Research
Current Research Interests
My research interests are: contemporary German literature, German literature in East and West since 1945, contemporary film, and autobiography as a literary genre and the contemporary short story. I have worked on literary topics relating to the Stasi, and in relation to military culture in Germany since 1945. I am keen to supervise these at Masters and PhD level in these areas.
Supervisions include: Poetry of Sara Kirsch (MA), German Emigres in the UK Film Industry (PhD) and Photographic Images and the Cold War in German News Magazines 1945-59 (PhD).
I have spoken about my research at a range of institutions, including: The Institute of Germanic Studies, London; the University of Cambridge; the University of Bradford; the University of Leeds; Nottingham Trent University; University College, Dublin; the Gesamteuropaeisches Studienwerk, Vlotho; the University of Berkeley, California; the University of Bath; the Catholic University of Lisbon.
My current research focuses on the representation of the military in contemporary Germany and I have been awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship from September 2008 to August 2009 in order to pursue my research in this area. I am in the process of completing a study of the cultural representation of the Bundeswehr in Germany.
I am also the 'leader' of the 'Conflct, Memory, Heritage' research group in Modern Languages and Cultures.
Research grants
Two Nations, One People? The German Cold War Experience
BRITISH ACADEMY (UK)
September 2006
Representations of the Bundeswehr in Germany
LEVERHULME TRUST (UK)
September 2008 - August 2009
Research collaborations
Tobias Hochscherf
The University of Northumbria at Newcastle
'Two Nations, One People? The German Cold War Experience' (Liverpool, September 2006)
Christoph Laucht
'Twp Nations, One People? The German Cold War Experience' (Liverpool, September 2006)
Dr Paul Cooke
University of Leeds
Workshop: Reading Big Brother. Literary Representations of the Stasi (April 2001).