Carleton University\u2019s Research Centre in American Studies (RCAS) was opened officially by U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson in January, 2010. Its purpose was to provide an intellectual home for those at Carleton working from different disciplines toward a better understanding of the culture, politics, history, and identity of the United States. Since its opening, it hosted a major international conference, and several well-attended speaker series. Much of the public face of Carleton\u2019s American research and teaching (how the United States is \u201cadvertised\u201d here) is understandably guided toward contemporary policy issues and bilateral Canadian-American relations. As indispensible as these have been, the RCAS seeks to broaden our engagement with the complexity and diversity of the United States in its own right by providing expertise, a wider and longer perspective, and up to the moment scholarship by specialists in the U.S. field broadly conceived.<\/p>\n
The community of scholars we brought together come from the disciplinary intersection of \u201cAmerican Studies.\u201d To that end, the Centre served as a home for Canada’s principal American Studies journal: The Canadian Review of American Studies<\/em> (edited by Professor of English Priscilla Walton). In addition, we provide an institutional locus for building student and faculty ties to American institutions. One of our faculty, Melissa Haussman, is a member of the College Advisory Liaison Board of The Washington Center, the world\u2019s largest provider of public, private and advocacy-sector internships. She brought the agreement for internship provision through The Washington Center upon her arrival at Carleton in 2005. We also developed ties to a number of American and European American Studies programme.<\/p>\n In order to conform to new guidelines for Research Centres at Carleton as well as to accommodate retirements and new hires, the RCAS is currently being re-built. Its Faculty members are still active in the U.S. field, of course, and welcome any inquiries visitors to this site may have.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you have any questions, please write to its former Director, Andrew M. Johnston (History): andrew.johnston@carleton.ca<\/a> or phone at:\u00a0613-520-2600, x4154.<\/p>\n Monday, March 14, 2022<\/p> The latest issue of the\u00a0Canadian Review of American Studies reflects on the fate of television in the wake of the diverse new technological platforms. Guest editor Daniel Adleman writes: "Over the last few decades, television (or at least some modalities of it) has evolved into one of the most sophisticated and nuanced narrative art... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, March 12, 2021<\/p> On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol was stormed by a mob of angry Donald Trump supporters. This insurgence was the most violent attack on the Capitol in centuries. Two months later, the repercussions of January 6 linger as we try to understand what led to such a dangerous and unsettling episode. This... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Monday, February 22, 2021<\/p> The lates issue of the Canadian Review of American Studies (vol. 51, no. 1, Spring 2021), the flagship journal of the Canadian Association of American Studies (CAAS), has just been published. Chris Vanderwees edits a special issue on "Lacan in America," with contributions from a range of international Lacanian readers. Will Greenshields\u00a0(Zhejiang... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Wednesday, January 6, 2021<\/p> History Alumnus Stuart MacKay, is a historian specializing in the American Republican Party and is currently working on a book about the party during the Civil War era. A short excerpt of the article he wrote for the Washington Post is included below. The full article, \u201cTed Cruz\u2019s proposed election commission can only hurt... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Tuesday, October 6, 2020<\/p> Melissa Haussman (Political Science) was the focus of a story by Mary Giles on the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the century old struggle for an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). It can be found here on the Faculty of Public Affairs website here.... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Tuesday, April 28, 2020<\/p> Happy 105th birthday to the Women\u2019s International League for Peace and Freedom It\u2019s a good time to reflect on the virtues of feminist internationalism It seems especially appropriate to mark today\u2019s 105th anniversary of the Geneva-based Women\u2019s International League for Peace and Freedom, which met for the first time on April 28th, in 1915.... