John-F.-Kennedy-Institut für Nordamerikastudien
Service-Navigation
Prof. Dr. Sönke Kunkel
Freie Universität
John F. Kennedy Institute
Juniorprofessor
Sprechstunde
Please note: Credit transfer forms have first to be signed by the respective department (for affine modules contact David Bosold first). I also need a transcript from you. You can leave your documents in the office of the History Department and pick them up again a week later. You will have to bring them to the Prüfungsbüro yourself.
Office hours: Mondays, 5 p.m.- 6 p.m.
No appointment required -- you can simply stop by during office hours.
If you'd like to register your BA/MA thesis: If you simply need my signature on the form, you can leave the form in the office of the History Department and pick it up a week later. You will have to hand it in at the Prüfungsbüro yourself.
Education
2011
PhD in Intercultural Humanities/History, Jacobs University, Bremen
2010
Recognized Student, University of Oxford
2007 – 2008
Visiting Fellow, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2005 – 2006
Master of Arts (History), Ohio State University
2002 – 2005
Bachelor of Arts (American History, Philosophy, Medieval and Contemporary History, Political Science), University of Cologne
Academic and Employment Career
2013 – 2017
Vorstandsreferent, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
2011 – 2013
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Jacobs University Bremen
2006 – 2007
Research Assistant, History Department, University of Cologne
Fellowships and Research Grants
2010 – 2012
Research Grant and Member of the Oslo Contemporary International History Network
2009 – 2011
Doctoral scholarship, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
2008 – 2009
Research and Travel Grant, Deutsches Historisches Institut, Washington D.C.
2005 – 2006
Fulbright Scholarship
2004 – 2008
Scholarship, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
2005
Language Grant, Irmgard Ulderup Stiftung (Spanisch-Sprachkurs in Salamanca)
Conferences Organized
2013
Media and Performative Politics in International Relations, Workshop, University of Cologne
2011
Shifting Visions of Development: International Organizations, Non-State Actors, and the Rise of Global Governance, 1945-1990, International Conference, Jacobs University Bremen
2009
Globale und Transnationale Konfigurationen der Zwischenkriegszeit, Workshop, Jacobs University Bremen
Summer Semester 2019
Histories of Global Aid in Premodern and Modern Times, 1600s-2000s, Tuesdays 8:00-10:00
Holy Humanitarians? European and American Missionaries in the Age of Colonialism 18thto 19thCentury, Tuesdays 10:00-12:00
Winter Semester 2018/2019
Undergraduate:
Understanding North America A: Fridays 10:00-12:00 and 14:00-16:00
Circulating Knowledge: Science and Environmental Change in Europe and North America since the 19th Century: Tuesdays 8:00-10:00
Summer Semester 2018
Introduction to U.S. and Global Environmental History, Tuesdays 8:00-10:00
American Science Diplomacy and Science Communication since the 19th Century, Tuesdays 10:00-12:00
Winter Semester 2017/18
Understanding North America (UNA) A
Global America and its Transnational Connections, 1870s to 1920s
Summer Semester 2017
The Life and Death of American Cities, Tuesdays: 08:00-10:00
Masters of Spin: Corporate Communications, PR, and Marketing in American History, Tuesdays 14:00-16:00
2013
“Latin American History in a Global Context, 19th Century to Today“, Jacobs University Bremen, WS 2012/2013
2012
“North American History: Rise to Globalism. American Foreign Relations since 1900“, Jacobs University Bremen, WS 2011/2012
2011
“The United States and Colonialism in the Twentieth Century“, Jacobs University Bremen, WS 2010/2011
2010
“Writing History: Concepts, Methods, and Approaches“, Jacobs University Bremen, WS 2010/2011
2009
“Doing Research in Intercultural Humanities: Methods and Approaches“, WS 2009/2010
“The United States in the World Arena, 1898-1990“, Jacobs University Bremen, Intersession-Course, WS 2009/2010
2006 – 2007
„Einführung in die Methoden der Geschichtswissenschaft“, Tutorial, Universität zu Köln
- Media history, political communication, and propaganda as well as organizational communication
- History of American foreign policy in a global context
- History of international organizations, globalization, and global governance
- History of development policy
- Urban history
Monographs
- Empire of Pictures: Global Media and the 1960s Remaking of American Foreign Policy, New York: Berghahn Books (Explorations in Culture and International History, Vol. 8), 2016.
