On the part of TU Dortmund University, the American Research studies scholar Prof. Walter Grünzweig is responsible for the joint program– together with Angela Märtin, the city’s science officer. For decades, he has performed 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 complete and should be continuously restored– which is also the basis for the title “Experiment Democracy” of the program of occasions.
On 4 July 1776, thirteen English nests adopted the American Declaration, which also includes the structures of our understanding of democracy and human rights. “The United States did not gift democracy to Germany after 1945, but welcomed us to continue developing it together,” states TU President Prof. Manfred Bayer. “They inspired and assisted us in building a brand-new society in Germany and across Europe, and they sustained problems and crises.”
The university and the city desire to celebrate this in 2026 with their substantial program. This includes, for instance, a joint celebration on 4 July in the city center, lectures and conversations at the Park Academy in Westfalenpark as well as in the City and State Library, significant American voices and acclaimed orchestras along with Indigenous music on the phase of the Concert Hall, or productions of “Grease” and the “Quiet Movie Performance Charlie Chaplin: The Kid” at the Dortmund Theater, along with exhibitions on the comic cowboy Lucky Luke in the Dortmund schauraum.
Focus on the U.S.A. at TU Dortmund University
TU Dortmund University keeps exceptional relations with universities in the U.S.A. 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 intermediary office in New York, which promotes global cooperation in research and mentor. “Our student exchange program with the U.S.A., for whose design TU Dortmund University got a national mentor award, is one of the largest in Germany and enables joint knowing in between German and US-American trainees,” states Prof. Bayer.
Scientists and lecturers 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 2nd generation of German-Jewish Holocaust survivors, the university reveals its obligation for Germany’s past.
Program highlights at TU Dortmund University include:
- Task workshop The Power of Stories– Pictures of “the Others” by Dr Sibylle Klemm from American Researches
- Readings with German and American authors whose books contribute to an understanding of the U.S.A. and its diverse, multi-ethnic culture, in May and June at the Literaturhaus Dortmund– prepared by trainees 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 Meeting Center
- Checking out of US-American classics as part of the presentation of the George McGovern Library together with the Dortmund theater ensemble on 18 June in the Emil Figge Library
- Screenings of American cinema classics and present Hollywood highlights by the university movie club: 6 April– West Side Story (OV with subtitles); 4 May– Apocalypse Now (OV with subtitles); 1 June– Little Women (OV with subtitles); 29 June– La Cocina (OV with subtitles)
In addition, the Studierendenwerk Dortmund (Dortmund association for trainee services) will use a pub quiz on the topic of America and a red wine tasting in April.
Complete programm
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