This Wednesday the International Office (Akademisches Auslandsamt) of Leipzig University hosts an information day on studying abroad. The event takes place

June 6, 10 am – 4 pm
Campus Jahnallee
Pausenhalle Süd

Study Tour Houston: “Volunteerism, Diversity, and Civic Engagement”

American Studies Leipzig will celebrate the inauguration of a photo exhibition and premiere of a documentary movie on Wednesday, June 6th, 5:30 pm.

The largest regional newspaper for Mitteldeutschland (Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia), the Leipziger Volkszeitung, interviewed American Studies Leipzig for the 25 May edition of the newspaper (Page 2). Senior Editor for Politics and International Affairs at the LVZ, Anita Kecke, conducted the interview, and raised a series of questions with Crister Garrett about transatlantic relations and the course of American politics.

To read the interview, please click here.

ASL and the Institut fuer Anglistik hosted the reading of poet, novelist, and musician Anthony Joseph Monday evening at the Villa Tillmanns. Joseph, who was born in Trinidad and now lives in the UK, read from his most recent novel The African Origins of UFOs.

In a mixture of reading and performance, he also read from his collections of poetry, Desafinado (1994) and Teragaton (1998). Some twenty people joined Joseph’s lively performance and the following Q & A.

All dates and information can be found here: Degree Exams

On April 20 the American Studies Alumni Association (ASAA) held its annual graduation ceremony for about thirty American Studies graduates at the Villa Tillmanns.

Thirty American Studies graduates, who completed American Studies within the past year, were joined by their families and friends as well as American Studies alumni and members of the ASL faculty to conclude their studies in a festive reception.

Monday, May 21, 2007
7 pm, Villa Tillmanns (Waechterstr. 30)

Poet, novelist, and musician Anthony Joseph will read from his book The African Origins of UFOs. The book is a genre-busting novel that blends science fiction, surrealism, mythology and the rhythms of Trinidadian dialect. It uniquely blurs the boundaries between prose and poetry and asks difficult questions about “race,” memory, and the future.

MDR Info Radio has interviewed American Studies Leipzig about the growing role of the internet in American politics, especially for the presidential election in 2007. Reporter Ralf Geissler spoke with Crister Garrett about how the internet can shape various aspects of elections, from funding, to message, to mobilizing grass roots.

On May 8 and May 9, ASL joined the Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture in hosting two events on Jewish-American Literature:

The James Byrnes Center for German-American Affairs in Stuttgart and the Baden-Wuerttemberg Center for European Affairs invited American Studies Leipzig to hold a lecture on 8 May about the state of U.S.-E.U. relations. The date was selected in part since it marks the conclusion of World War II sixty-two years ago. The presentation was held by Professor Crister Garrett and was placed in the context of the United States and the E.U. also celebrating fifty years of the Treaties of Rome (founding the European Community) and therewith a milestone in European integration.