Democracy in Dissent: Pop Culture and Politics in a Polarized U.S.

In the organizer's words:

Join us in Düsseldorf where we discuss how popular culture influences U.S. politics.

Bad Bunny's 2026 Super Bowl performance sparked a national debate over U.S. American national identity and the history of American democracy. Popular culture has long played an important role in shaping U.S. politics as well as public protests - reflecting both conservative and progressive imaginaries. It has mobilized voices in increasingly polarized political debates through mass media spectacles and viral social media. In this public discussion event, we will address how popular culture has served as a vehicle for different political movements, both historically and in relation to the heated political climate in 2026 with its upcoming 250-year celebration of the Declaration of Independence.

We look forward to discussing these and further topics with:

PD Dr. Martin Lüthe is a scholar of North American Studies at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. He holds a Master's degree in North American Studies, Geography, and Anglo-American History from the University of Bonn and a PhD from Justus Liebig University Gießen. He was a DAAD fellow at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. In his research and teaching, Lüthe focuses on African American studies, popular culture and music, cultural theory, gender studies, and visual culture, with particular attention to media and transatlantic cultural dynamics. Lüthe has been affiliated with a range of international research institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania and the German Historical Institute Washington DC.

Johanna Roth studied literature and political science in Bamberg, Paris, and Berlin (M.A.) after spending a year abroad in Istanbul, and graduated from the German School of Journalism in Munich. She then worked as an editor on the opinion desk at taz for four years and reported as a freelance journalist from the southern United States. She was an editor in the politics, business, and society department at ZEIT ONLINE (later DIE ZEIT); since April 2022, she serves as a correspondent based in Washington, D.C. Her first book This is America - Is this America? will be published by Piper on April 30, 2026.

Dr. Svenja Engelmann-Kewitz is a postdoctoral researcher in American Studies at Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf since October 2025. She studied Comparative Literature/English and American Studies at Ruhr-University Bochum and finished her doctoral dissertation in American Studies at Dresden University of Technology in September 2025 with a thesis on ecocritical literature of the Circumpolar North. Her research interests include environmental humanities, ice humanities, new materialism, digital authorship and digital narratives, as well as future studies. Her postdoctoral research project investigates intersections of digital and environmental humanities in the context of imagining alternative futures in American literature and culture.

Seats are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. We kindly ask you to only reserve the number of tickets that you will definitely use.

You do not need to print out your Eventbrite ticket. The name under which you reserved your tickets will suffice to enter.

The venue is wheelchair accessible.

This event is held in cooperation with the Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf. This event is kindly supported by The State Government of North Rhine-Westphalia.