Habilitation Project: "A Lager Beer Revolution. German Migration and the Rise of American Lager as a (Re)Invention of Ethnicity, Knowledge, and Consumption, 1830s-1914"
Project Description: The project analyses the technological and cultural transfer of the “German art of brewing” to the United States. It covers the beginning of the 19th century, when German-style, bottom-fermented beers were first introduced until national prohibition in 1920, when the production, sale, and transport of alcohol over 0.5 vol.-% was legally banned. The focal point of the project is the transfer of the brand beer understood as a (re)invention of ethnicity, knowledge, and consumption, i. e. as a differentiated geographical, technological, and socio-cultural exchange process of ethnic brewing traditions. By building upon (transnational) studies in the field of (German-)American immigration, consumption history, and the history of knowledge and technology, the project is based on case studies in three regions: the Midwest (Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio), the east and west coast (New York, California).