

CfP: Making Sense of America. Representations of the Americas in the 1980s West European Protest Movements and their Aftermaths, Berlin, 23-24 May 2013. Organizers: Jan Hansen, Christian Helm and Frank Reichherzer



On the other hand, protest movements all over Europe tried to associate themselves with inner-American debates, in order to create and intensify a transnational civil society. Therefore, Atlantic crossings and transfers – for instance with the nuclear weapons freeze campaign, the solidarity movement with Latin America, and many other oppositional movements in the U.S. – were aimed at boosting and legitimizing shared protest goals.



Papers could deal with some of the following topics:

3. Impact of these representations on the activists‘ perception of West European societies.
4. Actors, networks and forms of this transatlantic exchange.



Please send your proposal (400 words max.) and a short, one-page CV to christian.helm(at) The deadline is 15 September 2012.


A publication of the workshop results is envisaged.


Sandra Kraft: Vom Hörsaal auf die Anklagebank. Die 68er und das Establishment in Deutschland und den USA. Frankfurt am Main und New York: Campus 2010.

War die 68er-Bewegung wirklich Ausdruck eines Generationenkonflikts? Sandra Kraft untersucht sie als Konflikt zwischen antiautoritärer Studentenbewegung und dem Establishment als deren politischem Gegenüber. Sie zeigt, dass die Radikalisierung der Bewegung auch von den (Re-)Aktionen des Establishments beeinflusst war. Der Blick auf verschiedene Protesträume – Universität, Straße und Gerichtssaal – verdeutlicht, dass gerade die situationsbedingte Dynamik, die sich aus dem Zusammenspiel der Akteure (Studenten auf der einen, Polizei und Establishment auf der anderen Seite) ergab, ausschlaggebend für den Verlauf der Ereignisse war.

Details auf der Verlagsseite

Maria Höhn und Martin Klimke: A Breath of Freedom. The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GI’s and Germany. New York: Palgrave 2010

Based on an award-winning international research project and photo exhibition, this poignant and beautifully illustrated book examines the experiences of African American GIs in Germany and the unique insights they provide into the civil rights struggle at home and abroad. Thanks in large part to its military occupation of Germany after World War II, America’s unresolved civil rights agenda was exposed to worldwide scrutiny as never before. At the same time, the ambitious U.S. efforts to democratize German society after the defeat of Nazism meant that West Germany encountered American ideas of freedom and democracy to a much larger degree than many other countries. As African American GIs became increasingly politicized, they took on a particular significance for the Civil Rights Movement in light of Germany’s central role in the Cold War. While the effects of the Civil Rights Movement reverberated across the globe, Germany represents a special case that illuminates a remarkable period in American and world history.

Details auf der Projektseite


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