Dissertation Project (Carsten Hummel)The History of the European Association for
American Studies, 1954–2004
For the more than fifty years of its existence, the European Association for American
Studies (EAAS ) has stood for communication, cooperation, and networking amongst
European Americanists. Today, the EAAS consists of 21 member associations from 27
countries, and the number of Americanists represented through the national and
supranational associations has almost reached 4,000.
The dissertation project traces the history of the EAAS against the background of
changing political constellations and social transformations. Founded in 1954 at a
conference in Schloß Leopoldskron, Salzburg, the first decades of the EAAS must be
seen in the context of Cold War era. From the very beginning, the Association has
also been actively involved in debates concerning American Studies concepts from
the U.S. and their applicability for Europe. Therefore, the project focuses on the role
of the EAAS in fostering a specifically European perspective, and on the contribution
of the organization to the internationalization of the discipline. The project also
covers the part that the EAAS played in establishing national associations for American
Studies, and describes its efforts to include Americanists from Eastern Europe in
the academic discourse before and after 1989.
'EAAS Archives and History Project'
Carsten Hummel
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