German-Australian Encounters and Cultural Transfers

Benjamin Nickl is an assistant professor and instructor in Transnational Studies at the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Sydney. Master of Arts degrees in American Cultural Studies from the University of Regensburg, Germany, as well as in German Studies and European Studies from Georgetown University, USA, inform his research on transnational Muslim identity discourses in Western societies. Benjamin's publication record includes inquiries in the global circulation of popular culture products in the new century in the media areas of film, television, and literature.Irina Herrschner is a research and teaching associate in German Studies at the School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Melbourne. Her doctoral research focuses on cultural diplomacy, global mobilities and transcultural connections. Irina holds a Master of Tourism from Monash University and has published on urban resilience, contemporary mobilities and film induced tourism. Before coming to Australia, Irina studied and worked in the UK, Spain and Vietnam.Elzbieta Gozdziak is Research Professor at the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) at Georgetown University. Her current research projects include the integration of Central American children and adolescents in the US, urban refugees in Malaysia, adults trafficked to the US and returned trafficked victims in Poland, Moldova, Thailand, and Nepal. Elzbieta was previously an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, and taught at the Howard University's School of Social Work in the Social Work with Displaced Populations Program, and managed a program area on admissions and resettlement of refugees in industrialized countries for the Refugee Policy Group. She is a recipient of two Fulbright grants to teach and conduct research in Poznan, a residential fellowship at the Rockefeller Center in Bellagio, Italy, has served as Editor of the journal International Migration and held a senior position with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in the US Department of Health and Human Services.