American Studies gave me the background knowledge I use every day

“I had worked with the United States for many years before I started studying American Studies. I was a correspondent in the U.S. from 2014 to 2019, and for me the degree became an important supplement to that experience. I needed a kind of clothesline to hang all my experiences and observations on, so I could better understand American politics, history, and culture – and how it all fits together, including in relation to business.

I also wanted to move away from traditional journalism. Not because I wanted to leave communication behind, but because I wanted to work in a different way than the logic of the news cycle allows. Even though American Studies is a ‘soft’ humanities degree, it gave me both methodological tools and an academic approach to sources, which I use very concretely today.

My work as a USA commentator is largely about saying something that is accurate. I spend a lot of time reading sources, including academic ones, and trying to understand current events within historical and cultural frameworks. When an American president, for example, uses concepts such as manifest destiny, a bell rings for me. These are not just words, but references to myths and narratives that have shaped the United States over centuries. That understanding puts me in a better position to analyse and explain to television viewers what that means.

In addition to my work as a commentator, I run my own business, where I help Danish companies understand the United States as a market. Here, cultural understanding is absolutely crucial. If you simply think, ‘Why don’t they do things the way we do in Denmark?’, you cannot work with the U.S. You need to know the history and the cultural codes in order to navigate properly and avoid stepping on the wrong toes.

That is also why I think the competencies from American Studies are somewhat under-communicated – especially in relation to exports and international business. The programme provides a depth of understanding that can be difficult to put into words, but which is essential for trade and cooperation. For me, it has given a professional depth that I use every single day.”