American Studies
Seminar in English Studies
The Department of North American Literature and Cultural Studies offers a wide range of innovative analytical approaches to all genres, media, and periods of North American culture—understood as interculturally and transnationally interconnected—since the 16th century. Particular emphasis is placed on popular narrative forms from the mid-19th century onward and on current political developments and discourses.
Key research areas—which are also covered in courses—include African American literature and culture, comics and graphic narratives, crime, depictions of the Holocaust, children’s and young adult literature, music, and audiovisual media (TV, film, video games), as well as the topics of gender, race, and class. The latest theoretical insights and approaches to cultural studies analysis are at the heart of research and teaching.
Research Profile
The Chair of North American Literature and Cultural Studies addresses a broad spectrum of topics. The focus is on linking text- and media-specific approaches with historical and cultural contextualization, based on the premise that narratives and artifacts possess an active power to shape reality. The analysis focuses primarily on phenomena of popular serial storytelling as well as intermedial forms of representation and those that transcend media boundaries.
In addition to early transnational bestseller literature (19th-centurycity mystery novels ) and African American forms of expression (jazz & blues, novels, autobiographies, picture books, comics), the chair examines graphic literature (superhero comics, newspaper comics, graphic novels) as well as political discourses and controversies of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Research Focus Areas
- Popular Cultures
- Popular Seriality
- Comics and Graphic Literature
- African American Literature and Culture
- Crime Since the 19th Century
- English-Language Children’s and Young Adult Literature
