Englisches Seminar

Semester Courses

The Department of American Studies offers a wide range of courses. Also, a number of courses offered by other departments are open to American Studies students. For comprehensive information on all study courses, please see the course catalogue on alma.

Winter Semester 2025/2026

Basic Module Courses

S: Introduction to Literary StudiesDr. Isabell Klaiber
S: Introduction to Literary StudiesPD Dr. Carsten Schinko
S: Introduction to Cultural Studies (nur IAS)Marina Pingler

These courses are accompanied by a tutorial.

Advanced Module Courses

S: Modernist American Poetry and Culture (Post-Civil War)Prof. Dr. Astrid Franke
S: The Beatles and America (Post-Civil War)Dr. Thomas Gijswijt
S: Guns in America: Culture, Politics, Violence (Pre- and Post-Civil War)Dr. Thomas Gijswijt
S: "Of Monsters and Men?": The Female Gothic from the 19th to the 21st Century (Pre- and Post-Civil War)Dr. Davina Höll
S: Machine or Woman? AI, Gender and Reimagining Femininity on Screen (Post-Civil War) Denise Meier
S: Beyond the Plantations: 19th Century African American Literature (Pre-Civil War)Dr. Anthony Obute
S: The Green Transition and Environmental Justice (Post-Civil War)Dr. Anthony Obute
S: The Ecogothic: Haunted Landscapes in Fiction and Film (Pre- and Post-Civil War) Marina Pingler
S: Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Investigating an American Motif (Pre- and Post-Civil War) Dr. Johanna Roering
S: Representations of War in Early America (Pre-Civil War)Dr. Johanna Roering
S: 20th C American Short Story (Post-Civil War)Dr. Carsten Schinko

Lectures

L: Issues in American Literary and Cultural History II: From the Revolution to the Civil WarProf. Dr. Michael Butter
L: Introduction to Cultural StudiesProf. Dr. Michael Butter
L: Sonic Fictions: Literature & (Popular) MusicDr. Carsten Schinko

Focus and Master Module Courses

S: PocahontasProf. Dr. Michael Butter
S: Neither Black nor White yet Both: Interracial LiteratureProf. Dr. Astrid Franke
S: Literature and Mental HealthProf. Dr. Astrid Franke
S: Concepts, Methods, Theories (MA AMS) Prof. Dr. Astrid Franke
S: Dark Academia: The Politics and Poetics of Haunted Halls, Forbidden Knowledge and Evil Powers Dr. Davina Höll
S: Reclaiming the Narrative: Contemporary Indigenous Storytelling in North AmericaDr. Isabell Klaiber
S: "What I’m saying might be profane, but it’s also profound": American Stand-Up Comedy as a Site of Public NegotiationDr. Risto Lenz
S: American Minstrelsy and its LegaciesDr. Johanna Roering
S: Technolibertarianism in Contemporary American Politics Dr. Johanna Roering
S: Hucksters, Fraudsters, and Impostors: The Confidence Artist in American Culture PD Dr. Carsten Schinko
S: "Ivory Towers to Let" - Art and Politics in the 1930s Prof. Dr. Horst Tonn

Colloquia

KO: Dealing with Conspiracy Theories in the ClassroomProf. Dr. Michael Butter

Elective Curriculum

S: International Cultural Policy and PoliticsDr. Thomas Gijswijt
S: SongwritingDr. Thomas Gijswijt
S: U.S. Foreign Policy II: Key Texts and TheoriesDr. Thomas Gijswijt

External Offer for Interdisciplinary/Elective Curriculum

If registration doesn't work through Alma, please contact the instructor directly to request admission. Please provide your student ID number.

