Dr. Jana Weiß

Department of History
Chair for Modern and Contemporary History/North American History

Dr. Jana Weiß
Post doctorand

Dr. Jana Weiß currently holds a DAAD professorship at the University of Texas at Austin.

Contact:
Jana Weiß

Consultation hours

until 31 August 2022 (Please make an appointment via email)
 

Münster Universität
Department of History
Domplatz 20-22
48143 Münster

Ongoing Projects

a) Habilitation Project

“The Lager Beer Revolution in the United States: The History of Beer and German-Americans as a Reinvention of Ethnicity, Knowledge, and Consumption”

The project analyses the technological and cultural transfer of the “German art of brewing” to the United States. It covers the beginning of the 19th century, when German-style, bottom-fermented beers were first introduced until national prohibition in 1920, when the production, sale, and transport of alcohol over 0.5 vol.-% was legally banned. The focal point of the project is the transfer of the brand beer understood as a (re)invention of ethnicity, knowledge, and consumption, i. e. as a differentiated geographical, technological, and socio-cultural exchange process of ethnic brewing traditions. By building upon (transnational) studies in the field of (German-)American immigration, consumption history, and the history of knowledge and technology, the project is based on case studies in three regions: the Midwest (Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio), the east and west coast (New York, California).

b) DFG-Project

Co Speaker DFG Network (2022-2025): Bridging the Black Freedom Struggle: German and U.S.-American Perspectives [with Nicole Hirschfelder].

Curriculum Vitae

Education & Training

Work Experience

Fellowships & Honors

• Second Place (Listenplatz 2) in the competition for the Junior-Professorship Transatlantic and North American History, University of Freiburg (2020).
• Conference Travelling Scholarship (Post-Doc), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (10/2019).
• Erstklassig! Programme for the Advancement of Women (06/2019-11/2020)
• Best Article Award 2018, German Association for American Studies (“The National Day of Mourning: Thanksgiving, Civil Religion, and American Indians”, Amerikastudien / American Studies 63/3 (2018): 367-388).
• Research Fellowship (Post-Doc), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (07/2015-06/2016)
• Research Fellowship (Post-Doc), Deutsches Historisches Institut, Washington, D.C. (03-04/2014)
• Graduation Scholarship (Dissertation), WWU Münster (09/2012-02/2013)
• Erasmus/Socrates, University of Portsmouth (WiSe 2004/05)

Research Interests

• North-American History of the 19th and 20th Century
• Transnational Relations
• Ethnicity & Racism
• Religion & Politics
• History of Technology & Knowlegde

Publications

Monographs

• Lesen im Geschichtsstudium. Opladen: Barbara Budrich, 2020 [with Sarah Thieme].
• Fly the Flag and Give Thanks to God. Zivilreligion an US-amerikanischen patriotischen Feiertagen, 1945-1992. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2015.

Series Editorship (peer-reviewed)

• History of Intellectual Culture. International Yearbook of Knowledge and Society. Berlin: De Gruyter (since 2021) [with Charlotte A. Lerg & Johan Östling].

Further Editorships: Anthologies & Special Issues (peer-reviewed)

• Participatory Knowledge, History of Intellectual Culture. International Yearbook of Knowledge and Society 1 (2022) [Gast-Herausgeberin mit Charlotte A. Lerg & Johan Östling].
• International Knowledge Transfer within the Brewing Industry of the 19th and 20th Century, Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte [tpb 2023, guest editor with Nancy Bodden].
• The Continuity of Change? New Perspectives on U.S. Reform Movements, Amerikastudien / American Studies 66/4 (2021) [guest editor with Charlotte A. Lerg].
• Zivilreligion in den USA im 20. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2017 [with Heike Bungert].

Journal Articles (peer reviewed)

• "'Where Do We Go from Here'? Past and Future Contributions to the Historiography of African American Studies – A German Perspective", Contemporary Church History 33/1 (2020): 21-36. .
• “Remember, Celebrate, and Forget? The Martin Luther King Day and the Pitfalls of Civic Religion”, Journal of American Studies 53/2 (2019): 428-448 [11/2017 published online, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021875817001384].
• “The Relevance of the Concept of Civil Religion from a (West) German Perspective”, Religions 10/6 (2019), https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/6/366/htm [with Heike Bungert].
• “The National Day of Mourning: Thanksgiving, Civil Religion, and American Indians”, Amerikastudien/American Studies 3 (2018): 367-388.
• “Die Debatte um ‚Zivilreligion‘ in transnationaler Perspektive”, Zeithistorische Forschung 7 (2010): 454-459 [with Heike Bungert].