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Thursday, February 27, 2020<\/p> How the military used sleep as a weapon\u2014and how soldiers fought back On April 21, 1971, hundreds of Vietnam veterans fell asleep on the National Mall, wondering whether they would be arrested by daybreak. Veterans had fought the courts for the right to sleep in public while demonstrating against the war. When the Supreme... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Monday, October 1, 2018<\/p> My colleague Melissa Haussman (Political Science) and I sat down\u2014at our computers\u2014and had a virtual conversation over the weekend about the Kavanaugh confirmation process. These are some of the answers she kindly provided to my questions. Andrew M. Johnston \u00a0 AJ: There\u2019s been a lot of apocalyptic language on both sides of the aisle... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, September 28, 2018<\/p> This morning, Melissa Haussman (Political Science) discussed Thursday's dramatic Senate Judiciary Hearings on Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation. To hear the entire interview, follow this link to CBC Ottawa-Morning:\u00a0https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/listen\/shows\/ottawa-morning\/segment\/15606279 ... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, September 21, 2018<\/p> While the date for conference proposals was many months ago, we thought it might be important to post a reminder of the upcoming annual meeting of the ASA in Atlanta. While the online program is not yet available, this is the original call for papers. For more information, visit the ASA website... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, September 21, 2018<\/p> CFP: Forms of Migration: An International Conference on Transnational Literature & Innovative Aesthetics May 2-4, 2019: University of Graz (Graz, Austria) The Department of American Studies and the Centre for Intermediality Studies at the University of Graz (Graz, Austria), in conjunction with the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), announces a call... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, September 21, 2018<\/p> The sixteenth HCA Spring Academy on American Culture, Economics, Geography, History, Literature, Politics, and Religion will be held from\u00a0March 18-22, 2019. The Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) invites applications for this annual one-week conference that provides twenty international Ph.D. students with the opportunity to present and... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Thursday, March 8, 2018<\/p> International Women\u2019s Day: Emily Greene Balch The New York Times today has run a series called \u201cOverlooked\u201d\u201415 women who deserve but never received obituaries in the New York Times. Although Emily Greene Balch was one American woman who did receive recognition in the\u00a0Times when she died in 1961, she remains a remarkably overlooked figure... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Thursday, February 1, 2018<\/p> The 150th anniversary of W. E. B. Du Bois\u2019 birth, 2018, offers an opportune moment to reflect on his remarkable life and legacy in light of his specific commitments to socialism and democracy. Moreover, the current political moment calls on activists\/scholars to explore how Du Bois\u2019 socialist and Marxist commitments can inform our praxis.... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Wednesday, January 10, 2018<\/p> Because the American Studies field is exceptionally prolific (and the market for apposite books in the U.S. is unusually large), it is impossible to do more than pick and choose a few new titles each month that might cross disciplinary boundaries and showcase some of the latest scholarship. Here are a few recent titles... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Wednesday, January 10, 2018<\/p> CALL FOR PAPERS:\u00a0Making a Republic Imperial Philadelphia, 28-30 March 2019 The McNeil Center for Early American Studies and the Program in Early American Economy andSociety at the Library Company of Philadelphia invite proposals for Making a Republic Imperial,a conference on empire, imperialism, and colonialism in the early American... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Wednesday, December 20, 2017<\/p> 11th Annual Graduate Conference Following the Yellow Brick Road? Challenging Approaches to Progress in North America Graduate School of North American Studies, Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, June 7-8, 2018 Notions of progress have remained pivotal to North American identities and academia. Discussions range from how \u201cprogress\u201d may be evaluated... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Tuesday, November 28, 2017<\/p> The latest issue of the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era is out: a special issue reassessing John Dewey, "Democracy and Education." \u00a0All articles are open access until January 15, 2018. You can find the entire issue at:\u00a0Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era But here is the table of contents... