American Studies at IEAS is one of the oldest and one of the few interdisciplinary American Studies departments in Germany. Since its founding, teaching and research on North America has had three equal pillars: literary studies, cultural studies, and history and society.
Among the key areas of research currently in focus are aesthetics, African-American Studies, American History, Animal Studies, Gender and Queer Studies, literary theory, intermediality, political theory, and popular culture. We teach the social, political, cultural, and literary history of North America with a view to contemporary developments and transcultural contexts, allowing students to explore the diversity of American experiences in all its literary and cultural forms.
In literary studies, we work on new developments in literary theory as well as the full literary history of North America from colonial times to the present. We foreground the methods of analysis and interpretation that open literary texts in both aesthetic and sociocontextual terms. We are particularly interested in the ways in which literature participates in contemporaneous media ecologies and addresses larger sociocultural and political processes.
In cultural studies, we work on film, music, comics, and video games, among other media. Media studies is a special focus for Frankfurt American Studies, with emphasis on both media theory and media philosophy, as well as the interconnections between politics and aesthetics in the North American public sphere.
In history, we work on the social and political development of North America. We employ methods from social, political and cultural history in analyzing historical sources, with a special emphasis on African American history. American Studies in Fankfurt is one of only three German American Studies programs with a focus on American history.
