Project Details
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GSC 55:  Graduate School of North American Studies

Subject Area Literary Studies
History
Social Sciences
Economics
Term from 2006 to 2019
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 24142714
 
Final Report Year 2019

Final Report Abstract

In accordance with the academic mission of Freie Universität Berlin, the Graduate School of North American Studies (GSNAS) investigated “The Challenges of Freedom” and the meaning of democratic values past and present. Research at GSNAS aimed at a comprehensive analysis of the social, economic and cultural changes facing North America at the beginning of the 21st century. In the first funding period, the Graduate School‘s research agenda focused on globalization, transnational dependencies and threats in post-9/11 America (2006-2012). Against the background of the global financial crisis of 2008/09, research during the second funding period focused on phenomena of crisis in U.S. society in a broader context (2012-2019). This included, among others, studying the causes and the management of crises in American social history, analyzing the polarization of American domestic politics, and investigating the consequences of globalization for the American economy and American foreign policy. In addition, GSNAS investigated the role of religion and the media, and assessed the functions of art and culture in times of crisis. In the coming years, GSNAS seeks to investigate "Transformations of ‘Democracy‘ in North America." Research at the Graduate School was pursued in close collaboration of six disciplines, integrating the social sciences and the humanities in a coordinated research design. By undertaking this research at an academic institution outside North America, findings provided an external perspective that responded to earlier calls in the American Studies community to overcome the domestic agenda of the field. The academic aims of the School’s program were twofold: (1) to expand the knowledge of North American societies and cultures by supporting innovative research in six disciplines – cultural and literary studies, economics, history, political science and sociology – and (2) to train specialists on North America to meet the needs of a variety of academic and professional fields including the media and public affairs. To this end, GSNAS established a curriculum that combined seminars in disciplinary research methods with more general interdisciplinary courses covering the nine research areas of the School. The implementation of a close-knit mentoring process with a mentoring team of three supervisors was designed to offer doctoral candidates the best possible academic support and to complete their dissertations within the envisaged three-year or four-year grant period.

Link to the final report

https://dx.doi.org/10.2314/GBV:1696290554

Publications

 
 

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