Jeroen DeWulf

Visting Professor from 26 January to 5 February?

The University of Regensburg was delighted to welcome Jeroen DeWulf as a visiting professor. He was in Regensburg for 10 days from 26 January to 5 February as part of the Regensburg-Berkeley Visiting Professorship Program, which is supported by the Regensburger Universit?tsstiftung.

Jeroen DeWulf is Queen Beatrix Professor in Dutch Studies and Professor in the Folklore Program at the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he is also director of the Center for Portuguese Studies, as well as the academic director for UC Berkeley Study Abroad. DeWulf simultaneously was a visiting professor at the LMU Munich and was coming to Regensburg as part of the partnership between the University of Regensburg and UC Berkeley. His main research areas are Dutch and Portuguese colonial history, the transatlantic slave trade, and the cultural, folkloric, and religious traditions of the African-American community. ?

He published the following books, among others:

His most recent book, Afro-Atlantic Catholics: America's First Black Christians (2023), won the 2024 John G. Shea Prize.

During his time in Regensburg, he was collaborating with the Department for Interdisciplinary and Multiscalar Area Studies (DIMAS), the Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America, the Regensburg European American Forum (REAF) and the Faculty of Catholic Theology.?

Afro-Atlantic Christians

They are decisive for the spread of Christianity in America - not the white missionaries. Jeroen DeWulf, UC Berkeley, showed why, in Regensburg. Click here for the article on the UR Science Blog.

During the lecture on “Afro-Atlantic Christians” (from left to right):?Dr. Paul Vickers (Leibniz Science Campus), Prof. Dr. Yves Kingata,?Prof.in Dr. Ursula Regener, Prof. Dr. Jeroen DeWulf, Prof. Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer.

(A selection of lectures by Prof. Dr. Jeroen DeWulf at the University of Regensburg can be found below).

INTERVIEW

THE ART OF THINKING TRANSATLANTIC CONNECTIONS: PROF. DR. JEROEN DEWULF (UC BERKELEY) IS A GUEST IN REGENSBURG

The cooperation between the University of Regensburg and the University of California, Berkeley, has enabled a transatlantic exchange for doctoral students and professors since 2017. The initiator of the program, Jeroen DeWulf, former director of the Institute of European Studies at UC Berkeley, visited Regensburg himself in January 2025 as part of the program. He spoke with DIMAS Managing Director Laura Niebling, who coordinates the exchange for the UR through the department, about the history, present and future of the UR-Berkeley Exchange and his concerns for the future of transatlantic relations. DeWulf's own research, which also focuses on transatlantic relations and which he presented at several lectures in Regensburg, is also closely linked to this.?

First of all, tell us something about the exchange program between UR and UCB - how did the collaboration come about?

In the summer of 2016, I met a visiting professor from UR, Prof. Thorsten Kingreen, in Berkeley. Thorsten Kingreen was a guest of the UC Berkeley School of Law, but his interest in transatlantic relations between Europe and the USA had led him to contact me. I had been Director of the Institute of European Studies for two years at the time and was very interested in expanding our research institute's contacts with colleagues in Germany. After all, our institute had been founded in 1990 on the initiative of the German government and was conceived as a center of excellence for relations between the newly reunified Germany and the USA. Originally, the institute - which was opened by Chancellor Helmut Kohl himself at the time - was called the "Center for German and European Studies“. It was not until 2000 that new research programs were added and the name was changed to the Institute of European Studies.

The relationship with Germany, which was very close in the 1990s under the leadership of the then Director Gerald D. Feldman, had later diminished. One of my priorities as the new director in 2014 was to strengthen this again. It was also important to me to supplement the often very narrow focus of American academics on Berlin with contacts at universities in other German cities. After all, Germany is more than just Berlin... I also had personal reasons to be happy about the meeting with Prof. Kingreen, as my very first trip abroad without family had once taken me to beautiful Schlehdorf am Kochelsee, an experience that has shaped me to this day and has triggered an everlasting fondness for Bavaria.