Online Articles

• “The Lager Beer Revolution in the United States”, in: Rachel Carson Center, Seeing the Woods (Blog), 09/2018, https://seeingthewoods.org/2018/09/07/the-lager-beer-revolution-in-the-united-states.
• “Frederick Pabst” (in English), in: William J. Hausman (German Historical Institute), Immigrant Entrepreneurship. German American Business Biographies, August 2016, http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=25.
• “German Gemuetlichkeit 2.0”, in: Food, Fatness, and Fitness (Blog), 09/2015, http://food fatnessfitness.com/2015/09/01/german-gemuetlichkeit-2-0.

Book Chapters

• “Overcoming Barriers. An Interdisciplinary Collaboration in a Transatlantic Research Network on the Black Freedom Struggle”, in: Sabine Hübner/Kim Strübind (eds.), Entgrenzungen. Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Andrea Strübind. Berlin: Duncker & Humboldt, 2023: 425-437 [with Nicole Hirschfelder].
• “Zwischen Patriotismus, (In)Toleranz und Machtmissbrauch: Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Einfluss auf die US-amerikanische Zivilreligion”, in:  Thomas Lau et al. (eds.), Der Bürger als Souverän. Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Lehre von der volonté générale. Baden Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2018: 103-125.
• “’We Are Not Fighting this Battle Alone. We Have God on Our Side‘: Nationale Feiertage als zivilreligiöse Propagandainstrumente im Kalten Krieg?”, in: Bungert/Weiß (eds.) 2017, 221-258.
• “Einleitung: Zivilreligion(en) – alte Herausforderungen, neue Perspektiven”, in: Bungert/Weiß (eds.) 2017, 7-36 [with Heike Bungert].
• “Mit jedem Einwanderer eine neue Religion? Die Entwicklung der religiösen Vielfalt in den USA”, in: Wiebke Ahrndt (ed.), Amerika, TenDenZen, 2016: 62-64.
• “‘The Art of Brewing Was Developed by the Germans’: Der Einfluss deutsch-amerikanischer Einwanderung auf die US-amerikanische Brauindustrie vor der Prohibition”, in: Willi Kulke (ed.), Vom Streben nach Glück. 200 Jahre Auswanderung aus Westfalen nach Amerika. Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2016: 108-119.

Collective Review

• „Literaturbericht. Geschichte der USA. Teil II“, Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht 73 (2022): 90-107 [with Heike Bungert]
• „Literaturbericht. Geschichte der USA. Teil I“, Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht 72 (2021): 698-712 [with Heike Bungert].

Book Reviews and conference reports in: H-Soz-u-Kult, Amerikastudien, Yearbook of German-American Studies, Historische Zeitschrift.

Presentations (selection)

• German-American Brewers & Knowledge Transfer in the 19th Century (05/2023, research seminar, German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C.)

• A Revolution in Transatlantic Brewing Science: German-American Breweries in the 19th Century (04/2023, annual symposium, Society for German American Studies, Alexandria, VA).

• Lager, Beer Gardens, and Gemütlichkeit – A History of the German Influence on U.S. Beer” (04/2023, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Texas at Austin).

• Othering in Memory Cultures – A Transatlantic Perspective (02/2023, conference: Continuities of Othering. Old and New Forms of Racism, Old and New Forms of Populisms, El Colegia de México).