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Saturday, October 14, 2017<\/p> CFP: Making a Republic Imperial by\u00a0Emily Conroy-Krutz CALL FOR PAPERS: Making a Republic Imperial Philadelphia, 28-30 March 2019 The McNeil Center for Early American Studies and the Program in Early American Economy and Society at the Library Company of Philadelphia invite proposals for Making a Republic Imperial, a conference on empire,... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Wednesday, September 27, 2017<\/p> Conference at the University of Pennsylvania, McNeil Center for Early American Studies, and The University of Delaware 8 \u2013 10 November 2018 Keynote Speaker: Professor Leora Auslander, University of Chicago Program Committee: Dr Zara Anishanslin (University of Delaware), Dr Manuel Barcia, (University of Leeds), Professor Kathy Brown, (University... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Saturday, September 9, 2017<\/p> America\u2019s past is peppered with white supremacist figures and movements. These have often merged the language\u00a0of equality with virulent racism to undermine equality in practice. From southern resistance to Reconstruction through the breakup of Jim Crow legal segregation, white supremacists have engaged in a multitude of tactics, violent or... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Tuesday, September 5, 2017<\/p> Roundtable Description In the introduction to a 2015 special issue of\u00a0Social Text\u00a0on \u201cThe Question of Recovery: Slavery, Freedom, and the Archive,\u201d guest editors Laura Helton, Justin Leroy, Max Mishler, Samantha Seeley, and Shauna Sweeney posit that scholars of Atlantic slavery and freedom \u201ccannot resolve the tension between recovering... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Tuesday, September 5, 2017<\/p> CFP: European and British Associations for American Studies The 32nd European Association for American Studies and 63rd British Association for American Studies Conference 4-7 April 2018 King\u2019s College London, University College London and the British Library Keynote Speakers: Bettye Collier-Thomas (Temple University), Jo Gill (University of... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Sunday, August 27, 2017<\/p> As a critical part of the growing partnership between the John-F-Kennedy-Institute for North American Studies at the Free University in Berlin, Carleton will be hosting a two-day workshop devoted to the further development of our common research interests, and the construction of an International Research Training Group or IRTG. The theme of the... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Sunday, August 27, 2017<\/p> IFUSS: The International Forum for U.S. Studies: A Center for the Transnational Study of the United States, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL\/USA http:\/\/www.ifuss.illinois.edu\/ President Trump's election has drawn increased attention to the U.S.-Mexico border, but it has also resulted in changes on the northern U.S. border. In response... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Thursday, November 24, 2016<\/p> Political Science Public Talk Brexit, Trumpism and the Rise of Populism: Economic Disadvantage or Cultural Backlash? Pippa Norris, Paul. F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics,\u00a0John. F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Pippa Norris, the Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics, and she has taught at Harvard for two... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Tuesday, November 15, 2016<\/p> TRUMP NATION Reflections on the 2016 American Election Panel discussion with: - Melissa Haussman, Political Science - Daniel McNeil, History - Lindsay Rodman, Former Director, U.S. National Security Council - Steve Saideman, NPSIA - Rebecca Schein, Human Rights \u00a0 Wednesday 16 November 5:30-7pm Bell Theatre Minto Building... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, October 14, 2016<\/p> Carleton University Art Gallery will be hosting a talk by Robert Holton, as part of our exhibition\u00a0\u201cWe are continually exposed to the flashbulb of death\u201d: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg (1953 \u2013 1996). If you can, please join us for his talk:\u00a0Ginsberg\u2019s Snapshots: Beats, Bohemians and Social Magic.\u00a0And please spread the word to anyone... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, October 7, 2016<\/p> Ambassador Derek Shearer, Chevalier Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental College, and former Canadian Ambassador to Finland will be speaking about foreign policy and the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The event is sponsored by the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. Tuesday, October 11, 2016 5.00 - 7.00 p.m.... