News and Events
QUEER JOURNEYS IN NORTH AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE
This two-day conference will consider the diverse ways in which journeys undertaken by queer people have been represented in North American literature and culture, as well as how queer journeys interact with and impact social structures, transnational relations, and cultural forms. LGBTQ+ people in North America and beyond continue to experience forms of mobility characterized by complex and often fraught economic, cultural, and affective dynamics. Queer journeys may contain forms of movement that are voluntary or involuntary, joyful or exploitative, expansive or inhibiting, normative or deviant. This conference will consider such queer mobilities through an interdisciplinary lens that includes literary and cultural studies, media studies, gender and queer studies, history, and the social sciences. Call for papers: deadline May 16, 2025
More information available on the conference website: QUEER JOURNEYS IN NORTH AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE
14th and 15th November 2025| Claudiana, University of Innsbruck| Benjamin Robbins, Devon Anderson and Matthias Klestil
Subjunctive Histories: Narrative Refusals as Queer Narrative Forms
This talk is part of Dorothee Birke’s VU course, “Current Research Perspectives, Theories, and Methods”.
22nd January 2025|5:15pm to 6:45pm| 40735 SR, GEIWI-Turm, Innrain 52d| Devon Anderson
Ambivalenz und Attraktion: Feuer, Wasser, Erde, Luft als Zentrum filmischer Entfaltung
The guest lecture takes place as part of the course “Ecological Discourses in Eastern European Cinema.”
More information can be found here. Der Gastvortrag findet im Rahmen von Mag. Anna Ladinig‘s Lehrveranstaltung “Ecological Discourses in Eastern European Cinema” statt.
December 10th, 2024 | 12:00 pm | GEIWI-Turm, Innrain 52d, Room 40406 | Dr. phil. Habil. Felix Lenz
Election Event Series: "Making Sense of the US-American Presidency – Four Years Later"
The Department of American Studies invites students, scholars, and guests to join our election event series and continue to gain a more thorough understanding of the American presidency and the 2024 presidential elections. Five (online) guest speakers from Appalachian State University, California State University, Chico, Emerson College, Emory University, and the University of Notre Dame will provide us with expert opinions and analyses, while the film screenings at the Leokino will allow us to discuss US-American politics and its cinematic depictions. During our election night viewing party on Nov. 5, 2024, we will follow the election in real time and test our presidential knowledge in a topical Pub Quiz co-organized by our student representatives.
For more information (dates, times and locations), please visit the website. | All events are open to the public.
Guest Lecture: American History and the Secret Life of Medicinal Plants: Archives, Ethnobotany, and Environmental Justice
Professor Claudia J Ford’s lecture will discuss ethnobotany, the study of plants in relation to their medical and cultural uses, and how exploring stories found in ethnobotanical archives can help us understand complex interactions across racial and cultural borders in American history. More information can be found here: Guest Lecture Claudia J. Ford
December 3, 2024 | 15:30 pm - 17:00 pm | GEIWI-Turm, Innrain 52d, HS 7 | Claudia J Ford, PhD
The Picturesque and the Sublime in Lee Friedlander’s Landscape Photography
The lecture will discuss the landscape photographs taken by the American photographer Lee Friedlander since the 1970s, in particular those showing the western parts of the United States.
In cooperation with ZIAS
5th December 2024|3:30pm to 5:00pm| HS2, EG, GEIWI-Turm, Innrain 52d| PD Dr. Lars Nowak
Dialogführung KRAMPUS
Gemeinsam mit dem künstlerischen Leiter von INN SITU, Hans-Joachim Gögl, wird Michael Fuchs durch die Ausstellung KRAMPUS, in der Arbeiten des Hongkonger Künstlers Kurt Tong präsentiert werden, führen. In der Führung wird u.a. die Verhandlung der Krampusfigur in US-amerikanischen Horrorfilmen thematisiert werden. Anmeldung:
20. November 2024 | 18–19 Uhr | BTV Stadtforum (Stadtforum 1, 6020 Innsbruck) | Mag. Dr. Michael Fuchs
“There would seem to be nothing there to study”: Audible Pasts and Literary Soundscapes
Philipp Leonhardt’s lecture is part of the interdisciplinary lecture series “” (Institut für Vergleichende Literaturwissenschaft).
