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 The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

. It was distinguished by the

German Universities Excellence Initiative The Excellence Initiative of the German Council of Science and Humanities and the German Research Foundation (DFG) aims to promote cutting-edge research and to create outstanding conditions for young scholars at universities, to deepen cooperatio ...

in 2006, a nationwide competition carried out by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, together with the German Research Foundation.cf.

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...

br>
/ref> The GSNAS was officially opened by the former German minister for foreign affairs,

Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German retired politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice-chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Fi ...

, 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 Tyler Cowen (; born January 21, 1962) is an American economist, columnist and blogger. He is a professor at George Mason University, where he holds the Holbert L. Harris chair in the economics department. He hosts the economics blog ''Marginal R ...

(George Mason University), Jack P. Greene (Brown University),

David Harvey David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his P ...

(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 Hayden V. White (July 12, 1928 – March 5, 2018) was an American historian in the tradition of literary criticism, perhaps most famous for his work '' Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe'' (1973/2014). Career ...

(Stanford University).

Faculty

* Frank Adloff * Marianne Braig * Gerhard Braun * Irwin Collier * Winfried Fluck * Jürgen Gerhards * Michaela Hampf * Ulla Haselstein * Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich (Emeritus) * Heinz Ickstadt (Emeritus) * Hermann Kappelhoff * Knud Krakau (Emeritus) * Christoph Haehling v. Lanzenauer * Ursula Lehmkuhl * Margit Mayer * Winfried Menninghaus * Paul Nolte * Thomas Risse * Moritz Schularick * Sabine Schülting * Bärbel Tischleder * Lora Anne Viola * Harald Wenzel

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 University,

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, Stanford University, University of California at

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

, and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. It also cooperates with

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

. In addition, partnerships exist with the

Hertie School of Governance The Hertie School (until 2019 Hertie School of Governance) is a German private, independent graduate school for governance (public policy, international affairs and data science) located in Berlin's Friedrichstraße. Hertie School is according ...

(Berlin), the

American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and Germany ...

(Berlin), the Canadian Universities Centre (Berlin), the

German Council on Foreign Relations The German Council on Foreign Relations (german: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e. V. (DGAP)) is Germany's national foreign policy network and policy research institute. As an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit orga ...

(DGAP), the German Institute for Economic Research, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, the

Fritz Thyssen Friedrich "Fritz" Thyssen (9 November 1873 – 8 February 1951) was a German businessman, born into one of Germany's leading industrial families. He was an early supporter of the Nazi Party, but later broke with them. Biography Youth Thyssen w ...

Foundation and the Terra Foundation.

Admission

The annual deadline for applications is January 31. For further information on the application procedure, please see www.gsnas.fu-berlin.de

Notes

External links

Free University Berlin
Graduate School of North American Studies

{{authority control American studies American culture Historiography of the United States Cultural studies organizations Educational institutions established in 2006 2006 establishments in Germany