RUB Research School
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Author

Name Bidlingmaier , Selma
Research field /
Career stage doctoral researcher
Home university/institution Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB)
Department/Research unit at home university/institution Philology
Chair/Working group at home institution English Seminar

International activity

Country Italy
Location Trieste
University /
Fund Research School PR.INT
Type of activity conference visit
Period No dates specified
Keywords /
Report AISNA’s(Associazione Italiana di Studi Nord Americani) 22nd biennial international conference took place in Trieste this year and with the support of the Research School’s travel grant, I was able to participate and present my paper at the event. The panel I presented in—Topographies of Freedom: The Urban Experience in Asian American Communities, dealt with literary treatments of the cityscape as a cultural historical reflection of Asian American’s experience at various critical moments such as the formation of ethnic enclaves in the 19th century, the first and second World Wars, and contemporary readings of the city as an “multi ethnic” and “post ethnic” space. My paper, entitled Reinhabiting the Emptied ‘Ghettos’: The Everyday Spaces of Literary Chinatowns theoreticized a new approach to the reading of Chinese American Literature and Chinatowns from a phenomenological perspective. The extended discussion and feedback following the presentation was very encouraging and generated new ideas and directions I could pursue in the near future. Moreover, I had the opportunity to network with a diverse, international group of scholars that specialized in other fields in American Studies from History to Sociology that further enriched my experience and understanding of the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to my current work. With the agreement of a group of scholars I met, I have started a mailing list to continue our dialogues and exchanges that began at the conference with the hope also for a greater cooperation between our various institutions. www.aisna.net
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