Mission Statement

Mission Statement

The European Association for American Studies is a confederation of national and joint national associations of American Studies in Europe. It was founded at Schloss Leopoldskron, Salzburg, in 1954. EAAS is a registered association (VR 2037, Amtsgericht Stendal, 30 Sept. 2009). Each of the 22 member associations from 35 countries is represented on the EAAS Board which convenes once every year. 

The number of Americanists represented through the national associations has arrived at 4301 (1 Jan. 2010). The conditions of membership are set out in the Articles. During the more than fifty years of its existence the EAAS has succeeded remarkably well in making European Americanists aware of each other. However, after the rapid expansion of its membership during the last few years, its main task will be the integration of the new national organizations and their members into existing (or yet to be constructed) networks of scholarly dialogue and academic exchange.

The objects and aims of the Association are to encourage the study of and research in all areas of American culture and society and to promote cooperation and intercommunication between European scholars of the United States from all parts of Europe and from various disciplines. To this end it organizes regular conferences. It also publishes a newsletter, American Studies in Europe, and an electronic journal, The European Journal of American Studies (EJAS). EAAS conferences are held every two years, and usually concentrate on a theme or a period. The pattern of these conferences as it developed over the years now includes 3 plenary and 12 parallel lectures (or dialogue sessions), and workshops focussing on specific subjects or areas of study. Attendance to these conferences has risen from about 170 in 1978 to a current average of between 200 to 400 participants.

The publications of the EAAS include both regular and occasional items. After some experiments, the newsletter American Studies in Europe is now published twice a year. (It has become an invaluable tool for communication between Americanists and has recently been complemented by EAAS websites and the American Studies e-mail distribution list EAAS-L.)Since 1980 a selection of the papers presented at the biennial conferences are published regularly. Until 2004 they formed part of the collection European Contributions to American Studies, published by the VU University Press of Amsterdam. In 2006, EAAS launched its own series, European Views of the United States, published by Universitätsverlag Winter Heidelberg.

For more information on EAAS, please consult the full text of the Articles of the European Association for American Studies.

 

EAAS Policy on Harassment

The European Association for American Studies fosters an environment of academic and intellectual exchange free from discrimination and harassment in whatever form. Our biennial conferences, Women’s and LGBTQ+ cauci, symposia, Board meetings, and other EAAS events are environments in which all members and participants are treated with equality and mutual respect.

We do not tolerate any behavior that results in individual colleagues feeling unsafe or threatened as a result of unwanted sexual attention, whether in person or virtually, or any form of intimidation or harassment based on disability, gender or gender expression, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, appearance or religious belief, whether in person or virtually.

Any and all instances of verbal or sexual harassment, unwelcome sexual attention, sexual coercion, in-person or online stalking, unsolicited physical contact, the use of professional status to coerce, threaten, or harass another colleague or participant, or any other threatening behaviors, in person, virtually or on social media, will result in the immediate removal of that individual from the event and the termination of their membership of the EAAS. Incidents can be reported, confidentially, to the EAAS Officers whose contact details are listed below.

We pledge that all participants, members, students, guests, exhibitors, and related event- site vendors and staff be treated with dignity and respect. This policy applies in all EAAS event locations, venues, and spaces, whether physical or virtual.


The Board of the European Association for American Studies 

Contact

EAAS President:                     Philip McGowan philip.mcgowan@qub.ac.uk

EAAS Vice-President:             Zuzanna Ladyga z.ladyga@uw.edu.pl

EAAS General Secretary        Tatiani Rapatzikou trapatz@enl.auth.gr

EAAS Treasurer:                     Carmen Birkle birkle@staff.uni-marburg.de

 

 

EAAS Statement on Academic Freedom in Support of L’Association Française d’Études Americaines (AFEA)

04 May 2021

The EAAS is a pan-European association of twenty-one national and regional American Studies associations and is the largest American Studies association in the world. We are committed to the research, study, and teaching of all areas of American culture and society, and we promote co-operation and intercommunication between European scholars of the United States from all parts of Europe and across all academic disciplines, established and emergent.

We are committed to the principles of academic freedom and the freedom of expression. We note with grave concern recent developments in France that question or seek to undermine these principles, and we send our solidarity and support to all academics in France working to expand our understanding of the world in which we live. For centuries, France has stood as a beacon of intellectual freedom and of progressive thinking. That is the France that has, rightly, held a pre-eminent position in the development of theories of cultural, political and social justice, and to which generations of scholars have turned for inspiration. We ask that the French government publicly commits itself to the fundamental principle of academic freedom and to supporting the right of all academics to pursue their research and critical enquiries without fear of reprimand or censure.


The Board of the European Association for American Studies