Once a year the BAA recognizes and rewards a graduate student whose outstandig dissertation has been accepted at a Bavarian University. This dissertation should be dealing with questions related to North America or inter-American topics within the Humanities in the broadest sense.

The prize money amounts to €1,500 / with two chosen dissertations, the prize money will be divided.

The Bavarian American Academy encourages doctoral advisors in all pertinent disciplines to nominate possible dissertations by April 1, 2024.

Please be aware that we only accept dissertations that completed the PhD examination in 2023.


The application should include

  • a short explanation for the nomination,
  • copies of all letters of recommendation, the grade awarded, and
  • one copy of the dissertation itself.


Photo: ©Matthew Everard / pixabay.com

You would like to nominate a dissertation for the Bavarian American Academy dissertation award? 
Please send an e-mail to Dr. Christoph Straub via straub@amerika-akademie.de.

Annabelle Meier

2023

Annabelle Meier (University of Würzburg):

"Die „Jellinek-These“ vom religiösen Ursprung der Grundrechte"

Image: Nicole Schneider © Private

2022

Nicole Anna Schneider (Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)

"Visual Protest, Viral Images, and Virtual Participation: Protest and Photography in the Contemporary Movement for Black Lives"

Image: Maximilian Buschmann © Leonhard Simon

2022

Maximilian Buschmann (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich)

"Hungerstreik: Transnationale Geschichte einer Protest- und Subjektivierungspraxis USA, ca. 1880-1945"

L. Sasha Gora receives the dissertation award 2021 ©Bavarian American Academy

2021

L. Sasha Gora (LMU Munich)

"Culinary Claims: A Cultural History of Indigenous Restaurants in Canada"
                                       

Sarah Louise Earnshaw receives the dissertation award 2020 ©Sarah Louise Earnshaw

2020

Sarah Louise Earnshaw (LMU Munich)

"Freedom Will be Defended: The Human Rights Regime of Truth and Standards of Sovereignty in U.S. Security Policy"

Cedric Essi receives the dissertation award 2020 ©Cedric Essi

2020

Cedric Essi (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

"Interracial Family Memoirs: Claiming Genealogies Across the Color Line"

Dr. Judith Rauscher and Liv Birte Buchmann receive the dissertation award 2019. ©Bavarian American Academy

2019

Dr. Judith Rauscher (University of Bamberg)

"Poetic Place-Making: Nature and Mobility in Contemporary American Poetry"
 

Liv Birte Buchmann (University of Regensburg)

"Commemorating Abraham Lincoln the Transnational Way. Lincoln Monuments in Great Britain"

BAA director Prof. Dr. Heike Paul presents Florian Tatschner with the dissertation award 2018 ©Bavarian American Academy

2018

Florian Tatschner (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

"The Other Presences: Reading Literature Other-Wise after the Transnational Turn in American Studies"

Michael Oswald receives the dissertation award 2018 ©Bavarian American Academy

2018

Michael Oswald (University of Passau)

"Reframing Conservatism? Die Tea Party als strategische Bewegung"
 

BAA director Prof. Dr. Heike Paul (middle) presents the dissertation award 2017 to Nathalie Aghoro (left) and Stefanie Egidy (right). ©Bavarian American Academy

2017

Nathalie Aghoro (Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)

"Sounding the American Novel: Voice in Twenty-First Century Fiction"
 

Stefanie Egidy (Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg/Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn)

"Verfassung und Finanzkrise: Die verfassungsrechtliche Dimension des Finanzkrisenmanagements in Deutschland und den USA" 

BAA director Prof. Dr. Barbara Hahn (left) presents the dissertation award 2016 to Dr. Katrin Horn ©Bavarian American Academy

2016

Dr. Katrin Horn (University of Würzburg / Diss.: Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg)

"Camp / Pop: Interventions into Pop-Cultural Discourses of Gender and Sexuality"

BAA director Prof. Dr. Barbara Hahn (left) presents the dissertation award 2015 to Dr. Christian Schmidt ©Bavarian American Academy

2015

Dr. Christian Schmidt (University of Bayreuth / Diss.: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

"Postblack Aesthetics: The Freedom to Be Black in Contemporary African American Fiction"

Dr. Juliane Braun and Dr. Sebastian Huhnholz receive the dissertation award 2014 ©Bavarian American Academy

2014

Dr. Juliane Braun (University of Würzburg)

"Petit Paris en Amérique? – French Theatrical Culture in Nineteenth-Century Louisiana"
 

Dr. Sebastian Huhnholz (LMU Munich)

"Krisenimperialität: Romreferenz im US-amerikanischen Empire-Diskurs"

