Greeting by the General Editor of Amerikastudien / American Studies

The emergence and rise of COPAS to its current position as a major voice in the field of postgraduate American Studies publishing is a story of personal and academic initiative, enthusiasm, and success. I have had the privilege to follow the project and its ever-widening scope from its beginnings at the University of Regensburg as part of the 1999 conference of the Postgraduate Forum of the German Association for American Studies to the more recent participation of COPAS editors in the business meeting of international American Studies journals editors at the 2008 Annual Convention of the American Studies Association (ASA) in Albuquerque, NM. Now in its tenth year, COPAS stands as a favored platform for publications of young Americanists from all over Germany, with international interest in publishing in COPAS steadily growing. Looking back at the ten-year history of COPAS, its development becomes something like a gauge for larger developments in the field of American Studies as e.g.: the unwaning interest of promising young scholars in the inter­disciplinary perspectives and agendas of American Studies; the continued emphasis on international cooperation and networking especially in times of transnational research and teaching; the challenges and options of electronic publishing especially also in the context of  the unbroken attraction of visual culture studies. Given the importance of first publication opportunities for students in master and Ph.D. programs, COPAS is a fine example of creating new venues for innovative work from within the younger generation of the American Studies community, with the further extension of American Studies visions and the cultivation of high research and publication standards clear in view. For the years ahead, I wish COPAS and its editors, contributors, and readers all possible professional and personal success.

Udo Hebel

Chair of American Studies, University of Regensburg

General Editor, Amerikastudien / American Studies

May 2009