Biographical Information
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03/2010 |
EU-Socrates research stay at the University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu |
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since 05/2008 |
Lecturer/research assistant at the Institute for Anglophone Studies (Prof. Annette Kern-Stähler), University Duisburg-Essen
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summer term 2008 |
Organizer of Fulbright lecture series “Globalized North America” at the Center for North American Studies (ZENAF), Frankfurt
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03/2007 - 03/2008 |
Junior lecturer/research assistant at the Department of New English Literatures (Prof. Frank Schulze-Engler), Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main
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01/2007 - 07/2011 |
Work on Ph.D. project on US-American inoutside perspectives in anglophone twenty-first-century novels
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04/2005 – 04/2008 |
Member of the organizing committee of the 8th Summer School of the New Literatures in English (3-7 September 2007, Frankfurt/Main)
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11/2006 |
Magistra Artium ("with distinction")
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01/2006 - 07/2006 |
MA thesis on “cross-racial narration” in the New English Literatures
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09/2004 - 11/2006 |
Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main |
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09/2003 - 06/2004 |
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, DAAD scholarship
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09/2001 - 08/2003 |
Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main
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08/2000 - 07/2001 |
Namdals Folkehøgskole, Grong, Norway |
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7/2008 - 07/2010 |
Member of the executive board of The Calliopean Society e.V.
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05/2005 - 05/2009 |
Member of the executive board of the German Association for the Study of the New Literatures in English
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4/2005 - 05/2009 |
Member of the research colloquium “Transculturality in the English-Speaking World” (chaired by Prof. Frank Schulze-Engler, Frankfurt/Main) |
Memberships
- Association for the Study of the New Literatures in English (ASNEL)
- European Association for Commonwealth Language and Literature Studies (EACLALS)
- The Calliopean Society e.V.
Areas of Teaching and Research
Teaching and Research Interests:
interfaces of global anglophone literatures and cultures, American studies and English studies, globalization theory and “Americanization”, transcultural studies, cosmopolitanism, performativity, fundamentalism, Pakistan, South Africa, migrant literatures, US-American and British literature and culture of the present as well as the 19th and the 20th century, film studies
Current Research Project:
“Private Life, the Artist and the ‘Terrorist’: US-American Inoutside Perspectives in Anglophone Twenty-First-Century Novels” (doctoral thesis)
supervisors: Prof. Annette Kern-Stähler and Prof. Jens Gurr
submitted: July 2011
This study explores contemporary literary encounters with US-American locations, lifeworlds and characters. The novels that are the object of analysis originate from the global sphere of anglophone literatures beyond the USA and ‘mainstream’ Great Britain. Since 11 September 2001, novels such as the ones examined in this study have become subject to heightened attention. This may be mainly due to the collective search for an answer to the question that was circulating in the ‘West’ in the aftermath of the attacks: ‘Why do they hate us?’ My analysis of nine twenty-first-century novels broadens the scope of engagement with literary perspectives on the USA. The novels’ literary inquiries go beyond the ‘outsider’s perspective’; their encounters with US-American lifeworlds are intimate and largely unrestricted by their authors’ cultural and national origin. As a central analytical category, I adapt Obioma Nnaemeka’s concept of the ‘inoutsider.’ In addition to this, I draw on theories of globalization, Americanization and cosmopolitanism and consider the importance of stereotypes as elements of established social scripts or as a form of cultural knowledge. The literary analysis locates inoutsiders and examines inoutside perspectives in novels by Zadie Smith, Peter Carey, Imraan Coovadia, Salman Rushdie, Caryl Phillips, Chris Abani, Mohsin Hamid, Hari Kunzru and DBC Pierre. These texts articulate multi-layered perceptions of the USA, US-American history, politics and society. In doing so, they do not necessarily answer the simplistic question ‘Why do they hate us?’ but propose readings of the USA as situated in a globalized world.