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, September 9, 2016<\/p> Anne Sisson Runyan is Professor of Political Science and Women\u2019s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati and a Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in North American Integration at York University for Fall 2016. Her books include Global Gender Issues, Gender and Global Restructuring, and Feminist (Im)Mobilities in... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Thursday, March 3, 2016<\/p> RCAS political scientist Melissa Haussman was interviewed on CBC Ottawa on Tuesday March 1 to give her thoughts\u2014as an American citizen and a former campaigner for Hillary Clinton\u2014on Super Tuesday. The entire show can be found at: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/player\/play\/2684724897 Melissa's interview starts at the 30 minute... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, February 5, 2016<\/p> In celebration of Black History Month, Saw Gallery (67 Nicholas St.) is hosting the Canadian premier of an exhibition of art by the Florida Highwaymen. These were a group of African American artists, mostly self-taught, mostly from Fort Pierce, Florida, who traveled throughout the state painting and selling their works door to door. Starting... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div> Friday, July 10, 2015<\/p> Dr. Mausbach, the executive director of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) at Heidelberg University, comes to Carleton this July and August as a participant in the Ontario Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg exchange program. He is working on a larger research project called "Visions of Community: America and Europe in a Cold War World, 1948-1963",... More<\/span><\/p><\/a><\/div>Canadian Review of American Studies (Winter 2021): Special Issue on New Perspectives on New Television<\/h3>
Sound and Fury: A Conversation about the Capitol Hill riot<\/h3>
Lacan in America: new Special Issue of the Canadian Review of American Studies<\/h3>
Stuart MacKay Examines American Election Investigations in the Washington Post<\/h3>
Gender Discrimination, Equal Protection and the Equal Rights Amendment<\/h3>
Happy 105th birthday to the Women\u2019s International League for Peace and Freedom<\/h3>
Franny Nudelman publishes Fighting Sleep: The War for the Mind and the US Military (Verso, 2019)<\/h3>
An interview with Melissa Haussman on the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh<\/h3>
Melissa Haussman speaks to CBC about Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings<\/h3>
American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Nov. 8-11, 2018, Atlanta, GA<\/h3>
Forms of Migration: An International Conference on Transnational Literature & Innovative Aesthetics American Studies, University of Graz (Graz, Austria)<\/h3>
16th Annual Spring Academy Conference, Heidelberg Center for American Studies (Heidelberg, Germany)<\/h3>
International Women\u2019s Day: Emily Greene Balch<\/h3>
CFP: Socialism and Democracy in W. E. B. Du Bois\u2019 Life, Thought, and Legacy<\/h3>
Seven new books in American Studies you might want to read<\/h3>
Second CFP: Making a Republic Imperial, a conference on empire, imperialism, and colonialism in the early American republic<\/h3>
CFP: 11th Annual Graduate Conference on North American Studies, Berlin, June 7-8, 2018. Following the Yellow Brick Road? Challenging Approaches to Progress in North America<\/h3>
Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era special issue on John Dewey’s Democracy and Education<\/h3>
CFP: Making a Republic Imperial (deadline January 15, 2018)<\/h3>
CFP: Coming to Terms? Confronting War and Peace through the Visual and Material in the Atlantic World, 1651-1865<\/h3>
Call for Contributors for October 2017 Issue on \u201cThe Road to Charlottesville\u201d, The Activist History Review<\/h3>
Has recovery run out of steam? Perspectives from the black nineteenth century<\/h3>
CFP: European and British Associations for American Studies April 2018 conference, deadline October 1, 2017<\/h3>
Power and humanity: contesting notions of human rights and humanitarianism in North America \u2022 Two-Day Workshop, September 18-19, 2017 at Carleton University<\/h3>
The ‘Other’ Border: Canada and the United States fellowships<\/h3>
Brexit, Trumpism and the Rise of Populism: Economic Disadvantage or Cultural Backlash?<\/h3>
TRUMP NATION: Reflections on the 2016 American Election Panel Discussion<\/h3>
Ginsberg\u2019s Snapshots: Beats, Bohemians and Social Magic<\/h3>
The Whole World is Watching: Foreign Policy and the U.S. Presidential Election<\/h3>
Anne Sisson Runyan: Disposable Waste, Lands,and Bodies, Monday September 12, 2016<\/h3>
Melissa Haussman talks to CBC’s Adrian Harewood about Super Tuesday<\/h3>
The Florida Highwaymen exhibition<\/h3>
Dr. Wilfried Mausbach, Exec. Dir. of the Heidelberg Center for American Studies to be a visiting scholar this summer<\/h3>