Dr. Helen Gibson
Professor/in
Sprechstunde
Office Hours
Winter Semester 2024/25
During the winter semester Prof. Helen Gibson will hold office hours on Wednesdays from 11am to 1pm in room 207 or by appointment.
Education
10/2015 – present
Doctoral Candidate, Graduate School of North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
10/2012 – 09/2014
M.A. in American History, Culture and Society, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
08/2001 – 05/2005
B.A. in American Studies, University of Virginia
Academic Employment
04/2013 – 04/2014
Tutor, Amerika-Institut Writing Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Grants and Awards
09/2020 - 12/2020
STIBET grant, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
10/2015 - 09/2019
Doctoral Fellowship, German Research Foundation (DFG)
03/2017
Heidelberg Spring Academy grant, Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA)
06/2016
Futures of American Studies grant, John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies (JFKI)
Conferences and Colloquia Co-Organized
"From Canada to Mexico: Doctoral Lab in North American History," Freie Universität Berlin, May 2016 – May 2019.
16th Annual NYLON Conference, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, March 23-25, 2018.
Postgraduate Forum (PGF) of the German Association for American Studies (DGfA/GAAS), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, November 9-11, 2017.
“Flows and Undercurrents: Dimensions of (Im)mobility in North America,” GSNAS Graduate Conference 2016, Freie Universität Berlin, June 2-4, 2016.
Workshops Organized
"The GAAS in 2030: Imagining Future Practices of Critical Diversity in American Studies." Workshop co-conducted at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, October 12, 2020.
“NYLON Mixtapes: A Workshop on Critical Social Research.” Workshop co-conducted at the 15th Annual NYLON Graduate Student Conference, New York University, NYU Institute for Public Knowledge, March 31-April 2, 2017.
Memberships
NYLON Berlin
German Association for American Studies
Undergraduate:
Gendering American History, Helen Gibson, Mondays,12:00-14:00
Other-than-Human Ecologies on Turtle Island, Helen Gibson, Mondays, 14:00-16:00
Graduate:
Histories of (Racial) Capitalism, Helen Gibson, Tuesdays, 12:00-14:00
Winter Semester 2020/21Undergraduate:
On Care Work: Black Midwifery and a History of Science, 1619 to 1877, Wednesdays 12:00-14:00
Research Interests
Helen's research interests include the intersection of the histories of citizenship and incarceration in the United States and the limits of consumption-as-citizenship in American society. In her dissertation project, entitled “Joyriding across the Color Line: Automotivity and Citizenship in the United States, 1895-1939,” she explores the unique circumstances faced by Black Americans in the twentieth-century American pursuit of freedom through driving.