November 19, 2024 | 10:15 am - 11:45 am | GEIWI-Turm, Innrain 52d, HS 4 | Philipp Leonhardt, MA
Conference: Marco Polo and the European Image of Asia
Marco Polo’s narrative account of Asia in his Il Milione is one of the first and major sources to shape the European image of Asia for centuries to come. The Polo universe is vast, encompassing numerous vernacular and Latin versions of the account, which differ through their emphasis of specific aspects. This conference, commemorating the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s death in 2024, explores some of the different descriptions, projections, and phantasies of Asia in the light of Marco Polo’s Il Milione and beyond.
November 14-16, 2024 | Palais Claudiana | Univ.-Prof. Dr. Mario Klarer
Symposium „Transatlantic Mountain Cinema“
The FWF research project “Delocating Mountains: Cinematic Landscapes and the Alpine Model” at the Department of American Studies at the University of Innsbruck hosts a final symposium on November 4 and 5, 2024. Speakers from the US, Germany, and Austria will explore transatlantic exchanges in mountain film culture. This symposium is part of a focus week on cultural mountain studies at the University of Innsbruck and cooperates with the symposium “Heilige Berge – Berge und das Heilige” organized by Thomas Steppan (Department of Art History) and Monika Fink-Naumann (Department of Music).
November 4th and 5th, 2024 | Ágnes-Heller-Haus, Room 04K100 u. Haus der Musik | Univ.-Prof. Christian Quendler
Trump vs. Democracy: From Reality Show to Imperial Presidency
aus der Serie:
Eine Vortragsreihe zu den US-Wahlen 2024, organisiert vom Institut für Politikwissenschaft in Kooperation mit dem Institut für Zeitgeschichte und mit Unterstützung durch EPoS (Research Area Economy, Politics & Society).
10. Oktober 2024 18:30 Uhr bis 20:00 Uhr| HS1, EG - SOWI-Gebäude | Mag. Mag. Dr. Cornelia Klecker
Application Lectures: Postdoctoral Associate ("Laufbahnstelle - QV")
You are cordially invited to attend the public lectures by the candidates for the position as Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of American Studies.
September 26 and 27, 2024 | "Kleiner Hörsaal" (Ágnes-Heller-Haus, 1. UG)
Call for Applications - Study Abroad at Utah State University (USU)
Want to study abroad? Apply to study at Utah State University during the spring/summer semester 2025. Click on the links for detailed information about the application process and what it means to be an Aggie.
Promotional Flyer | Application Period: May 15, 2024- July 15, 2024
Book Launch: Los Angeles and American Literature
Dr. Michael Docherty and Dr. Ben Robbins launch new books on twentieth-century American literature, both of which place Los Angeles at the heart of American cultural histories. In conversation with Sandra Tausel, the authors will discuss the intersecting themes of their books and LA’s unique position in global culture, followed by a Q&A.
June 26, 2024| Die Bäckerei - Kulturbackstube or via Zoom | 19:00-21:00 | Free entry
Workshop: Queer Narratives of Exile, Travel, and Mobility
This one-day workshop, which is organized by Benjamin Robbins (Department of American Studies, project leader of “Networked Narratives”), will focus on the representation of LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups in literary and filmic works concerned with exile, migration, and transnational movement. Presentations will be given by Heather K. Love (University of Pennsylvania), Ralph Poole (University of Salzburg), Benjamin Robbins (University of Innsbruck), Antonio Salmeri (University of Innsbruck), and Robyn Warhol (Ohio State University).
June 06, 2024| Claudiana | 9:15- 17:00 | registration needed: amerikastudien@uibk.ac.at| free admission
„Mexiko und die Erdölindustrie im US-amerikanischen Genrefilm: Ausbeutung – kulturelle Aneignung – prähistorische Monster“
Dr. Michael Fuchs (Innsbruck) wird zum Thema Mexiko und die Erdölindustrie im US-amerikanischen Genrefilm: Ausbeutung – kulturelle Aneignung – prähistorische Monster sprechen. Nach dem Vortrag können sehr gerne auch Fragen gestellt werden. Wir freuen uns auf Ihr Kommen!
Im Rahmen der ZIAS-Veranstaltungsreihe im Sommersemester 2024: Link zur Veranstaltungserie
June 06, 2024 | 19:15 Uhr | Hörsaal 6 | Dr. Michael Fuchs
StV Event for First Semester Students
Join the StV to start off your semester equipped with all the necessary information about your studies. Representatives of the Department of American Studies and the Department of English will also be there to answer your questions.
