07.09.2025 Student and faculty perspectives from the American Studies Conference 2025

German Association for American Studies Conference 2025

“Archiving America / American Archives” was this year’s annual conference topic of the German Association for American Studies (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien), held in Siegen from June 12-14, 2025. At the invitation of Carmen Birkle, professor of American Studies, we, as selected students, were allowed to participate in this conference. Following is a report of our impressions of the conference with introductory remarks.

American Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines American culture, social life, literature, politics, and history, both past and present. The German Association for American Studies aims to strengthen the cultural and academic relations between Germany and the United States and explores how fragments of collective memory and American identity are assembled. In recent times, the association has become more political in research reflecting the controlling access to information by American political administrations. “Archiving America / American Archives” is a multifaceted topic with a large variety of related perspectives and topics. Archiving involves more than organizing, preserving, and studying old dusty documents and working in old American libraries. At the conference, Americanists and scholars of all academic levels discussed their diverse topics, such as archiving the environment, including landscapes, oceans, and planetary archives, archiving food and its cultural transfer, exploring key literary motifs, such as trauma, and Indigenous topics in the US, and dealing with digital archives. Through its various formats, the conference offered valuable and contrasting insights, including keynote lectures, several workshops on different topics, book launches during the breaks, a round table, and a current events panel, among others, to preserve the vulnerable and often excluded histories of America. Here are some perspectives from Philipps-University Marburg students and faculty who participated in the conference:

Felix Teigeler, Lehramt Englisch: "The collective knowledge of the professors, senior scholars, researchers, and doctoral candidates was overwhelming for all of us students. However, we were welcomed warmly, and I found it encouraging to be part of such an intellectually engaged group. As mentioned, archiving is much more than preserving documents. One panel addressed human archives and the concept of using the human body as an archive of emotions, such as fear and anxiety, broadening my understanding of an archive. Among my favourite parts of the conference was the current events panel, which was very political. With the current U.S. administration threatening the independence and function of not only educational institutions but also archives by cutting funding and interfering with their responsibilities, scholars and researchers have a growing concern that essential records and the integrity and transparency of historical and academic work are at risk. One participant of the panel called archives “the bedrock of liberal democracy,” which was an essential quote I took from the conference, highlighting the importance of archives and criticizing the political actions in the US. This underlines the significance of protecting these institutions from political influences to ensure they can continue preserving truth for our society."

Nazita Janghorban, MA North American Studies: "Among the many keynote lectures, round tables, meetings, and workshops, one particularly compelling session was titled “The Guardian Angel as Medicated Novel: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., and the Human Archive.” In her presentation, Prof. Dr. Birkle examined The Guardian Angel, one of Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.’s three so-called “medicated novels.” The novel explores the aftermath of 15-year-old Myrtle Hazard’s disappearance, told through multiple narrative perspectives. Prof. Birkle focused on themes of generational trauma and the concept of the body as an archive, particularly through the recurring figure of Ann Holyoake, who appears both as a spiritual presence and as a retold memory passed down within the family. Frequent references to physical and behavioral resemblances between Myrtle, her mother, and Ann suggest that Myrtle herself embodies a living archive of her ancestral past. Her occasional “fits” or “nervous turns” illustrate how trauma may be stored and expressed through the body, surfacing involuntarily in moments of distress. In this reading, Myrtle’s body functions as a site where familial trauma is preserved and reactivated, a physical manifestation of what Freud termed 'repetition compulsion'."

Sophie Wittenberg, BA American, British, and Canadian Studies: "Having gone to the conference in Siegen with no real idea of what to expect, I was overwhelmed by the variety of formats and contributions. I was especially struck by the diverse concepts and ideas connected to the broad theme making up this year’s topic surrounding the archive. I felt an almost ironic sense of amusement, as I realized I was indeed among literary people, when confronted with the different conceptions and interpretations of the term “Archive". This literariness created room for many great discussions and conversations, constituting overall a great weekend. The word “Archive” came to mean more than the rigid stereotype of a dusty old cellar room filled with mouldy old paper stacks; it became alive. From all this liveliness, I took away with me one overarching point: What, for me, weaved itself across the multiple and varying keynotes and workshops was the underlying appeal to the need for a collective and connected research. Taking the idea of the liveliness of the archive in a literal interpretation, many of the presentations appealed not only to the responsibility, but to the value of a collective human remembering, structuring as well as the continuous, critical rethinking of information and by extension, knowledge. At a time like this, such an appeal struck me as particularly important but also encouraging in the realisation that we too are part of the archive."

Matthew Eppard, MA North American Studies: "Upon arriving at the conference in Siegen, I was surprised to be immediately confronted with questions challenging the traditional understanding of the term "archive", and what it may mean both as a body of information, but also as a process of collection, study, and preservation of memory. Throughout the three days, the term “archive” and its meaning for both scholars and the public would be tirelessly analyzed through a series of keynote lectures, constructive workshops, and personal conversations between the academics in attendance. Although this entire process was exhilarating to me as a first-time attendee, I was particularly struck by the conversations and debates focused on the role and function of not only the archive, but the archivist, within the digital landscape. In particular, a workshop focused on the challenges of navigating and sorting the deluge of information that is constantly being generated within the political media landscape. These presentations sparked passionate debate and commentary from those in attendance about how an archivist can best attempt to tackle the issue of misinformation. This opened my eyes to the possibility that archivists are not simply collecting information but are active and dynamic participants in filtering and defining the collective memory. Additionally, another workshop highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in the creation and maintenance of online archives, as well as what this may mean for the future of human archivists, which I found to be a particularly immediate and important discussion for our current times."

Prof. Dr. Carmen Birkle: "Student attendance at this conference was made possible by QSL funding (“Qualitätssicherung Lehre”), applied for last year. The very positive response of this year’s group of students has convinced me that no student is too young to immerse themselves in those lively and challenging debates and that I will, therefore, apply again for the support of student conference participation for next year’s conference in Münster. Any study program – teaching degree, BA ABC, BA NAS, and MA NAS – fits as long as students have a genuine interest in American Studies."