On the part of TU Dortmund University, the American Studies scholar Prof. Walter Grünzweig is accountable for the joint program– together with Angela Märtin, the city’s science officer. For years, he has carried out research study in the Department of Cultural Research Studies on the American poet Walt Whitman, whose words describe democracy as an experiment that is never ever complete and need to be continuously renewed– which is likewise the basis for the title “Experiment Democracy” of the program of events.
On 4 July 1776, thirteen English nests adopted the American Declaration, which also contains the structures of our understanding of democracy and human rights. “The United States did not present democracy to Germany after 1945, however invited us to continue establishing it together,” says TU President Prof. Manfred Bayer. “They inspired and assisted us in developing a new society in Germany and across Europe, and they endured problems and crises.”
The university and the city wish to honor this in 2026 with their extensive program. This includes, for example, a joint event on 4 July in the town hall, lectures and discussions at the Park Academy in Westfalenpark in addition to in the City and State Library, major American voices and well-known orchestras in addition to Native music on the stage of the Auditorium, or productions of “Grease” and the “Quiet Film Performance Charlie Chaplin: The Kid” at the Dortmund Theater, along with exhibits on the comic cowboy Lucky Luke in the Dortmund schauraum.
Focus on the U.S.A. at TU Dortmund University
TU Dortmund University maintains exceptional relations with universities in the USA and holds a leading position in this field in North Rhine-Westphalia. For more than 20 years, TU Dortmund University has actually been represented as part of the University Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr) with a joint liaison office in New York, which promotes global cooperation in research study and teaching. “Our student exchange program with the USA, for whose design TU Dortmund University got a nationwide mentor award, is among the largest in Germany and allows joint learning in between German and US-American students,” states Prof. Bayer.
Scientists and speakers from US-American universities are regularly visitors at TU Dortmund University– for instance the “football teacher” Andy Markovits from the University of Michigan. Through cooperation with Jewish-American scholars and writers, consisting of members of the second generation of German-Jewish Holocaust survivors, the university expresses its duty for Germany’s past.
Program highlights at TU Dortmund University consist of:
- Project workshop The Power of Stories– Pictures of “the Others” by Dr Sibylle Klemm from American Researches
- Readings with German and American authors whose books add to an understanding of the USA and its varied, multi-ethnic culture, in May and June at the Literaturhaus Dortmund– prepared by students of the Department of Cultural Studies
- Discussion of the poetry collection “Beyond This Forest/ Jenseits dieses Waldes” by the US-American poet Elizabeth Rosner with student translators on 10 June at the International Fulfilling Center
- Reading of US-American classics as part of the discussion of the George McGovern Library together with the Dortmund theater ensemble on 18 June in the Emil Figge Library
- Screenings of American movie theater classics and existing Hollywood highlights by the university film club: 6 April– West Side Story (OV with subtitles); 4 May– Armageddon Now (OV with subtitles); 1 June– Little Females (OV with subtitles); 29 June– La Cocina (OV with subtitles)
In addition, the Studierendenwerk Dortmund (Dortmund association for trainee services) will provide a club quiz on the subject of America and a red wine tasting in April.
Full programm
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