Mar. 6, 2024| HS 5 | 5:30 pm
Gender Research Day 2024
The Department of English and the Department of American Studies are organizing their first Gender Research Day and are inviting you to learn about and discuss various approaches to gender in cultural and literary studies, as well as linguistics.
Jan. 12, 2024| Ágnes-Heller-Haus, Room 14 | 9:30- 14:30 | No registration needed
Forum Museum - Museum im Film: The Square (2017)
Film screening of The Square (2017) by Ruben Östlund with an introduction by Christian Quendler at the Forum Museum in the Ferdinandeuum
Dec. 12, 2023| Ferdinandeum | 18:00 | No registration needed, entry free
Literary Quartet
Join the Department of English for their biannual Literary Quartet. This time members of the Department of English and the Department of American Studies will discuss Sarah Bernstein's The Study of Obedience, T.C. Boyle's Blue Sky, Richard Flanagan's The Living Sea of Walking Dreams, and Jesmyn Ward's Sing Unburied Sing.
Dec. 6, 2023 | Studia Buchhandlung (Innrain 52 f) | 7 pm
Call for Applications - Study Abroad at Utah State University WiSe 2024/25
Want to study abroad? Apply to study at Utah State University during the fall/winter semester 2024/25. Click on the links for detailed information about the application process and what it means to be an Aggie.
Application Period: Nov. 15, 2023 to Dec. 1, 2023
"The Alps and the Horrors of the Anthropocene" by Michael Fuchs
This talk will situate two Austrian horror movies within the context of Anthropocene horrors: Blood Glacier (2013) and Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies (2015). Both films struggle with global warming’s effects on alpine regions, but in different ways. Lederhosen Zombies’ titular monsters emerge in response to trying to counter global warming’s expected effects on winter tourism. In the process, the always-hungry undead come to embody capitalism’s insatiable hunger, which ultimately destroys that which nourishes it. Blood Glacier, on the other hand, revolves around the idea that global warming will set free microorganisms that have lain dormant in permafrost for hundreds of thousands of years. While much of the film’s runtime focuses on how humans fight the monstrous hybrids that the prehistoric microorganisms create, a humanoid hybrid emerges as humankind’s hope for future existence (in altered form) on a human-altered planet.
November 9, 2023 | 15:00-16:30 pm| FSP-Tag: Imaginarien des Alpinen | Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen (Weiherburggasse 13, Innsbruck)
"Haunted Media: Remediating Videogames in Horror Movies" by Michael Fuchs
From Friedrich Kittler to John Durham Peters and from Roland Barthes to Siegbert Solomon Prawer, scholars have frequently associated media with ghosts. Horror, Adam Daniel has remarked, “has historically infected both emerging forms and the technologies which deliver them, parasitically preying upon the fears that emerge from these developments.” Accordingly, it is not surprising that horror has engaged with digital media and technologies in various ways. This talk will focus on the depiction of videogames in horror movies such as Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare(1991), Stay Alive (2006), Livescream (2018), and Choose or Die (2022). All of these films grapple with various fears and anxieties connected to digital technologies (and videogames, in particular), but some of them also acknowledge the values of digital technologies for community-building and marginalized communities.
October 10, 2023 |12:00–1:30pm | HS5 | Lecture Series “Comparative Perspectives on New Media: Game Studies”
Welcome Event for First-Year BA Students in English and American Studies and the Teacher Training Program Subject English
The Departments of English and American Studies invite all first-year BA students to their joint welcome event. New students will have a chance to learn more about both departments, meet their instructors, and ask questions. No registration required.
October 10, 2023 |6 pm| HS 5 3/4
Presentation: Innsbruck University Movie Database (IUMD)
The IUMD is a meta-search engine that enables a film search in all media collections of the Faculty of Language, Literature and Culture and the University Library Innsbruck (ULB) and covers almost the entire stock of films that can be checked out by teachers and students at the University of Innsbruck. IUMD searches the holdings of the following archives: Sonja Bahn Video Archive of the Department of American Studies, Media Collection of the Department of English Studies, Media Archive of the Department of Slavic Studies, ULB Innsbruck (including the film holdings of the Department of Romance Studies, the Innsbruck Newspaper Archive and the Faculty of Theology).
During the presentation, Christian Quendler (Department of American Studies) and Eva Binder (Department of Slavic Studies) will offer a brief insight into the history of these media archives and pay tribute to important pioneers of university AV collections. Afterwards, Raphael Unterweger, the developer of the metasearch engine, will introduce the IUMD.
