butler’s Fledgling,” organized as part of the seminar "HS: Gender, Race, and Reproduction in American Culture," taught by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher.

Summer 2022

May 24, 2022, 2 p.m. (Building 106/ Room S24): Guest Lecture by Dr. Linda Heß (U of Augsburg): “Queer Aging: The (In)Visibility of Older Queer Women in Suzette Mayr's The Widows,” organized as part of the seminar "Queer In/Visibility in American literature," taught by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher.
*CANCELLED* June 2, 2022, 7.30 p.m., via Zoom: “Invisible Man at 70: Keywords for Teaching Ellison’s Classic Today,” Doing/Teaching American Studies: Teach-In #3, organized by PD Dr. Stefanie Schäfer (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg/ U of Vienna).
June 20, 2022, 4 p.m., via Zoom: Guest Lecture by Prof. Dr. Colleen Glenney Boggs (Dartmouth College): “Emily Dickinson and War Poetry,” organized as part of the seminar “The Poetry of Emily Dickinson,” taught by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher.
July 5, 2022, 2 p.m. (Building 106/ Room S24): Guest lecture by Dr. Katrin Horn (U of Bayreuth): “From Pulp to Carol: In/Visible Histories and Queer Nostalgia,” organized as part of the seminar "Queer In/Visibility in American literature," taught by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher.

Winter 2021/2022

Jan. 22, 2022, 6-7 p.m., via Zoom: Poetry Reading with American Poet Laura Passin, organized in collaboration with Mareike Spychala (U of Bamberg).
Jan. 18, 2022, noon-1.30 p.m., via Zoom: Guest Lecture by Maxi Albrecht (JFKI, HU Berlin): “‘Rise Up’: Class Conflict and Neoliberal Speculative Survival in The Walking Dead,” organized as part of the seminar "Masses, Classes, and the State in American Culture," taught by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher.
*Cancelled* Nov. 16, 2021, 6 p.m., via Zoom: Guest Lecture by Prof. Dr. Ed Folsom (U of Iowa): "Walt Whitman's Democratic Vistas," organized as part of the seminar "Masses, Classes, and the State in American Culture," taught by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Judith Rauscher.
Nov. 5, 2021, 4 p.m., via Zoom: Info Event on the Department's Exchange Program with the University of Rochester, organized by Dr. Björn Sonnenberg-Schrank.

Summer 2021

July 7, 2021: Gastvortrag "Schwarzer Feminismus, Rassismus und Intersektionalität," von Dr. Natasha A. Kelly, organisiert von Verena Wurth mit Unterstützung des Amerikahaus NRW e.V. Köln.
July 6, 2021: Guest Lecture "Refugee-Terrorist-Revolutionary: American War as Antiwar Literature," by Dr. Kelly Polasek (Wayne State University, USA).
June 8, 2021: Auerbach Lecture "Heaven’s Allotment: Contradictions of Class, Race, and Gender in the Melodramas of Douglas Sirk and Todd Haynes," by Prof. Dr. Sandy Flitterman-Lewis (Rutgers University, USA).

Winter 2020/2021

Jan. 11, 2021: Guest Lecture "Self and Things: A Posthumanist Reading of Sylvia Plath's Poetry," by Dr. Mahshid Mayar (University of Bielefeld).
Dec. 21, 2020: Guest Lecture on Muriel Rukeyser and Poetry Reading by Dr. Laura Passin (Colorado, USA).
Dec. 14, 2020: Guest Lecture "The Garden Poetry of Anne Spencer" by Prof. Dr. Melissa Zeiger (Dartmouth College, USA).
Nov. 23, 2020: Guest Lecture "Emily Dickinson's Garden Ecology of Crisis" by Prof. Dr. Christine Gerhardt (University of Bamberg).

Find more information on our past guest lectures here.