• Launching the Yearbook History of Intellectual Culture (12/2022, Seminar Series, Lund Centre for the History of Knowledge) [with Charlotte A. Lerg & Johan Östling]

• An “American Way of Gemütlichkeit”? The Rise and Fall of German-American Brewers (10/2021, conference: Rootedness and Acculturation: Experiences from German Immigrant Communities in the USA, 1883-1918, Université Bordeaux Montaigne).
• The Lager Beer Revolution and German Gemütlichkeit – A (Re)Invention of Ethnicity and Nation Branding? (07/2021, Colloquium History, JFK Institute, FU Berlin).
• “Fanatics”, “Muckers” & “Pharisees”: The Struggle of the United States Brewers’ Association Against the Temperance Movement (06/2021, Kolloquium North American Studies, Universität zu Köln).
• “We, Cold Water Girls and Boys Freely Renounce the Treacherous Joys of Brandy, Whiskey, Rum and Gin”: The Children’s Crusade against Demon Rum (04/2021, annual conference, Organization of American Historians, virtual).
• ‘Where Do We Go from Here?’ Recent and Future (German) Contributions to the Historiography of the Civil Rights Movement,  (11/2019, Workshop “Freedom Then, Freedom Now”: An Interdisciplinary and Transnational Dialogue on the U.S.-American Civil Rights Movement, Universität Oldenburg).
• Immigration in die USA im 19. Jahrhundert, Vorlesung (11/2019, Master of Advanced Studies in Applied History, Universität Zürich).
• The American Way of Gemütlichkeit: German-American Beer Culture in Historical Perspective (10/2019, annual conference, Midwest American Culture Association, Cincinnati, Ohio).
• Transatlantic Pioneers: German-American Brewers in 19th Century United States (07/2019, conference: New Perspectives on Transatlanctic Relations, Bayerische Amerika-Akademie, Amerikahaus München).
• “German Enemies”: World War I and the U.S. Brewing Industry (10/2017, conference: World War 100: A Centennial Symposium, University of Wisconsin-Madison).
• “Perfection in Brewing Is Reached in America”: German-American Brewers in the Global Midwest (10/2016, Symposium: German Iowa & The Global Midwest, University of Iowa).
• “The Art of Brewing Was Invented by the Germans”: Wisconsin’s Beer Barons and the Shaping of a German-American Drinking Culture in Pre-Prohibition USA (02/2015, Conference: Histories of American Foodways, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien, Universität Erfurt).
• A “National Day of Mourning”: Thanksgiving, Civil Religion, and Native Americans (06/2014, conference: Civil Religion in the United States, WWU Münster).
• “Faith in America”: Civil Religion and Billy Graham’s Honor America Day Campaign of 1970 (06/2014, lecture series: Religion and Media: Evangelicalism in the United States, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz).
• Rekindle the (Lost) "Spirit of ‘76"? Celebrating the ‘Glorious’ Fourth in Postwar America (02/2013, conference: Religion in American Life, King’s College, London, UK).
• “On this Memorial Day, we honor all of our fallen soldiers, their commitment to our country, and their legacy of patriotism and sacrifice”: Civil Religion and the Memorial Day Celebrations in the United States (04/2012, conference: European Social Science History Conference, University of Glasgow, UK).
• Civil Religion as a Rhetorical Instrument of Empowerment? The Martin Luther King Day in the United States (06/2011, conference: Empowerment and the Sacred, University of Leeds, UK).
• Zivilreligion – Möglichkeiten und Grenzen (02/2011, lecture series: Religion und Politik - (un)vereinbar?, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz).

Teaching

Courses at Münster University (Introduction to Modern History) since 2011:

• Die krisenhaften 1970er Jahre in den USA
• Unvollendete Revolution? Die Reconstruction nach dem U.S.-amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg, 1865-1877
• Die „Reagan-Revolution“ – Die USA in den 1980er Jahren
• Soziale Bewegungen in den USA
• Die Amerikanische Revolution
• Jenseits von Kornfeldern und Cowboys: Der Mittlere Westen der USA
• “Normalcy, Prosperity, Stability“? Die 1920er Jahre in den USA
• Gilded Age – Die USA im vergoldeten Zeitalter, 1870er bis 1900
• Progressive Era – Die USA im Zeitalter des Fortschritts und der Sozialreformen, 1890er-1920er
• Im Kampf für die Demokratie: Die USA im Ersten Weltkrieg
• Politik und Demokratie (together with Dr. Sandra Kraft)
• Drunk History: Die Geschichte des Alkohols in den USA
• ‘A Nation of Drunkards’? The Temperance Movement in the United States (in English)
• Crisis on Wall Street: The History of Capitalism in the U.S. (in English)
•  Malcolm X vs. Martin Luther King, Jr. (in English)

Colloquia at Münster University (since 2021)

