Every year, the Fulbright Prize in American Studies is awarded to one or two individuals as part of a competition managed by the Austrian Association for American Studies, and the winner receives a cash prize financed by Fulbright Austria. This year, the award went to Eléonore Tarla for her master's thesis, entitled "Preparedness, Defense, Success: The Imagination of Survival in Contemporary U.S.-American Survivalist Manuals." Following the award ceremony, we sat down with Eléonore to gain more insight into her research.

00:00 Intro
00:57 How would you summarize your thesis?
01:54 What interested you in the topic?
02:59 You break down your discussion of survival into three distinct areas: preparedness, defense, and success. How does this distinction present itself in common understanding and common conceptualizations of survival?
04:52 How has the notion of surviving evolved over time?
06:51 What are the positive and negative effects of the word “survivor” shifting from a neutral term to describe a person who has remained alive to a less neutral term that includes those who have experienced sexual assault, overcome adversity, etc.?
10:05 What does the Fulbright Prize in American Studies mean to you?