Studying American culture is an immense task undertaken by scholars from around the country and around the world. However, an oft-met obstacle in these examinations is the unfamiliarity U.S. researchers and their foreign colleagues have with each others’ research.

It is this obstacle that a relatively new unit on campus has sought to address. The International Forum for U.S. Studies (IFUSS), founded by Dr. Jane C. Desmond and Dr. Virginia R. Domínguez at the University of Iowa in 1995 with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, moved to its new institutional home at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2007, where it is now a part of International Programs and Studies.

Their latest project, “Japan in the U.S. and the U.S. in Japan: The Role of National Identity in Global Circuits of Consumptions and Exchange,” seeks to address the need for research on national identity as it is constructed within both local and global realms.
“We believe that scholarly attempts to theorize the complexities of what gets termed “globalization” have tended to fall under two extremes:  Either they sketch in theoretical terms a series of large scale flows across multiple registers with little anchoring data, or they concentrate on the specific impacts of global change on local, small-scale communities,” said Desmond. “As yet, our paradigms of global change have not sufficiently benefited from detailed, comparative, on-the-ground ethnographic analysis conducted in conversation with large-scale theories of the dynamics of these changes.”
                                         
As part of the initiative, IFUSS has formed a partnership with the School of American Studies at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. The project is expected to run for three years and will involve teams of researchers affiliated with both Doshisha University and the University of Illinois. It constructs a case-study of a bi-national relationship between the U.S. and Japan, two economic engines with extensive political power, both deeply imbricated in the dynamics of global flows.

“We will ask when, how, and with what effects the attribution of national origin makes a difference in how “culture in motion” travels and is received, mobilized, and transformed as it flows from one site to another and back again,” Desmond said. “By designing a bi-national, team-based ethnographic research project, we hope to be able to contribute substantially to a better understanding of the processes of globalization and the scholarly paradigms currently used to understand them.”

In addition to the Japan-U.S. project, during 2009 IFUSS will launch “IAUS” -- the International Anthropology of the U.S., a new, multi-year initiative.  It will address the relative lack of anthropological study on the U.S. by scholars located outside the U.S.  At its first planning meeting this April, Drs. Helena Wulff and Ulf Hannerz from Sweden, Dieter Haller from Germany, Moshe Shokeid from Israel, and Keiko Ikeda from Japan will meet at IFUSS to help frame this exciting new project. 

These two projects are just a portion of the efforts IFUSS has undertaken since its arrival on the Illinois campus. During its first year at Illinois in 2007, IFUSS welcomed five distinguished scholars from outside the United States:  Drs. Eva Federmayer, Giorgio Mariani, Sabine Broeck, Keiko Ikeda, and Isar Godreau.  Their work was featured in IFUSS’ Spring 2008 Colloquium Series as well as other public venues.  The visiting fellows had the opportunity to network with colleagues from various departments at Illinois, including English, African-American Studies, Music, Anthropology, Asian Studies, and Gender and Women’s Studies.

The 2008-2009 academic year was especially active.  In Fall 2008, IFUSS sponsored a Fall Speaker’s Symposium on “U.S. Studies in a Transnational Context,” featuring Fall Fellows Professor Guillermo E. Ibarra, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa; Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Marandi, Head of the Institute for North American Studies, University of Tehran, Iran; and Associate Professor Maureen Montgomery, Head of American Studies Program, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.  Currently, IFUSS is hosting Jasmin Habib, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, whose current research, “Diaspora and Dissidents,” explores U.S. Jewish activists critical of Israel and its policies.

The appointment of Fellows for Research Residencies lies at the heart of IFUSS activities.  Through a combination of open global competitions and direct invitations, IFUSS hosts exceptional scholars from outside the U.S. for on-campus residencies lasting from two weeks to six months.  While in residence, Fellows pursue their own research, with access to University library facilities.  They also lead colloquia, participate in faculty seminars, and sometimes teach a course or guest lecture in their specialty area, stated Desmond.  The Fellows come from various disciplinary backgrounds.  In addition to hosting Fellows who are identified as part of “American Studies,” IFUSS hosts scholars from disciplines such as Political Science, Economics, History, American Literature, and Anthropology.

It is through these and other activities that IFUSS aims to “internationalize” the practice of American Studies in the United States by placing foreign and domestic scholars in dialogue. “By bringing together multiple perspectives, forged in the academic traditions and national contexts of each participant’s scholarly community, IFUSS seeks to foster a more complex understanding of the many facets of U.S. culture,” explained Desmond.

IFUSS looks forward to working with the campus community to enrich our dialogue and scholarship about the United States.  The staff currently consists of Director and co-founder Jane Desmond, Consulting Director and co-founder Virginia Dominguez, Program Coordinator Anita Kaiser, Program Assistant Lauren A. Anaya, and Program Assistant Melinda Bernardo. The staff encourages you to get to know IFUSS’ visiting Fellows and welcomes you to join in their projects and programs.  For more information regarding IFUSS, as well as for updates on their programs and upcoming events, please visit the web site at www.ips.illinois.edu/ifuss.