• Frühe Neuzeit & Neuzeit: Wahrheitskonkurrenzen: Strategien und Reflexionen im Wandel von Öffentlichkeiten [with Olaf Blaschke, Heike Bungert, Nikolas Funke, Isabel Heinemann, André Krischer, Christoph Lorke, Ulrike Ludwig Silke Mende, Michael Sikora]

Courses at Jacobs University Bremen (2013-2014)

• (Introduction to) North American History (in English)

Courses at University of Kassel (2013-2014)

• ‘E Pluribus Unum’: Geschichte der Einwanderung nach Nordamerika
• Weltmacht USA: Die US-amerikanische Außenpolitik seit dem 19. Jahrhundert

Courses at University of Bremen (2007-2008)

• Introduction to Studies in English-Language Literatures and Cultures

English Teacher (A Levels), Schulzentrum Blumenthal, Bremen (2007)

(Co-)Organization of Conferences & Workshops

• International Knowledge Transfer within the Brewing Industry of the 19th and 20th Century (online Workshop, 10/2021) [with Nancy Bodden]
• Reformbewegungen in den USA, annual conference of the historians of the German Association for American Studies, 02/2020 [with Charlotte Lerg].
• “Freedom Then, Freedom Now”: An Interdisciplinary and Transnational Dialogue on the U.S.-American Civil Rights Movement, workshop, Universität Oldenburg, 11/2019 [with Andrea Strübind, Nicole Hirschfelder, Dominik Gautier, Carina Branković].
• Civil Religion in the United States, conference, University of Münster, 06/2014 [with Heike Bungert].
• Civil Religion, Religion, and Nation in the 19th and 20th Century (workshop, WWU Münster, 2010-2012) [with Christina Schröer].
• Sakralisierte Politik und politische Religion. Konfigurationen von Religion und Politik im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, conference, University of Münster, 02/2010 [with Christina Schröer].

Public Outreach/PR

• "Go West!- Geschichte der USA", Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Saarland, 2 March 2022
• Rassismus, Spaltungen und Unruhen in den USA – neue alte Probleme? (10/2020, podcast, WWU-Cast: https://www.uni-muenster.de/kommunikation/podcast/index. html)
• “heldenhaft gewaltfrei“ – Martin Luther King (05/2018, Katholikentag, Münster).
• Martin Luther King und die Bürgerrechtsbewegung in den USA (02/2018, panel discussion, VW Stiftung, Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover).
• “In God We Trust“: Zivilreligion in den USA (10/2017, 10. Bischöfliche Schülerakademie, In God We Trust, Münster).

• Der Einfluss deutsch-amerikanischer Einwanderung auf die US-amerikanische Brauindustrie (07/2017, Vortrag zur Ausstellung Vom Streben nach Glück: 200 Jahre Auswanderung aus Westfalen nach Amerika, LWL-Industriemuseum, Zeche Hannover, Bochum).

• “God’s Own Country? Zivilreligion und politische Kultur in den USA” (07/2016, 9. Bischöfliche Schülerakademie, Blick über den Atlantik, Münster).
• “Prost! America’s Beer History and German-American Migration” (11/2015, Fundraiser, Quench Your Thirst for Knowledge, Max Kade Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison).
• “Die Geschichte des Bieres in den USA” (04/2015, Schulzentrum Rübekamp, Berufsausbildung „Brauer und Mälzer“, Bremen).
• “‘Es knallten haushohe Kopfbälle von Dauerwelle zu Dauerwelle’: Frauenfußball in Deutschland – Von der Dauerwelle zur Marke, Soroptimist International Deutschland (Lecture, 05/2014, Münster).
• “Exzellenzforschung im Klassenzimmer”: Wie entsteht ein Forschungsprojekt? (11/2011, Kardinal-von-Galen-Gymnasiums und Gymnasiums St. Mauritz, Münster).
• “Thanksgiving – Entstehungsgeschichte und Mythos”, Deutsch-Amerikanische Gesellschaft Münster e.V. (Lecture, 11/2011, Münster).

Memberships

• American Breweriana Association
• American Popular Culture Association
• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien
• Gesellschaft für Geschichte des Brauwesens
• Max Kade Institute (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
• Society for German-American Studies
• Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
• Verband der HistorikerInnen Deutschlands