Teaching:
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WS 2011/2012 |
PS Zombies, Killers, Superheroes: The Subversion of Genre in Contemporary Cinema Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen Film: Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004), Defendor (Stebbings, 2009), Watchmen (Snyder, 2009), Zombieland (Fleischer, 2009), Kick-Ass (Vaughn, 2010), Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (Craig, 2010), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Wright, 2010) |
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SS 2011 |
Blockseminar: Alternative Lives, Dreams and Memories: Contemporary Film and the Inner Workings of the Brain (Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen) Film: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004), Waltz with Bashir (Folman, 2008), Mr. Nobody (Van Dormael, 2009), Inception (Nolan, 2010) |
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WS 2010/2011 |
PS “Maureen Freely's Istanbul: Uncovering Secrets and Memories” Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen Novel: Maureen Freely, Enlightenment (2007) Short texts: by Maureen Freely, John Freely, Orhan Pamuk Photography: Ara Güler |
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SS 2010 |
HS “Gender and Social Criticism in Jane Austen” Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen Novels: Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Persuasion (1818) Film/TV Material: Pride and Prejudice (Simon Langton, 1995); Pride and Prejudice (Joe Wright, 2005); Mansfield Park (Patricia Rozema, 1999); Persuasion (Roger Michell, 1995)
Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen Texts: selected poetry by E.E. Cummings, Seamus Heaney, Merrill Moore, Jan Kemp, Chris Abani, Jackie Kay, George Elliott Clarke, Linton Kwesi Johnson et al. |
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WS 2009/2010 |
Ü Introduction to Literary Studies Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen HS Religious Battlegrounds - Literary Controversies Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen Novels: Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses (1988); Tristan Egolf, Lord of the Barnyard (1998); James Wood, The Book Against God (2003) Film/TV Material: „Hypotheticals“ (BBC), episode „A Satanic Scenario“ (30 May 1989); Religulous (Maher, 2008), Jesus Camp (Ewing & Grady, 2006) Guest Lecturer: Wanja von der Goltz (on „The Simpsons“) |
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SS 2009 |
PS Fictions of Atonement: Guilt as a Literary Trope Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen Novels: Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World (1986); Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987); J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace (1999); Ian McEwan, Atonement (2001) Film: Reservation Road (George, 2007), Beloved (Demme, 1998), Atonement (Wright, 2007) |
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WS 2008/2009 |
HS: 9/11: Textual and Visual Responses (Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen) Novels: Ken Kalfus, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country (2006), Jonathan Raban, Surveillance (2006), Don DeLillo, Falling Man (2007), Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) Graphic Novels: Art Spiegelman, In the Shadow of No Towers (2004); Sid Jacobsen & Ernie Cólon, The 9/11 Report (2006) Film: 11'09''01 (Chahine et al., 2002), 9/11 (J. & G. Naudet et al., 2002) |
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SS 2008 |
Blockseminar: Roald Dahl’s Crazy Visions in Words and (Moving) Pictures (Department of Anglophone Studies, Essen) Texts: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964); Tales of the Unexpected (1979) and other short stories and excerpts Film/TV Material: Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Stuart, 1971); James and the Giant Peach (Selick, 1996); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005); episodes „A Dip in the Pool“ (1958) and „Man from the South“ (1959) from Alfred Hitchcock Presents and „Lamb to Slaughter“ (1979) and „Neck“ (1979) from Tales of the Unexpected; „The Man from Hollywood“ from Four Rooms (Tarantino et al., 1995) |
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WS 2007/2008 |
PS “Race” and Cross-Racial Narration (Department of New English Literatures and Cultures, Frankfurt/Main) Novels: James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (1956); Nadine Gordimer, My Son’s Story (1990); Caryl Phillips, The Nature of Blood (1997) Film: Shaft (Parks, 1971) |
Publications
Articles and Essays:
"Dislocating Imagology, And: How Much of It Can (or Should) Be Retrieved?" Silke Stroh, Marga Munkelt, Markus Schmitz & Mark Stein (eds.), Postcolonial Translocations (Cross/Cultures series). Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi (forthcoming).
“Savior of the Hill Scrubs: Religion and Fundamentalism in Tristan Egolf’s Lord of the Barnyard.” Catherine Pesso-Miquel & Klaus Stierstorfer (eds.), Burning Books: Addressing Fundamentalism in Literature and Popular Culture. New York: AMS Press (forthcoming).
“Tracing the Fundamentalist in Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature 41.3+4 (2010), 23-31.
Short Articles and Reviews:
“NELK Book of the Month: Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think by John L. Esposito & Dalia Mogahed” (review). May 2008. http://nelk-frankfurt.de/uploads/PDF/bom0508-esposito-perner.pdf“
A Note from Frankfurt.” Acolit 61 (2007). 4.
“Textual Freedoms – Political Risks: Cross-Racial Narration in the Contemporary Novel” (abstract of MA thesis). Acolit 59 (2006). 23-24.
“Translation of Cultures - 17th GNEL/ASNEL Annual Conference, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, 4-7 May 2005” (conference report). Acolit 56 (2005). 18-20.
Co-editorship:
Acolit (ASNEL Newsletter) 61 (2007) [with Frank Schulze-Engler].
Acolit (ASNEL Newsletter) 60 (2007) [with Frank Schulze-Engler].
Assistance in Editorship:
Frank Schulze-Engler et al. (eds.). Transcultural English Studies: Theories, Fictions, Realities. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi. 2009.
Invited Speeches:
Roundtable speaker, “20 Years On: GNEL/ASNEL and Its Institutional Locations”, 23 May 2009, ASNEL Annual Conference, Münster.
Conference Papers:
“Hijacking the Postcolonial? The Transnationalization of American Studies.” ASNEL Annual Conference “Postcolonial Studies across the Disciplines”, Hanover, 2-4 June 2011.
“Dislocating Imagology, And: How Much of It Can (or Should) Be Retrieved?” ASNEL Annual Conference “Postcolonial Translocations”, Münster, 21-24 May 2009.
“Reluctantly Growing to Understand the Fundamentalist in Mohsin Hamid’s Moth Smoke and The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” EACLALS Triennial Conference “Try Freedom”, Venice, 25-29 March 2008.
“Family – Art – Politics: Images of America in Anglophone Novels” (Under Construction panel). ASNEL Annual Conference “Commodifying (Post-)Colonialism”, Regensburg, 22-25 May 2008.
Curated Exhibitions:
Co-curated (with Ursula Kluwick & Frank Schulze-Engler), “ASNEL/GNEL Anniversary Exhibition”, Münster, 21-24 May 2009.
Translation:
Drew Hayden Taylor, “Was ein Eingeborener für einen Besuch in Deutschland wissen sollte” [“Everything a Native Person Needs to Know About Visiting Germany”]. Programme for: Canada Night: A Literary Evening with Carolyn Gammon, George Elliott Clarke and Drew Hayden Taylor. 4 September 2007, Moussonturm Frankfurt/Main.