May 25, 2023| HS 6 | 5:15 pm
Project Presentation: "Queer Exile Literature and the Island of Capri" by Ben Robbins
Ben Robbins (Department of American Studies) will offer an introduction to his research project on “Networked Narratives: Queer Exile Literature 1900-1969,” which is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The event is organized by the university research centre Cultures in Contact (KiK). Robbins will particularly focus on Anglophone writers who relocated to Capri in the early decades of the twentieth century, a period when many queer men and women left Northern Europe and the United States due to the criminalization of homosexuality. The lecture will be followed by a discussion.
May 24, 2023| 3:15-4:45 pm | Room 40904, Geiwi-Turm (9th floor) and online
Screeing of Brainwashed: Sex - Camera - Power and Audience Discussion
A special preview screening of Nina Menkes’ documentary Brainwashed (2022) will take place at Leokino in Innsbruck. Menkes’ documentary uses clips and scenes from around 200 films to illustrate how women have been objectified by the male gaze across cinema history from Vertigo to Lost in Translation. It features interviews with prominent women filmmakers, actors, and film theorists. The screening will be followed by an audience discussion with Katherine Dahlquist-Bauer (Comparative Literature) and Ben Robbins (Department of American Studies, University of Innsbruck).
May 24, 2023 |8 pm| Leokino
Literary Quartet
This semester's Literary Quartet organized by the Department of English will take place on May 24. Anja Hartl (Dept. of English), Christoph Singer (Dept. of English), Ulla Ratheiser (Dept. of English), and Sandra Tausel (Dept. of American Studies) will discuss four novels: Natasha Brown, Assembly; Jonathan Coe, Bourneville; Gabriela Garcia, Of Women and Salt; and Ingrid Persaud, Love After Love
May 24, 2023| Studiabuchhandlung (Innrain 52) | 7 pm | Free admission
Guest Lecture: "Filmfestival im Waldhüttl" by Matthias Windischer & Susanne Meier
This guest lecture is part of Prof. Quendler's class "Film Culture and Film Education" (610022).
May 11 | SR 40130 (Geiwi-Turm, 1st floor) | 12- 1:30 pm
ZIAS-Lecture Series - Inside Mountains: Material Extractions & Mythical Exploits in the Americas
April 20, 6 pm, HS 2 | April 27, 6 pm, HS 2 | May 11, 6 pm, HS 2 | May 22, 10:15 am, 50109/3 SR | June 5, 6 pm, HS 2
From Nixon to Trump: Changes in US Media Coverage - A Two-Part Event
Part 1: Guest Lecture by Dr. Ardoin; April 19, 2023, HS 7, 6 pm
Part 2: Screening of The Post; May 10, 2023, Leokino, 6:15 pm
Welcome Event for First-Year BA Students in English and American Studies
The Departments of English and American Studies invite all first-year BA students to their joint welcome event. New students will have a chance to learn more about both departments, meet their instructors, and ask questions. No registration required.
Mar. 16, 2023| HS 5 3/4 | 6 pm
Welcome Event for First Semester MA Students at the Faculty of Language, Literature, and Culture
Feb. 14, 2023| via Zoom (no registration necessary) | 2:00-2:30 pm |
Guest Lecture: Sandra Tausel on "Freedom in the Homeland of the Free? Reading Narratives of Japanese American Incarceration
In der Ring-Vorlesung "Positionen der Literaturwissenschaft"
24. Jänner 2023 | GeiWi-Turm, HS 4 | 10:15-11:45
Welcome to Visiting Professor Dr. Phillip J. Ardoin
The Department of American Studies is thrilled to welcome Dr. Phillip J. Ardoin (Appalachian State University) as a visiting professor during the spring/summer semester 2023.
