Project Details
Projekt
GSC 55: Graduate School of North American Studies
Subject Area
Literary Studies
History
Social Sciences
Economics
History
Social Sciences
Economics
Term
from 2006 to 2019
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 24142714
In accordance with the founding academic mission of the Freie Universität, the Graduate School of North American Studies will investigate "The Challenges of Freedom" and the meaning of democratic values in the past and present. As the value most central to American culture and politics, freedom was a founding idea of the new nation, but, at the same time, also a contested issue from the nation's very beginning. What are the conditions most conducive to the pursuit of freedom? How can it be protected against anarchy on the one side and a tyranny of the majority on the other? How can difference be recognised, and what are the challenges posed by changing economic, social and political conditions? Such questions have gained new urgency in the post-9/11 world. In the United States, arguably the exemplary modern democratic society, these developments have resulted in deep cultural and social antagonisms. They have led to a wide range of conflicting interpretations of how the challenges of freedom can be met under the new conditions of globalisation.
The ascent of the United States to the status of sole remaining superpower has given this struggle over the meaning of liberty an intensity previously unknown. Taking these debates as our starting point, our research will consider current cultural and social tensions in the United States, focussing on the effects of the emerging conservative consensus in American culture and society, the ensuing rift between liberal and conservative forces, and the far-reaching international consequences of this political and cultural realignment. Research in the Graduate School of North American Studies aims at a comprehensive and coordinated interdisciplinary analysis of the social, economic and cultural changes facing North America at the beginning of the new century. We will focus on the historical roots and the social and cultural dynamics that have fostered new debates over the meaning of democracy and freedom. We will systematically study their manifestations and effects in the realms of domestic policies and international relations, economic policies and social relations in a society characterised by diversity. We will explore the media, the role of religion in American public life, and the changing functions of art and culture in contemporary American society.
These studies will be pursued in close collaboration of six disciplines, integrating the social sciences and the humanities into a coordinated research design. Since this research will be undertaken at an academic institution outside North America, we will also provide an external perspective that responds to recent calls in American Studies to overcome the traditional nationalist agenda of the field.
The ascent of the United States to the status of sole remaining superpower has given this struggle over the meaning of liberty an intensity previously unknown. Taking these debates as our starting point, our research will consider current cultural and social tensions in the United States, focussing on the effects of the emerging conservative consensus in American culture and society, the ensuing rift between liberal and conservative forces, and the far-reaching international consequences of this political and cultural realignment. Research in the Graduate School of North American Studies aims at a comprehensive and coordinated interdisciplinary analysis of the social, economic and cultural changes facing North America at the beginning of the new century. We will focus on the historical roots and the social and cultural dynamics that have fostered new debates over the meaning of democracy and freedom. We will systematically study their manifestations and effects in the realms of domestic policies and international relations, economic policies and social relations in a society characterised by diversity. We will explore the media, the role of religion in American public life, and the changing functions of art and culture in contemporary American society.
These studies will be pursued in close collaboration of six disciplines, integrating the social sciences and the humanities into a coordinated research design. Since this research will be undertaken at an academic institution outside North America, we will also provide an external perspective that responds to recent calls in American Studies to overcome the traditional nationalist agenda of the field.
DFG Programme
Graduate Schools
Applicant Institution
Freie Universität Berlin
Participating Researchers
Professorin Dr. Laura Bieger; Professorin Dr. Eva Boesenberg; Professorin Dr. Marianne Braig; Professorin Dr. Dorothee Brantz; Professor Dr. Michael Christopher Burda, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Irwin Collier; Professor Dr. Sebastian Conrad; Professor Dr. Henrik Enderlein (†); Dr. Andreas Etges; Professor Dr. Winfried Fluck; Professor Dr. Jürgen Gerhards; Professorin Dr. M. Michaela Hampf; Professorin Dr. Ulla Haselstein; Professor Dr. Heinz Ickstadt; Professor Dr. Hermann Kappelhoff; Professor Dr. Martin Klepper; Professorin Dr. Margit Mayer; Professor Dr. Winfried Menninghaus; Professor Dr. Hans-Peter Müller; Professor Dr. Paul Nolte; Professor Dr. Thomas Risse; Professor Dr. Moritz Schularick; Professorin Dr. Sabine Schülting; Professorin Dr. Lora Viola; Professor Dr. Harald Wenzel
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Frank Kelleter
