About the Author

Stephanie Schäfer was born in Braunschweig in 1984. After her graduation in 2004 and two years of law school, she received a BA degree in International Communication and Translation from the University of Hildesheim specializing in Business Translations of English and Spanish. Ever since her High School Year in 2001, the author has formed a special bond with the culture and history of the United States, and the state of Texas in particular. In accordance with that special interest she chose to write her BA-thesis about the impact of Mexican culture on U.S. border states. In the course of her MA degree program North American Studies at the Philipps University of Marburg, Stephanie Schäfer focused mainly on the academic field of cultural studies. At the end of her studies, she returned to Texas to do some in-field research for her work on the authentic Texas country music identity.