Amerikanistik/American Studies?at Regensburg University explores the multiethnic and multilingual diversity of North American literatures and cultures in their regional, national, and global manifestations from precolonial times to the present.
As an interdisciplinary project,?American Studies?examines textual, performative, visual, material, and virtual representations and interpretations of ‘America.’American Studies?employs methodologies from literary and cultural studies, history, political science, cultural geography, visual culture studies, and linguistics.?
In the context of the internationalization of?American Studies, transnational, intercultural, and comparative approaches have gained particular significance in recent years.
The Regensburg?American Studies?program aims at a comprehensive understanding of North America, including both European and American perspectives.
Research and teaching in?American Studies?at Regensburg emphasize the following areas: American cultural memory; early American studies; American drama and theater; German-American relations; American visual culture studies; performance studies.
The Chair of American Studies is a member of the UR Department for Interdisciplinary and Multiscalar Area Studies (DIMAS).
Prof. Dr. Udo Hebel,?the Chair of American Studies, heads an excellent group of scholars who engage the wide diversity of American cultures from colonial times to the present. Special areas of research include American cultures of memory, American visual cultures, transnational American studies.
Prof. Dr. Volker Depkat’s research is focused on North American cultural history and European American relations from the early modern period to the present.
Degree programs in American Studies at the University of Regensburg are interdisciplinary in scope, transnational in approach, and international in outreach. Courses explore the multiethnic and multilingual diversity of North American histories, politics, cultures, and literatures from early colonial times to the immediate present.
FORSCHUNGSRATING?WISSENSCHAFTSRAT
In a nationwide research rating by the German Council of Sciences and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat) of December 2012, Regensburg's American Studies department achieved outstanding results and has established itself among the very best German research institutes in the field.
The?Regensburg European American Forum?(REAF) is the platform for scholarly exchange and research in American Studies.
Founded in 2008 as a joint venture of the departments of American Studies and International Politics and Transatlantic Relations, REAF supports cutting-edge American Studies research projects and innovative inter-disciplinary BA-, MA-, and PhD-programs in American Studies and European-American Studies.
REAF hosts visiting scholars from all inter-disciplinary areas of American Studies and organizes special lectures by nationally and internationally acclaimed speakers.