Staff profile

I undertook my undergraduate studies in German Literature, Politics and Sociology at the Humboldt University, Berlin. I have an MA and PhD in German from Durham. My research and scholarship interests focus on aspects of German history, literature and culture from the mid nineteenth-century onwards, including: colonialism, travel writing, nationalism, cultural memory and protest movements. I supervise undergraduate dissertations and undergraduate research projects on study abroad in the above areas. I also teach modules in language, interpreting, literature and culture.

I am currently Chair of the School’s Language Provision Committee and Durham Representative of the North East German Network, a portal for everyone who is interested in German language and culture in the North East of England. The North East German Network is an initiative by the Modern Languages Departments of Durham University and Newcastle University, dedicated to productive cross-cultural cooperation involving schools, cultural organisations, businesses, and policy-makers: http://negn.ncl.ac.uk/

I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and qualified examiner for the Goethe Institut. I am very interested in the promotion of German language and culture in the UK and play an active role in MLAC’s Outreach programme.

Selected Publications:

Chapter in Book:

2011 ‘Time, Identity and Nation in German Travel Writing on Africa, 1848-1914’, in Perraudin and Zimmerer (eds.), German Colonialism and National Identity, Routledge, pp.21-32.

2008 ‘Kafka’s The Penal Colony: Reflections of German Colonialism and National Identity’, in Buxton, Campbell, Dawe and Hugueny-Léger (eds.), Reflections: New Directions in Modern Languages and Cultures, Cambridge Scholars, pp.129-144.

Edited Book:

2008 Reflections: New Directions in Modern Languages and Cultures, Cambridge Scholars, 161 pp.

Journal Article:

2016 “Time and the Other in Nineteenth-Century German Travel Writing”, Transfers: Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies [Special section ‘Travel Writing and Knowledge Transfer], 6 (3), pp 99-116.

2011 “The British Other on African soil: the rise of nationalism in colonial German travel writing on Africa”, Patterns of Prejudice [Special issue ’German Nationalist and Colonial Discourse’], 45 (5), pp.417-434.