We both got on brilliantly and so the idea was born to initiate a cooperation agreement between the universities. In the person of UR President Prof. Udo Hebel - himself an Americanist - and Prof. Ulf Brunnbauer - Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies - we found the ideal partners to support this cooperation. This allowed the exchange program to be signed in 2017.

Photo: Prof.Dr. Jeroen DeWulf (middle) with?Prof.Dr. Ulf Brunnbauer (left) and Prof.Dr. Udo Hebel (right)

Why would you recommend UR doctoral students to do a residency at Berkeley?

Aside from the fact that an experience abroad in general is crucial for doctoral students in terms of research and networking, UC Berkeley has a lot to offer that is unique. It is considered the best state university in America and is one of the few that can compete with elite private universities such as Yale, Harvard or Stanford. After all, UC Berkeley has no fewer than 71 Nobel Prize winners (mostly in the field of physics) and seven of them teach at the university today. Plutonium was discovered at Berkeley, as well as 16 chemical elements (including berkelium) and vitamin E. The university also has a reputation as a place of critical thinking and protest - for example during the Vietnam War and the Free Speech Movement - which shaped the discussion about war, society and diversity worldwide in the 1960s. In the 21st century, UC Berkeley students were also prominently involved in the technological revolution in nearby Silicon Valley. In addition, the campus is beautiful and the San Francisco Bay Area has much to offer in terms of culture and entertainment.

How was your own experience in Regensburg this year? You had quite a full program in the 10 days with four lectures, various meetings and invitations - was the stay worth it?

The fact that I was invited to be a visiting professor at LMU Munich this semester made the visit to Regensburg easier. It was a great pleasure to be able to visit the most beautiful old town in Germany again, to see old colleagues and make new acquaintances. In addition, Prof. Brunnbauer had promised on his last visit to Berkeley to offer me a real Linzertorte on my return to Regensburg...?

Overall, during this second visit to Regensburg, I noticed how much concern there is about the future of Germany. During the last visit, in 2018, all my colleagues still seemed confident that Germany was on the right track. Today, things are different and very critical questions are being asked about the future of the economy, energy supply, internal and external security, social conditions, asylum and migration and, last but not least, party politics, and hardly anyone seemed to share the hope that the upcoming elections would offer a solution to these concerns. In fact, I had the feeling that I had traveled to a country in the midst of an existential crisis. A crisis to which the political developments in my own country have unfortunately contributed in no small measure...

You brought your research with you to Regensburg and coordinated lectures with the REAF, the Leibniz ScienceCampus, the Faculty of Catholic Theology and the Regensburg Folklore Society, among others (see below).

What research topics did you have with you in Regensburg, what did you want to bring back to Germany? What was the response from your colleagues in Regensburg? Did new research contexts arise?

My research is very interdisciplinary, which allows for relationships with a wide range of faculties. I was particularly pleased to have the opportunity to establish new contacts in the field of American studies and folklore research thanks to the mediation of Prof. Birgit Hebel-Bauridl and Prof. Manuel Trummer. This allowed me to make contact with Prof. Hirschfelder and Prof. Daniel Drascek, with whom I share various research interests, such as carnival and other festive customs. The contact with Prof. Ursula Regener of German Studies and Prof. Yves Kingata of Catholic Theology was also very stimulating for me, especially as I am very interested in German Romanticism and travel literature and Prof. Kingata, as a Congolese, is very well versed in the early history of the Kingdom of Congo, which has also influenced my research.?

And I finally had the opportunity to try a real Linzertorte with Prof. Brunnbauer, which tasted wonderful!?

Together with Prof. Timothy Nunan, we organized a “Your Way To Berkeley” event. What is the future of the “UR-Berkeley Exchange”? How do you personally envision the future of the exchange program? Do you have any wishes for the coming years?

