New summer program gives a global take on American Studies

Monday, June 8, 2009 – Ann Claycombe

This summer, Georgia State is beginning a new international exchange program for faculty, Ph.D. and M.F.A. students studying American culture, literature and history. The program will hold summer seminars at Johannes Gutenberg University - Mainz, Germany in 2009; at Georgia State in 2010; and at Peking University in China in 2001.

“Let’s face it, American history is such that American culture is a global phenomenon,” said Reiner Smolinski, professor of English, who helped to organize the program.

The benefits of the exchange are most obvious for the German and Chinese students, who will get to spend time in the country they study. But the Americans will also benefit, Smolinski said, because they will get a crash course in how other parts of the world understand the U.S.A.

“Seeing how American culture, history, literature is seen from the outside – from a non-English-speaking culture – provides valuable perspective,” Smolinksi said.

The program will accept about 10 students from the Departments of English, Art and Design, History and Political Science at Georgia State. Their transportation, housing and food will be paid for by the program, which is funded by the German government’s Academic Exchange Service.

The seminars will bring together faculty experts from all three universities as well as outside instructors. The most notable guest instructor at this summer’s seminar is John Edgar Wideman, award-winning author and recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant.”