Application Deadline: February 29, 2020

The Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles aims to be a vibrant transatlantic place for debate where outstanding personalities explore political, social, and cultural key issues of the present and the future in dialogue with each other and the host country. For 2021, we are again offering three- to ten-month fellowships at the Thomas Mann House.

Eligible are scholars working in the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, technological sciences, and economics, as well as pioneering thinkers and intellectuals from non-academic fields such as the arts and culture, politics, media, and business, who live or have lived in Germany for a longer period of time. German citizenship is not required.

Applicants should submit a project proposal that deals with the pressing challenges of our time and that has transatlantic relevance. The open dialogue with the general public is a key concern of the Fellowship program. Therefore, in addition to very good English proficiency, intellectual curiosity, and willingness to engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue, applicants are also expected to actively and intensively engage with conversations in and beyond California and network with partners and institutions across the United States. Applications must be accompanied by a meaningful letter of recommendation.

Priority will be given to applications on the following topics:

Defacement

• Digital Ethics: Recognition and Apprehension
• Social Transformation: Stigmatization and Loss of Face

States of Insecurity

• Welfare State Traditions in Germany and the United States
• What is the social and cultural glue that holds our societies together?

As a residency center owned by the Federal Republic of Germany, the Thomas Mann House and its interdisciplinary program owe much to the spirit of Thomas Mann. During his time in the United States, Mann, in his literary works, lectures, and essays, extensively dealt with issues around the roots of fascism, democratic renewal, freedom, migration, and exile. The Thomas Mann House builds on this tradition and engages with the relevant issues of our time. It brings together German and American interlocutors from different disciplines, intellectual and artistic traditions, and political backgrounds. Fellowships and events facilitate encounters and intellectual exchange.

The application form can be downloaded here. Application deadline is February 29, 2020 (postmarked).

Fellows will be selected by an independent advisory board appointed by the Board of Trustees of Villa Aurora & Thomas Mann House e. V.

The Thomas Mann Fellowships are generously supported by the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung, the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung.

Previous Thomas Mann Fellows:

2018 Prof. Dr. h.c. Ph.D. Jutta Allmendinger | Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Heinrich Detering | Prof. Dr.-Ing. Yiannos Manoli | Burghart Klaußner |

2019 Dr. Armen Avanessian | Dr. Damian Borth | Prof. Dr. Ilse Helbrecht | Prof. Dr. Stefan Keppler-Tasaki | Prof. Dr. Frido Mann | Andreas Platthaus | Prof. Dr. Andreas Reckwitz | Dr. Lisa Riedner

2020 Mohamed Amjahid | Prof. Dr. Rainer Forst | Prof. Dr. Michael Zürn | Prof. Dr. Christoph Möllers | Doris Kleilein | Friederike Meyer | Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Marx | Birte Meier | Prof. Dr. Heike Paul | Prof. Dr. Claus Pias | Prof. Dr. Bernhard Pörksen | Prof. Dr. Katharina Sykora