Patriotism is American. It is a central factor in the presidential election campaign. McCain and the Republicans hammer on Obama for not being patriotic enough. They seek to paint him  as an unpatriotic popstar-like politician, who does not care about the troops, but only about being elected. Obama tries to counter that image by wearing flag pins  and standing in front of several American flags when he speaks (e.g. Race speech in Philadelphia).

Prof. Dr. Anne Koenen
Wednesday, August 6, 12.15 pm – 1.15 pm
Tuesday, August 26, 11 am – 12 noon

Prof. Crister Garrett
By Appointment. Please write to crister.garrett@uni-leipzig.de

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Keil has his next office hours on Monday, July 28, starting at 3 p.m.

On July 17, Chuck Klosterman read from Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story at the Galerie Pierogi, Leipzig, Germany. The reading was the last public event by Chuck Klosterman, after he had stayed in Leipzig as Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the American Studies Department.

After much preparation and debate, the day had finally come. In advance, German politicians as well as the German media have focused much of their attention on the visit of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, debating the potential location, the nature, and the impact of the visit and the speech. Prof. Rundquist’s “Presidential Elections” seminar group, of which I am a member, also prepared for the Obama visit, planning a class trip to Berlin to attend the much anticipated speech.

MDR and its current affairs radio show, Figaro, interviewed American Studies Leipzig today about the visit of presidential candidate Barack Obama to Berlin. MDR (Mitteldeutschland Rundfunk/Central Germany Public Radio) is the leading news provider for central Germany.

Radio Berlin-Brandenburg, the largest source for radio news in north-eastern Germany, interviewed American Studies Leipzig today about the visit of presidential candidate Barack Obama to Berlin.

Radio Mephisto, the leading student radio station at the University of Leipzig with a regional listnership of approximately twenty-five thousand, interviewed ASL today about the visit of presidential candidate Barack Obama to Berlin.

Questions included whether it was arrogant of Obama to want to speak in front of the Brandenburg Gate, what his speech might portend for German-American relations, and what the Obama visit to Germany and Europe means for the John McCain candidacy.

American Studies Leipzig cordially invites you to join Picador Guest Professor Chuck Klosterman’s public reading on 17 July, 8pm, at Galerie Pierogi.

On July 17, 2008, 8pm, Chuck Klosterman will read from his novel “Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story” at the Galerie Pierogi, Spinnereistraße 7, Halle 10, 04179 Leipzig. Moderator will be Stefan Maelck (MDR). The reading will be accompanied by live DJ music (DJ Haircut, Ilses Erika).

After having studied the factors that are traditionally thought to influence political participation or non-participation—namely, social factors (education, social class, age, etc.), political factors (alienation, cynicism, partisanship, etc.), and structural factors (registration requirements, two-party system, electoral college, etc.)—I ran accross a new study that found evidence for biological factors (genes) to have an impact on political participation: