The 43rd Annual Conference of the German Studies Association (GSA) took place in Portland, OR from October 3-6, 2019. Founded in 1976, The GSA is the premier multi- and interdisciplinary association of scholars focused on German, Austrian, and Swiss history, literature, culture studies, political science, and economics. The conference brings together over 1,000 scholars to present and discuss the latest research in over 150 panel sessions.
Austrian scholars and Austrianites alike have been playing an active role, presenting the newest findings in Austrian studies. Official Austria was represented by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science, and Research, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY), and the Austrian Press and Information Service in Washington, DC.
As in previous years, the ACFNY hosted a networking reception for scholars during which the ACFNY conference travel grants were presented to the awardees by its director, Dr. Michael Haider. In addition, the Federal Ministry presented its grants at the conference, and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Austrian Studies, represented by Professor Howard Louthan, awarded its annual dissertation prize.
The Austrian Press and Information Service, in cooperation with the Austrian Marshall Plan Center for European Studies at The University of New Orleans, hosted the Austrian Desk in the conference’s exhibit area. The desk showcases recent publications in the field of Austrian studies, including the newly published book on Austrian immigration to the United States, the ACFNY’s literature program, and publications by the Documentation Archives of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW) in Vienna. It also serves as a meeting point for Austrianists throughout the conference.
This year’s conference took place in beautiful Portland, Oregon.
A view of the Austrian desks in the exhibit area.
Dr. Michael Haider, Director of the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (left), and Dr. Christoph Ramoser, Head of the Science Ministry’s International Department (right), present a grant to the University of Innsbruck’s Bernhard Achhorner.
Professor Guenter Bischof (Center Austria, The University of New Orleans) organized the panel on "Austrian Studies at the GSA" in Honor of Gerald Fetz, long-time Secretary-Treasurer of the GSA with (from left to right) Wilfried Garscha, Dokumentationsarchiv des Oesterreichischen Widerstandes (Vienna), Guenter Bischof (Chair), Gerald Fetz (Laudator & Respondent), Margarete Lamb-Faffelberger (Lafayette College), and Frank Trommler (University of Pennsylvania emeritus). Josef Leidenfrost (Ministry of Education, Science, and Research) could not be present on the panel and had his paper read by Bischof.
Photo: Martin Kofler
The University of New Orleans’ Center Austria sponsored the panel on "Mediating the Importance of Historic Photography," with (from left) Hannes Richter from the Austrian Embassy, Washington, DC (on a current project of Austrian immigration to the U.S. as public diplomacy outreach), Guenter Bischof (chaired session), Ina Markova (about the Austrian Visual Memory of 1945 -- was it victimization or liberation?), and Martin Kofler (Lienz) and Notburga Siller (Bozen), who talked about a European Union project collecting historic photographs in the Tyrol region (North, South, and East).
A busy networking reception in the conference’s exhibit area.