GRADE Initiative "Transcultural Narratives"
Aims and Thematic Focus
What shapes research on Transcultural Narratives in the 21st century? How is the field influenced by broader academic as well as political and social developments? And what can it contribute to them?
Our GRADE initiative is an interdisciplinary group of junior scholars, established to enable community-based research and exchange in an increasingly competitive and, at times, isolating environment. The initiative can provide a platform to discuss members’ projects (e.g. by giving and seeking feedback on draft chapters or publications), to exchange views on methodological issues in research and teaching, to support one another in navigating the challenges of an academic career and to develop collaborative projects such as writing groups, reading groups, workshops, guest lectures, conferences and publications. Our main aim is to build a network of scholars in which we inspire, support and critically reflect one another.
The initiative is open to all interested researchers at Goethe University and beyond, although, for formal reasons, the majority of members must be affiliated with Goethe University. Our working language is English but we specifically welcome researchers with diverse linguistic backgrounds. Meetings are scheduled quarterly or as needed by the members, both during and outside the academic term.
Topics of interest can include, but are not limited to: Anglophone-Hispanophone Transcultural Encounters; Arab Anglophone Literatures; Comparative Literary Studies; Diaspora Studies; Globalisation and Planetarity; Indigenous Studies; Migration and Travel Narratives; Postcolonial Studies; Transcultural Ecocriticism, Environmental and Blue Humanities; Transcultural Feminist and Queer Narratives; Transcultural Film and Media Studies; Transcultural Memory Studies; Transcultural Music, Performance and Theatre; Transreligious Exchanges; Translation Studies; World Anglophone Studies; World Literature.
Contact
If you are interested in getting involved, or if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact the spokespersons for this GRADE initiative, Clara Hebel and Mansouria Djellakh. They will get in touch with you as soon as possible.
Members
Silvia Anastasijevic, FB 10 Neuere Philologien
Working title of dissertation: Transcultural Humorscapes in Anglophone Literature, Culture and Media
Nuha Askar, FB 10 Neuere Philologien
Working title of dissertation: Beyond the Single Story of the ‘Arab Nation’: Narrating Internal Dissent in Anglophone Middle Eastern Literature
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Frank Schulze-Engler
Mansouria Djellakh, Goethe University, Institute of English- and American Studies
Working title of dissertation: Diasporic (Un)Belgonging: The Arab Literature of Migration in a Global Context
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Nadia Butt
Clara Hebel, Goethe University, Institute of English- and American Studies
Working title of dissertation: Transcultural Blue Humanities and Planetary Relationality in Contemporary Anglophone Literatures and Film
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Frank Schulze-Engler
Ivaylo R. Shmilev, FB 10 Neuere Philologien
Working title of dissertation: Contact, Scarcity, Empire: Armed Conflicts and Cultural Entanglements in Anglophone Science Fiction.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Frank Schulze-Engler
Michelle Stork, FB 10 Neuere Philologien
Working title of dissertation: Transculturality in the Contemporary Anglophone Road Novel and Road Movie“
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Frank Schulze-Engler
Sabrina Vetter, FB 10 Neuere Philologien
Working title of dissertation: Australian Romance and Indigenous Love: Indigenous Sex, Erotica and Australian identity.
Supervisor: PD Dr. Sissy Helff
Events
2013: Workshop of the Postgraduate Forum “Environment, Literature, Culture”: Ecocriticism and Globalization. June 21-22, 2013. Frankfurt a.M.
2014: 2nd Conference of the Postgraduate Forum “Postcolonial Narrations”: Reading Across Cultures: New Comparative Approaches in a Globalized World. September 21-23, 2014, Goethe University, Frankfurt.
2017: Workshop “Decolonised Free Education and the Prospects of Research and Teaching at Universities: #FeesMustFall in South Africa” conducted by Professor Adam Haupt from the University of Cape Town. 15 January, 2017, Goethe University Frankfurt.