During the visit, I had the opportunity to talk at length about ideas for expanding the cooperation. I would be particularly interested in expanding the cooperation in the Bachelor's and Master's area, although the inevitable question of the high American tuition fees arises. But perhaps a solution can be found here too.?

Press reports on the stay:

Gastprofessor Dr. Dewulf in Regensburg: Ein Blick auf Kolonialgeschichte! ? Das Wissen

Wissenschaftler aus Berkeley zu Gast an der Universit?t Regensburg - Regensburger Nachrichten - News, Meldungen und aktuelles aus der Region

Lectures during the stay at the University of Regensburg:

Afro-Atlantic Christians

04.02.25 | 6:15 pm | H26?
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Afro-Atlantische Christen: Eine neue Geschichte des afroamerikanischen Christentums (Presentation in German)

Afro-Atlantic Christians: A New History of African American Christianity

The historical development of Christianity in the African American community has traditionally emphasized the role of white missionaries. This presentation shifts the perspective to focus on the long-term influence of Afro-Atlantic Christians - Africans who had already adopted variants of early modern Portuguese Catholicism before arriving in the Americas.

This research project provides evidence that the first generations of enslaved Africans included a significant number of Afro-Atlantic Christians who laid the foundations for future religious, social, and political activities of the African American community. Historical documents illustrate the importance of one identity marker in particular: brotherhoods. Therefore, this book argues that the history of African American Christianity goes hand in hand with the history of African American confraternities and that the structures of these organizations were central to the development of the African American church in America despite the major changes brought about by changing social conditions.?

By shifting the focus to Afro-Atlantic Christians, the understanding of the history of African American Christianity changes dramatically. From passive bystanders, members of the black community are transformed into active pioneers who developed a form of Christianity with African roots and subsequently spread it throughout America.

In cooperation with the Leibniz Science Campus, Faculty of Catholic Theology - Yves Kingata and Laura Lieber (KT/DIMAS). A flyer of the event can be found here.

Flying Back to Africa or Flying to Heaven?

30.01.25 | 12:15 pm | ZH4
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Flying Back to Africa or Flying to Heaven? Competing Visions of Afterlife in the South Carolina Lowcountry and Caribbean Slave Societies.

This lecture presents a new theory on the famous African American folktale of the flying slaves, including the legend that only those who refrained from eating salt could fly back to Africa. Published in 1977, Toni Morrison’s novel Song of Solomon gave worldwide attention to this intriguing myth in Black America. Scholarly interpretations of the folktale have focused primarily on sources relating to the cultural heritage of Blacks from the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry, once the region with the highest concentration of enslaved Africans in mainland North America. Several variants of this tale can, however, be also found in the Caribbean.

This analysis of historical documents in combination with ethnographic and linguistic research traces the tale back to Central Africa and present a new interpretation of its original meaning by relating objections to eating salt to the Kikongo expression “curia mungua” (to eat salt), meaning baptism, and claims that the legend originated in the context of discussions among the enslaved about the consequences of a Christian baptism for one’s spiritual afterlife.?
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Cooperation with REAF and the Know In Netzwerk.?A flyer of the event can be found?here.

Your Way to Berkeley! Exchange Program Information Event

03.02.25 | 4-6 Upm | H24?
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Your Way to Berkeley! Exchange Program Information Event

Interested in a research stay in the USA? The director of the exchange program between the University of Regensburg and the University of California Berkeley, Prof. Dr. Jeroen DeWulf, is coming to Regensburg!

He invites you together with Prof. Dr. Timothy Nunan (UR, DIMAS) to find out more about UC Berkeley and the exchange program. All interested parties, but especially current and future doctoral students and their supervisors, as well as Regensburg professors from all disciplines are invited to attend. The event will take place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the H24 (Vielberth Building) - American pizza included, while stocks last!

In cooperation with DIMAS – Timothy Nunan.?A flyer of the event can be found here.