Thomas Wagenknecht

Thomas Wagenknecht received his graduate teaching degree from Humboldt University, Berlin where he majored in English and Geography. He is currently pursuing both his work for an American-based study abroad organization and his PhD degree in American Cultural Studies researching American identities and the way they are impacted by study abroad experiences. His research interests encompass American identities, intercultural education and environmental justice.

Two "Eurotopian" Projections of America
at the Disjuncture between Chimera and Understanding

Thomas Wagenknecht reviews the reflections of Alexis de Tocqueville and Bernard-Henri Lévy on their respective travels to the United States. Both authors strengthen their reflections by providing theoretical models of America that allow them to formulate a set of generalized statements and to subsequently create a deeper understanding of the phenomenon "America" for their anticipated audiences. While trying to achieve generalized meanings, Tocqueville and Lévy cannot escape the ideological underpinnings of describing America from a European perspective. In that same process their supposedly deeper, yet inevitably simplifying descriptions of America and their meanings create an imaginative American landscape which not only exhibits utopian qualities but allows for and inhibits a better understanding at the same time. As origin and telos of their models, Tocqueville's choice of America's democracy and Lévy's insistence on America's indescribability are received with different success by their respective audiences. Such difference in response, however, cannot measure the scholarly gain that derives from both models of America.