Graduate School of North American Studies
Encyclopedia
The Berlin Graduate School of North American Studies (GSNAS) is affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies
at the Free University Berlin. It was distinguished by the German Universities Excellence Initiative
in 2006, a nationwide competition carried out by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, together with the German Research Foundation. The GSNAS was officially opened by the former German minister for foreign affairs, Joschka Fischer
, in November 2007. Speakers of the Graduate School of North American Studies are Prof. Dr. Ulla Haselstein and Prof. Dr. Winfried Fluck.
Under the overall research concept “The Challenges of Freedom”, the Graduate School of North American Studies focuses on the social, economic, and cultural changes in the North American Societies at the beginning of the 21st century in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary way.
The extensive Visiting Professor-Program of the Graduate School allows its students to intensively discuss their ideas and projects with internationally renowned scholars like José Casanova (Georgetown University), Tyler Cowen (George Mason University), Jack P. Greene (Brown University), David Harvey
(City University of New York), Akira Iriye (Harvard), Jackson Lears
(Rutgers University), Donald E. Pease (Dartmouth College), Carla Peterson
(University of Maryland) und Hayden White
(Stanford University).
, Dartmouth College
, Harvard University
, Stanford University
, University of California at Berkeley
, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, and Yale University
. It also cooperates with University College Dublin
. In addition, partnerships exist with the Hertie School of Governance
(Berlin), the American Academy in Berlin
(Berlin), the Canadian Universities Centre (Berlin), the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the German Institute for Economic Research, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, the Fritz Thyssen
Foundation and the Terra Foundation.
John F. Kennedy-Institute for North American Studies
The John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies is a central institute at the Free University Berlin. The JFKI was founded in 1963 by Ernst Fraenkel, a political scientist and was named in the honor of John F. Kennedy after his assassination....
at the Free University Berlin. It was distinguished by the German Universities Excellence Initiative
German Universities Excellence Initiative
The Excellence Initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Research Foundation aims to promote cutting-edge research and to create outstanding conditions for young scientists at universities, to deepen cooperation between disciplines and institutions, to...
in 2006, a nationwide competition carried out by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, together with the German Research Foundation. The GSNAS was officially opened by the former German minister for foreign affairs, Joschka Fischer
Joschka Fischer
Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer is a German politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens. He served as Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005...
, in November 2007. Speakers of the Graduate School of North American Studies are Prof. Dr. Ulla Haselstein and Prof. Dr. Winfried Fluck.
Vision
By combining closely supervised doctoral education with excellent theoretical and methodological research training, the Graduate School of North American Studies enables its doctoral candidates to complete outstanding dissertations within a period of three years, and prepares them for a career in universities, research institutions, other science-related organizations, think tanks, scientific journalism etc.Under the overall research concept “The Challenges of Freedom”, the Graduate School of North American Studies focuses on the social, economic, and cultural changes in the North American Societies at the beginning of the 21st century in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary way.
Research areas
- American Exceptionalism in a Changing World
- Nation, Ethnicity, Diaspora, and Borderlands
- Conservative Revolution and New Social Movements
- Religion in Public Life
- Arts, Aesthetics, and American Culture
- The Struggle over the Public Sphere: Media and Cultural Narratives
- Neoliberalism as an Economic and Cultural Paradigm
- Globalization and the "American centuries"
Program
The program is aimed at doctoral candidates who intend to write a dissertation in one of the following disciplines: Cultural and Literary Studies, History, Political Science, Sociology, or Economics. In interdisciplinary seminars, students acquire comprehensive knowledge of the historical, social, cultural, and economic changes facing North America in the first quarter of the new century. In-depth theoretical and methodological training is provided in disciplinary seminars. As a third module, courses on professional skills (advanced academic writing, management, presentation, didactic skills) are obligatory. The language of instruction is English.The extensive Visiting Professor-Program of the Graduate School allows its students to intensively discuss their ideas and projects with internationally renowned scholars like José Casanova (Georgetown University), Tyler Cowen (George Mason University), Jack P. Greene (Brown University), David Harvey
David Harvey
David Harvey is the name of:*David Harvey *David Harvey , geographer and social theorist*David Harvey , American luthier...
(City University of New York), Akira Iriye (Harvard), Jackson Lears
Jackson Lears
T. J. Jackson Lears is an American cultural and intellectual historian with interests in comparative religious history, literature and the visual arts, folklore and folk beliefs. He is the Board of Governors Professor of History at Rutgers University and Editor in Chief of the Raritan Quarterly...
(Rutgers University), Donald E. Pease (Dartmouth College), Carla Peterson
Carla Peterson
Carla L. Peterson is a Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her expertise includes nineteenth-century African American women writers and speakers in the northern US, African American novelists in the post-Reconstruction era, and gender and culture in historical...
(University of Maryland) und Hayden White
Hayden White
Hayden White is a historian in the tradition of literary criticism, perhaps most famous for his work Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe...
(Stanford University).
Partner institutions
The Graduate School of North American Studies cooperates with the American Studies Programs of the following universities and colleges in North America: Brown UniversityBrown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, University of California at Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. It also cooperates with University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
. In addition, partnerships exist with the Hertie School of Governance
Hertie School of Governance
The Hertie School of Governance is a private university in Berlin, in the historic Quartier 110 of Friedrichstraße. The school is regarded as one of the leading policy institutes in Europe...
(Berlin), the American Academy in Berlin
American Academy in Berlin
The American Academy in Berlin is a research and cultural institution in Berlin whose stated mission is to foster a greater understanding and dialogue between the people of the United States and the people of Germany.The American Academy was founded in September 1994 by a group of prominent...
(Berlin), the Canadian Universities Centre (Berlin), the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the German Institute for Economic Research, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, the Fritz Thyssen
Fritz Thyssen
Friedrich "Fritz" Thyssen was a German businessman born into one of Germany's leading industrial families.-Youth:Thyssen was born in Mülheim in the Ruhr area...
Foundation and the Terra Foundation.