Just in time for the holidays, the Review of International American Studies has published its latest issue, titled “Car Culture(s): Machines, Roads, Mythologies.”

It is a delight to have contributed to it with the article “Buddies, Lovers, and Detours: America and its Road Movies.” It asks: Is an open road also a democratic one? The article zooms in on the films Queen & Slim and Unpregnant to discuss the American road movie genre from the perspective of 2021 and how contemporary film narratives intersect with race and gender.

Many thanks to the students in my 2019-2020 course “Head Out on the Highway: The Cultural History of the American Road Movie” at LMU Munich’s Amerika-Institut. This one’s for you. Thanks for expanding my own views of the genre and for such lively (and fun) discussions.