BAA director Prof. Dr. Klaus Benesch presents the dissertation award 2013 to Dr. Dorottya Ruisz ©Bavarian American Academy

2013

Dr. Dorottya Ruisz (LMU Munich)

"Umerziehung durch Englischunterricht? US-amerikanische Reeducation-Politik, neuphilologische Orientierungsdebatten und bildungspolitische Umsetzung im nachkriegszeitlichen Bayern (1945-1955)"
 

Dr. Till Werkmeister (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg)

"'Domestic Nation': Der sentimentale Diskurs US-amerikanischer Romane zum elften September 2001"

BAA director Prof. Dr. Klaus Benesch presents the dissertation award 2011 to Dr. Timo Müller ©Bavarian American Academy

2011

Dr. Timo Müller (University of Augsburg)

"The Self as Object in Modernist Fiction: James, Joyce, Hemingway"

BAA director Prof. Dr. Klaus Benesch (left) and BAA director Prof. Dr. Helmbrecht Breinig present the dissertation award 2010 to Dr. Christina Hein ©Bavarian American Academy

2010

Dr. Christina Judith Hein (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

"Representations of Whiteness, Looking Relations, and Trans-Difference in Louise Erdrich's Tracks, Gerald Vizenor's The Heirs of Columbus, Craig Womack's Drowning in Fire, and Sherman Alexie's Indian Killer"

Dr. Kristin Acker and Dr. Sascha Pöhlmann receive the dissertation award 2009 ©Bavarian American Academy

2009

Dr. Kristin Acker (University of Würzburg)

"Internationalisierung im Einzelhandel: Eine institutionentheoretische Analyse der US-Expansion des deutschen Discounters Aldi"
 

Dr. Sascha Pöhlmann (LMU Munich)

"Pynchon's Postnational Imagination" 

Dr. Edith Szlezák receives the dissertation award 2008 ©Bavarian American Academy

2008

Dr. Edith Szlezák (University of Regensburg)

"La langue elle part avec les gens: Franco-Americans in Massachusetts"

Dr. Alexandra Ganser receives the dissertation award 2008 ©Bavarian American Academy

2008

Dr. Alexandra Ganser (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg)

"Gender, Space, and Mobility in American Women's Road Narratives, 1970-2000" 

Dr. Birgit Däwes receives the dissertation award 2007 ©Bavarian American Academy

2007

Dr. Birgit Däwes (University of Würzburg)

"Native North American Theater in a Global Age: Sites of Identity Construction and Transdifference"

BAA director Prof. Dr. Jürgen Gebhardt (right) presents the dissertation award 2006 to Dr. Matthias S. Fifka and Dr. Ingrid Gessner ©Bavarian American Academy

2006

Dr. Ingrid Gessner (University of Regensburg)

"From Sites of Memory to Cybersights: (Re)Framing Japanese American Experiences"
 

Dr. Matthias S. Fifka (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

"Unternehmensverbände in den USA: Interessenvermittlung im pluralistischen System"

Logo Bavarian American Academy ©Bavarian American Academy

2005

Dr. Christoph Schärtl (University of Regensburg)

"Die Anwendung des Spiegelbildprinzips im Rechtsverkehr mit ausländischen Staatenverbindungen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des deutsch-amerikanischen Rechtsverkehrs"

Dr. Tanja Zinterer receives the dissertation award 2004 ©Bavarian American Academy

2004

Dr. Tanja Zinterer (University of Augsburg)

"Politikberatende Kommissionen: Ihr Beitrag zu Politikwandel, dargestellt an der Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples und der Unabhängigen Kommisssion Zuwanderung"

Dr. Sebastian Domsch receives the dissertation award 2004 ©Bavarian American Academy

2004

Dr. Sebastian Domsch (University of Bamberg)

"Absenz – Simulation – Karneval: Eine Untersuchuchung der postmodernen Erzählverfahren in Robert Coovers gesamtem Romanwerk"

Logo Bavarian American Academy ©Bavarian American Academy

2001

Dr. Klaus Lösch (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

"Interkulturalität: Kulturtheoretische Prolegomena zum Studium der neueren indianischen Literatur Nordamerikas"
 

Dr. Harald Zapf (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

"Dekonstruktion des Reinen: Hybridität und ihre Manifestationen im Werk von Ishmael Reed"

Logo Bavarian American Academy ©Bavarian American Academy

2000

Dr. Alexander Kautzsch (University of Regensburg)

"The Historical Evolution of Earlier African American English: An Empirical Comparison of Early Sources"

Jasmin Falk

Administrative Assistant
Bavarian American Academy

E-Mail
jfalk@amerika-akademie.de
info@amerika-akademie.de

Telephone
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