I completed my Master's degree in Atlantic Studies/History, Culture and Society in 2013. Since then, I have been working as a research assistant at the Department of History at Leibniz Universität Hannover and am doing my doctorate under Prof. Dr. Christine Hatzky on the topic of the German solidarity movement with Nicaragua in the 1980s from a gender-specific perspective, analyzing the interdependencies and exchanges between German and Nicaraguan women in the 1980s. When I decided to study for a Master's degree in Atlantic Studies/History, Culture and Society, the main deciding factors for me were the focus on content, the interdisciplinarity and the opportunity to study in a research-oriented way. During my Bachelor's degree, I developed a great thematic interest in Latin America as a region. The degree program gave me the opportunity to deepen this regional focus and at the same time broaden my perspective and see the continent in its transatlantic interdependencies. I was also able to further develop my second focus on gender studies through the courses on offer. The interdisciplinarity and the associated selection of seminars from different subjects and approaches were a great enrichment for me and an incentive to continue working in an interdisciplinary way. While at the beginning of my studies I would have placed my own focus more on sociology, I am now doing my doctorate at the Department of History. My work is thematically at the interface between sociological movement research, contemporary history and gender studies. Even if interdisciplinarity brings its own difficulties, an interdisciplinary perspective was (and is) a great enrichment for me and necessary for understanding societies. The degree program also enabled me to get to know the regions I work on. In addition to a three-week study trip to Mexico, I had the opportunity to spend a semester abroad at the Universidad de Costa Rica thanks to the close links with foreign universities. This has had a strong influence on my professional career to date. In addition to the somewhat clichéd-sounding “thinking outside the box”, the stay abroad unexpectedly brought me closer to my doctoral topic: I got to know Nicaragua as a country through a short trip and, after the stay abroad, developed the idea of doing a doctorate on my current research topic together with Prof. Hatzky. Almost 5 years after my stay abroad, I was back in Costa Rica to present my research project at a conference there - so in a way, I am still benefiting from the networks I was able to establish during my studies there. In addition to the good academic preparation provided by the content modules, the course also offers the opportunity to professionalize oneself in line with one's personal expectations. During my studies, I was able to take part in the annual conference of the Society for Anglophone Postcolonial Studies “Postcolonial Studies across the Disciplines”, which was held in Hanover in 2011, and contribute a conference report, as well as helping to put together an exhibition on the subject of “Mexico and Hanover since the 19th century”. A seminar on “Professional Skills”, with a strong focus on Master's students aiming for an academic career, prepared me for various challenges of everyday academic life: What funding opportunities do I have from foundations? How do I network academically? How do I write abstracts/conference reports? And how do I present at conferences, for example? All in all, the Master's course has strengthened my initial desire to do a doctorate and prepared me very well for my doctorate and my work as a research assistant at the university. This is not least due to the very personal support and encouragement from the coordinator and teaching staff.

Friederike Apelt

In October 2014, I completed my Master's degree in Atlantic Studies/History, Culture and Society at Leibniz Universität Hannover. The Master's enabled me to consciously cross my professional boundaries and to look at the Atlantic region from a new perspective. My main focus was on English literary studies. However, I was able to broaden my horizons with additional courses in sociology, history and Spanish. Here I focused on the Anglophone and Hispanophone Caribbean as well as West and South Africa. For my Master's thesis, which I designed as the first preliminary study for my dissertation project, I conducted research at the Universidad de Costa Rica and the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán. The Master's in Atlantic Studies/History, Culture and Society prepared me very well for my doctorate. The wide range of courses and events provided me with a pluralism of theories and methods that is helpful for my dissertation project. I am currently working on my dissertation in the field of Caribbean Studies, for which the Master's degree prepared me very well thanks to its interdisciplinary focus. In 2015, I received a doctoral scholarship for my project from the Graduate Academy Giessen (International Graduate Center for the Study of Culture, GCSC), which will support me for up to four years. The GCSC is one of the few institutes in Germany that enables me to pursue literary studies with a postcolonial and transnational focus.

Lea Hülsen

Dear future Atlanticists, I studied the Master of Atlantic Studies/History, Culture and Society between 2017 and 2020 as part of a double master's degree together with the Master of Education (teacher training master's degree). Although I always felt 'at home' in education, I was missing some topics in the teacher training program that I became increasingly interested in towards the end of my bachelor's degree. These included topics such as social inequality, (post-)colonialism and international cooperation. The Master's in Atlantic Studies/History, Culture and Society seemed to offer me the opportunity to explore these topics in greater depth. After an uncomplicated application process, I started studying here. Looking back, the Master's degree program fulfilled my expectations in many respects. I was able to attend a number of exciting seminars and even organize my own seminars with my fellow students. The latter was always supported by the lecturers and those responsible for the Master's program - just like our activities as the program's student council. As I was already involved in a cooperation with two Ghanaian universities during my Master's in Teacher Education, I also completed my research semester in the Ghanaian capital Accra. It was important to me to combine my pedagogical and professional interests - that's why I decided to do an internship with the Ghanaian teacher and dancer Frank Sam. During my four-month stay in Accra, I was able to assist in his classes and, above all, support his work with the young dance theater group Tete Adeyhemma. As this dance theater group has already participated several times in Ghanaian-German youth exchange programs, I also planned to write my master's thesis on this topic. In addition to my internship, I also conducted interviews with the group's participants, which I then analyzed in the context of my master's thesis.

The Master's degree in Atlantic Studies/History, Culture and Society has definitely opened the doors for me to explore careers outside the teaching profession. Since October 2020, I have been working as a research assistant and PhD student at the Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsmedien | Georg-Eckert-Institut in Braunschweig. Here, I am part of an international research project that deals with the connections between digital education and social inequality. The interdisciplinary and international orientation of the Master's program has prepared me well for this job - here, just like in my Atlantic Studies/History, Culture and Society studies, I have to quickly explore new and complex topics and perspectives theoretically and practically and negotiate them in an international team with partners in Mexico, Argentina, Sweden, Botswana and South Africa.

Felix Büchner