The 2022 Ron Clifton Lecture in American Studies by Heinz Ickstadt

The Ron Clifton Lectureship in American Studies was inaugurated in 2018 to recognize the long service of Ron to the field of American studies at Salzburg Global Seminar.

This year marked the 75th edition of the Salzburg Global American Studies program, and the 2022 edition of the Ron Clifton lecture was given by Heinz Ickstadt, professor emeritus in American literature at the Kennedy Institute of North American Studies, Free University Berlin. When explaining the reasoning behind the topic of his lecture, Heinz said:

"I am in that phase of my life when I tend to reminisce and try to give account. Since my long academic life was committed to American Studies, I wondered why that was, and although I am aware of the mix between coincidence/opportunity and self-construction, I believe that my career was rooted in certain moments of experience (a seminar on Melville, the physical exposure to “America” and the significance it had for me from childhood on.)

"I also believe that a temperamental affinity to an idea of democracy built on communication) led me to embrace the democratic belief that is at the core of American Studies. At the same time, my own process of disillusionment ran parallel to the redefinition of American Studies that has characterized the development of the field during the last thirty years or so. I tried to reflect on my original enthusiasm, on where I stand now in an effort to be realistic and optimistic at the same time – something that brought me to John Dewey’s old-age essay on “Creative Democracy.”