Vortragsreihe:
Gaming & Wissenschaft: Disziplinäre Zugänge zu den Game Studies
Seminarraum 40935, GeiWi-Turm | jeweils mittwochs
Creative Writing Competition for Students:
Interplay - Flash Fiction
Submission deadline: Dec. 18, 2022
ZIAS-Veranstaltungreihe im WiSe 22/23: Rural Americas
Termine von Oktober bis Dezember |GeiWi-Turm, HS 4 und 6 | Beginn jeweils 19 Uhr
Guest Lecture: Cornelia Klecker, Adam Ochonicky (Univ. of Wisconsin, Oshkosh), and Sascha Pöhlmann on "Flyover Fictions: A New View on Literature, Film, and Politics"
Nov. 8, 2022 |GeiWi-Turm, HS 4| 7- 8:30 pm
Guest Lecture: Johannes Vith on "Eine wahre Geschichte des Mondes"
In der Ringvorlesung des Forschungsschwerpunkts "Kulturelle Begegnungen - kulturelle Konflikte:" In Alternativen denken. Multidisziplinäre Perspektiven auf die Frage "Was wäre (geschehen), wenn...?
10. Oktober 2022 | GeiWi-Turm, HS 5 | 13:45-15:15
Welcome Event for First-Year Students
The Departments of English and American Studies invite all first-year students to their joint welcome event. New students will have a chance to learn more about both departments, meet their instructors, and ask questions. No registration required.
Oct. 5, 2022 | 6:15 pm | Lecture Hall 3 (Geiwi-Turm, Innrain 52)
Corona verstehen. Understanding Corona.
„Ansteckende Bilder“ – Filmische Positionen in Zeiten der Pandemie / Take 3
Leokino | Saal 2 | Beginn: 20:00 Uhr
3rd International Mountain Film Studies Workshop - Global Circuits of Mountain Cinema
Department of American Studies | June 27th, 2022
The Future of Roe v. Wade - Virtual Panel Discussion
Monday, June 13, 2022 | 6 pm | Zoom
co-organized by the Department of American Studies and the Student Council for English and American Studies
International Conference: Flyover Fictions
Claudiana | May 27 to 28, 2022
New Publication: Special Issue of Orbit on Mark Z. Danielewski's TheFamiliar
Edited by Sascha Pöhlmann
Online Lecture Series - Spring/Summer 2022
Via Zoom | Tuesdays, 6-7 pm (once from 5-6 pm)
Lecture Series: Gaming & Science: Disciplinary Approaches to Game Studies
Department for German Studies | Room 40935, Geiwi-Turm | Wednesdays, 5:15- 6:45 pm
Visiting Professors - Spring Semester 2022
Prof. Adam Ganz (Writer in Residence)
Writer in Residence Kick-Off Event with Prof. Adam Ganz
May 17, 2022 | Stadtbibliothek Innsbruck | 7 pm
AYA Spring Colloquium and Writing Workshop
University of Innsbruck | May 6 to 7, 2022
Carl Bode Award for the Outstanding Article 2021 for Dr. Cornelia Klecker
The Department of American Studies is pleased to announce that Dr. Cornelia Klecker has been awarded the Carl Bode Award for the Outstanding Article 2021 by the Popular Culture Association for her article in the Journal of American Culture entitled "Trump as the 'Kardashian of Politics?’ Daniel J. Boorstin’s ‘Pseudo-Event” and the Rise of Donald Trump”. On behalf of our department we extend heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Klecker!
USA: Auslaufmodell Demokratie oder Leuchtturm des Westens?
Klaus Prömpers, Dr. Cornelia Klecker, and Dr. David Willumsenwill discuss the Biden White House and the future of U.S. democracy during this event hosted by Haus der Begegnung Diözese Innsbruck and co-hosted by the Departments of American Studies and Political Science at the University of Innsbruck. The online panel is part of the lecture series „Auskünfte – Herkünfte – Zukünfte. Online-Lectures zu brennenden Zeitfragen“ and will take place on
December 14, 2021 via Zoom(https://zoom.us/j/92100643446) at 6:30 pm.
Reading Mountains 2021: Wilderness and Womanhood
This event is co-organised by the University of Innsbruck’s Canadian Studies Centre and the Center for Inter-American Studies and will take place via Zoom.
December 13, 2021
International Conference: Mountains & Cinema
October 14 to 17, 2021
Online Guest Lectures: Winter Term 2021/22
Wednesdays, 7 P.M., Zoom
Virtual Roundtable: "The First 100 Days of the Biden Administration: An American Recovery?"
Wednesdays, May 5, 2021 P.M., Zoom
Fulbright Scholarship Opportunity
Four-Month Fulbright-Scholarship starting either October 1, 2020 or March 1, 2021 offered at the Department of American Studies.
Virtual Roundtable: "The End of an Era? Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and the American Presidency"
Tuesday, January, 26, 2021 P.M., Zoom