Our areas of work are:

Didactics of Literature

German literature didactics at the UDE sees itself as a discipline with empirical research tasks whose subject areas are the teaching and reception of literary texts in different learning contexts, especially in German lessons at the primary and secondary levels. The texts include complex, and entertainment literature texts as well as media texts and - especially at the primary level - children's and youth literature texts. The latter include picture books and children's and youth films as well as media compound phenomena. Literary and media learning, inter- and transmedia reading as well as literary, visual and media literacy are also and especially focal points of literature didactics in inclusive contexts. Literature didactics and language didactics together make up the subject didactics of German.

•     Didactics of Literature for the Primary Level
•     Didactics of literature for secondary schools

Literary and cultural studies from the 16th century to the present day

Literary studies encompass the study of German-language literature from the 16th century to the present. Since literary texts are always part of the culture to which they belong and whose practices of meaning they reflect, doing literary studies also necessarily means working in cultural studies. The literary-historical focal points of Duisburg-Essen research and teaching are in literature and culture of the early modern period, the Enlightenment and the modernity thresholds of 1800 / 1900, literature and culture of the 19th century and classical modernity. Another central focus, which is supported by special events such as the 'Poet in Residence' and by teaching projects and excursions, is contemporary literature.

Literature and Media Studies / Film Studies

Analogous to the cultural studies orientation, literature is also analysed from a media studies perspective. In doing so, we reflect theoretically on the medial preconditions of literature and at the same time also ask practical questions about current forms of mediating literature in the press, radio, television and the new media. A specific feature of German literature studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen is that such questions of media theory and media practice are integrally related to each other, especially in the Master's programme "Literature and Media Practice". In addition, there is the area of film studies, which deals with the analytical examination of films as well as film theory and film history issues.