Making Sense of Ame­rica

Organizers: Ass.-Prof. Dr. Mahshid Mayar & Philipp Helge Leonhardt, MA

Keynote Lecture: Erica Fretwell - University at Albany, SUNY

While the sensorium and sense perceptions have long been considered as bodily dispositions that are determined by physiological and neurological factors, a cultural studies approach to the study of the senses complements this perspective by centering attention on how sense-making takes place in a relational, embodied, performative, and co-constructed manner and appears in interaction between individuals as the collection of lived experiences, being shaped as they are by mutually perceived perceptions and performed practices. As Erica Fretwell asserts, therefore, the task in exploring the various dimensions of sensory perception and sense-making, e.g., in the study of the US, is to “[reconsider] the senses not simply as objects of study but as methodologies: as a means of navigating and investigating the cultural materials, affective forces, and epistemological paradigms through which humans and nonhumans continue to both emerge and engage each other“ (“Introduction: Common Senses and Critical Sensibilities” 2018, 3). The two-day, international conference “Making Sense of America” brings together Americanists in a collective attempt at understanding the United States in this very frame: multisensory, embodied, co-created, and affective.