S: Native American TraditionsProf. Dr. Isabel Laack 
S: How cultures evolveDr. Claudio Tennie 
S: Masculinity Studies: A Cross-Cultural PerspectivePh.D. Rahat Shah
S: Theory and method in the study of religion and cultureDr. Katharina Wilkens
S: Digital ReligionJun.-Prof. Dr. Carola Lorea
L: Analyzing Armed Conflicts Prof. Dr. Andreas Hasenclever
S: Art - Power - WarPD Dr. Gabriele Schlag
S: Authoritarianism and AutocratizationRonja Herrschner
S: Migration and HealthPh.D. Gomathy Kamala Naganathan
S: Borders, Bodies and Power: A Comparative Analysis of Biopolitics and Infrastructural Power in EU-US Migration ManagementChiara Mattioli
S: Conspiracy theories, social inequalities and identitiesDr. Volker Lang
S: Environmental Justice from the perspective of Social WorkElisa Thevenot
S: Ethics in International RelationsDr. Christopher Gohl
S: Her Own Voice: Gender and Religion in Women’s AutobiographiesSifa Demir
S: The Bill of Rights Lucas Ogden
L: The Constitution and the Government of the United StatesLucas Ogden
S: The Politics of Forced MigrationN.N.
The Politics of MigrationDr. Marco Krüger
S: US Foreign Policy since 1945Ph.D. Kina Kunz
S: Visual Global PoliticsPD Dr. phil. Gabriele Schlag

Summer Semester 2025

Basic Module Courses

S: Introduction to Literary StudiesPD Dr. Carsten Schinko
S: Introduction to Literary StudiesMarina Pingler
S: Introduction to Cultural Studies (nur IAS)Prof. Dr. Michael Butter

These courses are accompanied by a tutorial. 

Advanced Module Courses

S: The Literature of Mobility (Post-Civil War) Prof. Dr. Astrid Franke
S: The Cultural Cold War (Post-Civil War) Dr. Thomas Gijswijt
S: Guns in America: Culture, Politics, Violence (Pre- and Post-Civil War)Dr. Thomas Gijswijt
S: Beyond the Mask: African-American Theater (Post-Civil War)Dr. Isabell Klaiber
S: 19th-Century Politics in and through Literary Writing (Pre- and Post-Civil War)Dr. Isabell Klaiber
S: The Literatures of Abolitionism (Pre- and Post-Civil War) Dr. Johanna Roering
S: Remembering the American Civil War (Pre- and Post-Civil War)Dr. Johanna Roering
S: Modernist Poetry (Post-Civil War) PD Dr. Carsten Schinko

Lectures

L: American Politics and PoetryProf. Dr. Astrid Franke
L: Issues in American Literary & Cultural History I: From Colonialism to the RevolutionProf. Dr. Michael Butter

Focus Module Courses

S: Beyond Algorithms: (Re)Imagining AI in American Literature and CultureMarina Pingler

 

Focus and Master Module Courses

S: Literature of the Early Republic Prof. Dr. Michael Butter
S: Sex, Sandals, and Society: Rome in Hollywood (+ film screening)Prof. Dr. Michael Butter
S: Sports and RaceProf. Dr. Astrid Franke
S: Segregating Music in America: From 'Race' Records to TechnoDr. Risto Lenz
S: Representing War in American LiteratureDr. Johanna Roering
S: The White Savior in American Film and LiteratureDr. Johanna Roering
S: Sports Film (+ film screening)PD Dr. Carsten Schinko
S: Democracy of Laughter: From the Tall Tale to Meme CulturePD Dr. Carsten Schinko
S: America Around 1900: Ellis Island, the Bowery and Beyond Prof. Dr. Tonn-Meller
S: Graphic Medicine: The Intersection of Health and Comics Across the AtlanticDr. Davina Höll

 

Elective Curriculum

S: U.S. Foreign Policy I Dr. Thomas Gijswijt
S: U.S. Foreign Policy III: The United States and Russia since the End of the Cold WarDr. Thomas Gijswijt

 

External Offer for Interdisciplinary/Elective Curriculum

S: A Social History of AI

Prof. Ph.D. Luke Fernandez

PD Dr. phil. Daniel Menning

S: Gendering Death: Gender, Death, and PowerReyhan Özsahin
S: Knowledge in Africa - Perspectives from East and West

Jun.-Prof. Dr. phil. Nadja Klopprogge

Jun.-Prof. Dr. phil. Emily Graf

 

S: Religion and mediaJun.-Prof. Dr. Carola Lorea
S: Sonic EthnographyJun.-Prof. Dr. Carola Lorea
S: Precarity: Animals and Death in Modern Visual CultureDr. Corey Ratch
S: Sociology of Policing and Human Rights Dr. Deep Chand

 

Dates & Deadlines

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