A review of Empire of Pictures can be found in Diplomatic History (2017) 41 (3): 646-649.
Edited Volumes
- International Organizations and Development, 1945 – 1990 (with Marc Frey and Corinna Unger), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (Palgrave Macmillan Transnational History Series), 2014.
- Aufbruch ins postkoloniale Zeitalter: Globalisierung und die außereuropäische Welt in den 1920er und 1930er-Jahren (with Christoph Meyer), Frankfurt a. M.: Campus (Series Globalgeschichte, Vol. 12), 2012.
Journal articles
- “Zwischen Globalisierung, Internationalen Organisationen und ‚Global Governance:‘ Eine kurze Geschichte des Nord-Süd-Konflikts in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren,“ Vierteljahreshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Vol. 60, No. 3 (Oktober 2012), 555-577.
- “Writing the History of Development: A Review of the Recent Literature,“ Contemporary European History, Vol. 20, No. 2 (2011), 215-232 (with Marc Frey).
- “Systeme des Wissens, Visionen von Fortschritt: Die Vereinigten Staaten, die Dekolonisierung und das Jahrzehnt der Modernisierungstheorie, 1954-1965,“ in: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, Vol. 48 (2008), 155-182.
- “Verhandelte Symbolik: Die Vereinten Nationen und die Four Freedoms Flag,“ in: Vereinte Nationen, Vol. 56, No. 6/2008, 263-268 (with Jost Dülffer).
Articles in edited volumes
- “Introduction: International Organizations, Global Development, and the Making of the Contemporary World,” in: Frey/Kunkel/Unger (eds.), International Organizations and Development, 1945-1990, 1-22 (with Marc Frey und Corinna Unger), 2014.
- “Contesting Globalization: The United States Conference on Trade and Development and the Transnationalization of Sovereignty“, in: Frey/Kunkel/Unger (eds.), International Organizations and Development, 1945-1990, 240-258, 2014.
- “Dimensionen des Aufbruchs: Die 1920er und 1930er-Jahre in globaler Perspektive“, in: Kunkel/Meyer (eds.), Aufbruch ins postkoloniale Zeitalter, 7-33 (with Christoph Meyer), 2012.
- “Fortschritt nach Plan? Der globale Entwicklungsdiskurs des Völkerbundes und die Anfänge des systemischen Denkens,“ in: Kunel/Meyer (eds.), Aufbruch ins postkoloniale Zeitalter, 123-141 (with Christoph Meyer), 2012.
- “Amerikanischer Wissenstransfer im Nigeria der frühen 1960er Jahre,” in: Bernd Greiner/Tim B. Müller/Claudia Weber (eds.), Macht und Geist im Kalten Krieg, Hamburg 2011, 341-358, 2011.
- “Ernst Cassirer – Vordenker der Bildwissenschaft? Plädoyer für eine Rehabilitierung,“ in: Urs Büttner et. al. (eds.), Potentiale der symbolischen Formen. Eine interdisziplinäre Einführung in Ernst Cassirers Denken, Würzburg 2011, 93-100, 2011.
- “Weimar’s Politainment. Zukunftsentwürfe und Modellierungen des Politischen in der deutschen Unterhaltungsgesellschaft (1924-1931),“ in: Urs Buettner/Christoph Bareither (eds.), Fritz Langs ‘M’ – Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder. Texte und Kontexte, Würzburg 2010, 149-158, 2010.