Program

Women and U.S. Politics: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
A Symposium in Honor of Hans-Jürgen Grabbe

Monday, Sept. 25

16:30
Conference Opening/Tagungseröffnung
Axel Schäfer (University of Mainz)
Julia Nitz (University of Halle-Wittenberg)

Words of Welcome/Grußworte
Torsten Zugehör (Oberbürgermeister der Lutherstadt Wittenberg/
Mayor of Wittenberg)
Michelle Logsdon (Kulturattaché der US-Botschaft Berlin/
Cultural Attaché, U.S. Embassy Berlin)

Laudations/Würdigungen
Sabine Volk-Birke (University of Halle-Wittenberg)
Martina Kohl (U.S. Embassy Berlin)
Alfred Hornung (University of Mainz)
Hans Bak (University of Nijmegen)

Opening Address/Eröffnungsvortrag
Carmen Birkle (University of Marburg):
“‘Yes She Can’? Das Hillary-Paradoxon und amerikanische TV-Serien”
Chair: Julia Nitz (University of Halle-Wittenberg)

Musical accompaniment by Peter M. Jehle (Wittenberg)

19:30
Reception/Empfang

Tuesday, Sept. 26

Morning Keynote Address
Chair: Martina Kohl (U.S. Embassy Berlin)

09:00–10:00
Marianne Wokeck (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis):
“Women Barred in 18th-Century Politics, but with Influence”
10:00–10:30
Coffee Break

SESSION 1: Women in American Politics
Chair: Andreas Hübner (University of Flensburg)

10:30–12:00
Ursula Lehmkuhl (University of Trier):
“Inclusion and Equality in the German and American Political System: Jane Addams and Angela Merkel”

Sabine Sielke (University of Bonn):
“‘Stronger Together’? The Seriality of Feminism, the Gender of Misogyny, and the ‘Case’ of Hillary Clinton”

Rob Kroes (University of Amsterdam):
“Feminism and Populism: Odd Bed-fellows in Contemporary U.S. Politics”

12:00–14:00
Lunch Break

SESSION 2: Writing the Political: Women’s Autobiographies, Memoirs, and Diaries
Chair: Udo Hebel (University of Regensburg)

13:30–15:00
Julia Nitz (University of Halle-Wittenberg):
“The Literary Politics of Southern Women’s Civil War Diaries”

Gabriele Linke (University of Rostock):
“The Personal and the Political in Selected African American Congresswomen’s Memoirs”

15:00–15:30
Coffee Break

SESSION 3: Negotiating Politics: Gender and Political Causes in Modern U.S. History
Chair: Kathrin Schulze-Riewald (University of Halle-Wittenberg)

15:30–17:00
Manfred Berg (University of Heidelberg):
“‘A vitally necessary war measure’: Woodrow Wilson and Woman Suffrage”

Hans Bak (University of Nijmegen):
“From Union Square to Rome: Revisiting the Religious Radicalism of Dorothy Day (1897–1980)”

Marcel Arbeit (University of Olomouc):
“Caroline Gordon, a Catholic Cultural Lobbyist”

17:00–17:15
Break

SESSION 4: The Politics of Attire: Women’s Clothes and the Political Sphere
Chair: Axel Schäfer (University of Mainz)

17:15–18:15
Volker Depkat (University of Regensburg):
“Male Politicians in Women’s Clothes. Reflections on a Visual Narrative in the Early Republic”

Eva Boesenberg (Humboldt University Berlin):
“Michelle Obama and the Power of Representation”

19:00
Dinner (registered conference participants only)
Luther Hotel

Wednesday, Sept. 27

Morning Keynote Address
Chair: Axel Schäfer (University of Mainz)

09:00–10:00
Philip John Davies (The British Library / De Montfort University, Leicester):
“The 2016 Election: Post-truth, Post-feminist, or just Post-Clinton?”
10:00–10:15
Coffee Break

SESSION 5: Women and the Politics of Space
Chair: Simon Wendt (University of Frankfurt/Main)

10:15–11:45
Theodora Tsimpouki (University of Athens):
“Gender, Narrativity and Architecture in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence

Andrew Gross (University of Göttingen):
“Refugee Blues: Hannah Arendt, Statelessness, and the Concept of Liberal Democracy”

Jerzy Durczak (University of Lublin):
“Images, Words, and Politics: Sally Mann’s Hold Still

11:45–12:00
Coffee Break

SESSION 6: The Iconography and Visual Representation of Gender in Media Politics
Chair: Gert Buelens (Ghent University)

12:00–13:00
Frank Mehring (University of Nijmegen):
“Mapping ‘Rosies’: Intermedial Approaches to an American Female Icon”

Brigitte Georgi-Findlay (University of Dresden):
“Female Politicians in Contemporary American Television Series”

13:00
Concluding Remarks
Axel Schäfer and Julia Nitz

Lunch

14:00
Tour of Wittenberg (90 minutes)
Hans-Jürgen Grabbe