Positions
Prof. Dr. phil. Ruth Mayer
© Felix Brinker
Prof. Dr. phil. Ruth Mayer
Phone
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Address
Königsworther Platz 1
30167 Hannover
30167 Hannover
Building
Room
© Felix Brinker
Prof. Dr. phil. Ruth Mayer
Executive Director
English Department
Chairperson of the Examination Board
Examination Board North American Studies (Master of Arts)
Executive Board
English Department
Management
Office hours
Appointment via Stud.IP
Appointment via Stud.IP
LG American Studies
Members
Centre for Atlantic and Global Studies
Representatives for professors
Faculty Council, Faculty of Humanities
Representatives for professors
Examination Board North American Studies (Master of Arts)
Professors
English Department
Department Student Advisors
Representatives and Contact Persons for Students and Prospective Students, English Department
Focus Points in Research and Teaching
Ruth Mayer holds the chair of American Studies, teaching American literature and culture from the 17th century to the present time, with a strong focus on theoretical and formal questions. Her research focuses on aspects of popular culture (particularly seriality and serialization), media history, globalization, science studies, and cultural contact. Her book Serial Fu Manchu: The Chinese Super-Villain and the Spread of Yellow Peril Ideology appeared in 2013 with Temple University Press and in 2019 she co-edited Modernities and Modernization in the United States (Winter). She is currently directing the research projects “Contingency and Contraction: Modernity and Temporality in the United States, 1880-1920" and "Multiplication: Modernity, Mass Culture, Gender."
Resume
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Professional Career
since 2001
Chair of American Studies, Leibniz University Hannover2016 - 2018
Director of the English Department2005 - 2007
Dean of Research, Faculty of the Humanities
2001 - 2004
Director of the English Department
2000 - 2001
Chair of the English Department (substitute), Leibniz University Hannover1995 - 2000
Assistant Professor, American Studies, University of Cologne
1994-1995
Lecturer, John-F.-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, FU Berlin
Winter 1993/1994
Lecturer, John-F.-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, FU Berlin -
Education
2000
Habilitation (Second Book Project), University of Cologne (Title: "Artificial Africas. Images of Colonialism in the Times of Globalization")
1994
Dissertation, American Studies, Free University of Berlin (Dissertation Title: "Selbsterkenntnis, Körperfühlen. Medizinische und philosophische Körperkonzeptionen und Romane Herman Melvilles und Nathaniel Hawthornes")
1991
Magister Artium, Free University Berlin (Thesis: "Leben im Tod – Tod im Leben. Edgar Allan Poe und medizinische Todeskonzeptionen im frühen neunzehnten Jahrhundert")
1987-1991
Studies at the Free University Berlin
1986-1987
Studies at the University College London
1984-1986
Stududies at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich -
Memberships and Offices
Since 2021: President of the German Association of American Studies (DGfA/ GAAS)
European Association of American Studies
American Association of American Studies
Deutscher Hochschulbund (German Association of University Professors and Lecturers)
Board Member, German Association of American Studies, 2000-2007
Reviewer, Amerikastudien/American Studies, 2002-2009
Reviewer, German Research Foundation, since 2003 -
Conference Organisation
Annual Conference of the German Association for American Studies (DGfA/GAAS), Modernities and Modernization in North America, Leibniz University Hannover. Keynotes: Ulla Haselstein, Laura Horak, Michael North, Anita Patterson, Andreas Reckwitz. Juni 2017.
Summer School Inside/Outside: Queer Networks in Transnational Perspective. Co-organized with Anna-Lena Oldehus, sponsored by the VW-Foundation. Cultural Center Pavillon, Hannover, September 2016.
Symposium Kurz & Knapp: Erzählen und Wissen in kleinen Formen zusammen with Michael Gamper. Sponsored by the VW-Foundation, Konferenzzentrum Schloss Herrenhausen. Juli 2015.
International Conference Managing Mass Culture: Serialization, Standardization, and Modernity, 1880-1940, co-organized with Ilka Brasch and Christina Meyer. Conference as part of the DFG-Project "Massenkultur in Serie". Speakers: Amy Borden, Michael Chaney, Sabine Haenni, Scott Higgins, Frank Kelleter, Rob King, Kathleen Loock, April 2015.
International Conference Cultural Distinctions Remediated: Beyond the High, the Low, and the Middle, co-organized with Shane Denson, Florian, Groß, Vanessa Künnemann. Conference as part of the DFG-Project "Serielle Figuren im Medienwechsel". Keynotes: Jason Mittell and Lynn Spigel. Hannover, December 2011.
International Conference Chinatowns. Myths and Realities of an Urban Phenomenon in the United States and Europe. Conference as part of the DFG-Reserach Project "Diasporische Selbstinszenierungen." Funded by the German Research Foundation and by Leibniz University Hannover. Speakers: John Kuo Wei Tchen, Yong Chen, Mary Lui, Lars Amenda, Thoralf Klein, Flemming Christiansen, Peter Kwong. Hannover, September 2008.
International Conference Pacific Interactions. The USA, China, and the Chinese Diaspora in Historical Perspective. Conference as part of the DFG-Research Project "Diasporische Selbstinszenierungen". Funded by the DFG, DGfA, U.S. Embassy Berlin, NordLB and the Freundeskreis der Universität Hannover. Speakers: Xiao-huang Yin, Pheng Cheah, Thoralf Klein, Sebastian Conrad, Andrea Riemenschnitter et al. Hannover, November 2006.
International Symposium Virus! co-organized with Dr. Brigitte Weingart (Kulturwissenschaftliches Forschungskolleg "Medien und kulturelle Kommunikation", University of Cologne) and Dr. Bernd Busch (Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle Bonn). Sponsere by the DFG and the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Bonn. Bonn, January 2002.
International Symposium Mixed Up. Multiculturalism and Popular Culture, in cooperation with the British Council and the Amerika Haus Cologne. Sponsored by the DFG, Anglo-German-Foundation, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, USIS, DGfA, University of Cologne and more sponsors. Cologne, July 1996. -
Scholarships and Visiting Professorships
June 2008
Lecturer, Dartmouth College, Summer Institute "The Futures of American Studies"1998-2000
Scholarship for a Second Book Project (Habilitation), German Research Foundation1998-1999
Visiting Scholar, New York UniversityMarch 1998
Fellow Salzburg Seminar, "The Contemporary Novel"August 1997
Lecturer, Dartmouth College, Summer Institute "The Futures of American Studies"1993-1994
Scholarship, Postgraduate School "The Problem of Democracy in the USA", John F. Kennedy-Institute, FU Berlin1991-1994
Akademische Nachwuchsförderung des Landes Berlin nach NaFöG1992
Research Scholarship, German Academic Exchange Service, to pursue research at the Columbia University, New York, Harvard University and at the University of California at Berkeley