Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik

Studieneingangsberatung WS 2024/25

Here you find the handout for the introductory session (Studieneingangsberatung) that our Department offers for new students during introductory weeks.
For further information, please, contact our respective study supervisors.

Events:

Talking American Studies (Podcast)

Talking American Studies is a podcast spotlighting contemporary contributions to American Studies, featuring scholars sharing their work. Available via spotify, itunes, twitter & facebook.

Current Projects:

Diversity in our Department - a short video

The strength of the MA ‘Anglophone Modernities in Literature and Culture’ lies in its diverse student body, which enables thoughtful intellectual and experiential exchange. The focus on postcolonial and global studies in this department and the affiliated Potsdam Postcolonial Chair for Global Modernities is thus not merely in name; with a series of visiting guest faculty from postcolonial regions and a student body from all around the world (from places as diverse as India, the United States, Colombia, New Zealand, Armenia, Germany, Turkey, Bangladesh, Brazil, or Japan), students learn with and from each other— inside and outside of class. Watch the video to listen to some of our students’ and guest professors’ thoughts and reflections on diversity in the ‘Anglophone Modernities’ in this student-produced short film.

Potsdam Postcolonial Chair for Global Modernities

The Department of English and American Studies hosts the Potsdam Postcolonial Chair for Global Modernities funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) from 2020-2022.

Tupaia’s Map

Lars Eckstein and Anja Schwarz have extensively researched a legendary map of the Pacific, drawn in 1769/1770 by the Polynesian master navigator Tupaia for James Cook and his crew.

Didaktikwerkstatt Englisch

The »Didaktikwerkstatt Englisch« is a reference library that offers a collection of materials for the teaching and learning of English as an additional language.

»Hard Times«

A biannual magazine now hosted by the English Department offering short articles, discussions, and interviews providing critical input on current cultural phenomena and political debates.

RTG »Minor Cosmopolitanisms«

The Research Training Group (RTG) minor cosmopolitanisms establishes new ways of studying and understanding the cosmopolitan project beyond its Eurocentric legacies.

Writing the Cosmopolitan Imagination

Writing the Cosmopolitan Imagination: is a bilateral research and exchange network involving the Departments of English and German at the University of Potsdam and the University of Delhi.

Network Digital Humanities

As part of its strategic research funding, Potsdam University is supporting a »Network for Digital Humanities«. The initiative aims to connect local and international actors in this emerging field.

Degrees in Focus:

Master of Anglophone Modernities

The master Anglophone Modernities and Culture prepares graduates for an academic profession in research and teaching with a focus on postcolonial, British or American Literatures and Cultures.

Linguistik im Kontext (LinK)

Linguistik im Kontext is a master’s program offering multifaceted insight into current approaches to linguistic study, preparing students for a scientific career and introducing areas of application.

Teacher Training - English as a foreign language (EFL)

Are you thinking about studying education at our department? Here is information that may help you.

Two-subject bachelor English/American Studies

Are you thinking about earning a B.A. in English and American Studies? You will find more information here.

Hands on:

English Drama Group

The English Drama Group has been part of campus life at the University of Potsdam for 34 years now. Over time, it evolved from a curriculum course to a versatile company managed by students.

Student Representatives (Fachschaft)

Questions about your program, courses, etc? Visit us during our office hours (or set up an appointment with us), send us an email or take a look at our website.

Academic English

Academic English is situated at the crossroads of deepening an already well-advanced language proficiency and the knowledge acquired in linguistics as well as cultural and literary studies.

Seminar Zine "Cinema and Aesthetics of Refusal"

In “Cinema and Aesthetics” (WS 2021/22) Thao Ho and the course participants investigated ways in which visual artists negotiate the tension between transparency and opacity artistically in relation to the “burden of representation.” They explored notions of subjectivity, community, as well as ownership of (hi)stories, bodies, material and identity in the sphere of cinema and image. This zine is the outcome of these academic engagements. It encompasses a collection of topics discussed in class and celebrates the written as well as visual assignments submitted by the students.
Contributors to this project are: Jonathan Affeldt, Genia Kratzert, Aileen Kaube, Melanie Kappel, Sean-Brendan Collier, Nassar Al-Yamquan, Lina Marie Ramm, Pedro Riera Hipp, Annika Ebert, Maria Neeße, Christoph Freytag, Alexander Zscheyge, Deana-Tara Kennedy, Marie Schuchard, Hannah Brunner, Tabea Hahn, Kevin Wieland, Annalena Hübner, Mandy Mollenschott, Amelia John, Georgia Sacher, Teresa Kurowska, Anna Koux.

Student Magazine

Secretaries

The department’s secretaries can be contacted either via email or via telephone [see contact details].
Please note: Consulting hours only by individual appointment via email.

Potsdam Postcolonial Chair for Global Modernities

We are happy to announce the Potsdam Postcolonial Chair for Global Modernities
Funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and supporte by the RTG minor cosmopolitanisms, the Chair advances innovative teaching in Potsdam’s superdiverse MA Programme Anglophone Modernities in Literature and Culture. Guest Professors contribute to a diversification and decanonisation of the curriculum and facilitate the reflection of teachers and students on the specific locality of knowledge production. Together with members of our deartment, the Guest Professors will also conduct a series of workshops that test out best practice models for teaching a global postcolonial classroom.
The Chair will be held by up to six scholars for periods between 3-6 months, among them our long-term partners Satish Poduval from the EFLU Hydereabad (winter 2020-21) and Ira Raja from the University of Delhi (summer 2022), as well as our invited keynote speaker Sarah Casteel (summer 2021).

10 Thesen zu guter Lehre

Gute AbsolventInnen gibt es nur durch gute Lehre.
Gute Lehre kostet Zeit.
Lehre beinhaltet Kurskonzeption, Vorbereitung, fachlichen Austausch mit den KollegInnen und den Studierenden im und neben dem Kurs, Nachbereitung, Prüfung und Kursüberarbeitung.
Gute Lehre bedeutet dies alles entsprechend der Bedarfe der aktuellen Lerngruppe sowie auf Basis des aktuellen fachwissenschaftlichen und hochschuldidaktischen Forschungsstandes zu tun.
Lehre muss damit ständig in Bewegung in Richtung Ideal sein.
Die Studierenden müssen an die akademische Lernkultur herangeführt werden.
Unsere Lehrkultur muss sich daran anpassen.
Lehre ist fachabhängig: Die Geisteswissenschaften leben primär vom Austausch solider Argumente in der aufwändigeren Schriftform.
Gute Lehre führt zu Teilhabe und nimmt Populisten den Raum.
Unsere Studierenden werden nur so viel in ihr Studium und damit die Zukunft dieser Gesellschaft investieren, wie wir bereit sind, in Lehre zu investieren.

Die Lehrenden des Instituts für Anglistik und Amerikanistik der Universität Potsdam im Februar 2019

Weitere Informationen zu forschungsbasierter Lehre an der Philosophischen Fakultäthier

Department News:

Die Schreibberatung des Zessko

Im Zessko bieten Studierende für Studierende aller Studiengänge eine individuelle Beratung bei Problemen mit wissenschaftlichem Arbeiten an (auch in der Semesterzwischenzeit). Nähere Informationen hier...

(27.03.2017)