Helle Porsdam Professor Department of English University of Southern Denmark Campusvej 55 DK-5230 Odense M Tel: +45 6550 3109 Fax: +45 6593 0490 E-mail: helle@hist.sdu.dk

Helle Porsdam holds a five year appointment as Professor of American Studies. She holds an M.A. in English from the University of Copenhagen and a Ph.D in American Studies from Yale University, and a Dr. Phil. from University of Southern Denmark. In 1992-93 and again in 2000-2001 she was a Liberal Arts Fellow at the Harvard Law School. She teaches American History, and her research interests include law and American culture, American intellectual history, and literature. She has published widely on these topics. Among her publications may be mentioned Legally Speaking: Contemporary American Culture and the Law (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999), Fra pax americana til lex americana: En diskussion af dansk retliggørelse som en påvirkning fra USA (From Pax Americana to Lex Americana: A Discussion of Danish Legalization as an Influence from the United States - Århus: Magtudredningen, 2002), USA i det 21. århundrede (The U.S. in the 21st Century, with Carl Pedersen - Copenhagen: Columbus, 2005). She is the editor of Coming to a Theater Near You: det moderne USA set gennem film (Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag 2005) and Copyright and Other Fairy Tales: Hans Christian Andersen and the Commodification of Creativity (London: Edward Elgar Press, 2006). She is currently involved in a research project on human rights and the transatlantic dialogue and another on law and litereature.