Chair of English Studies: Culture and Literature

Our research has centred on literary and other cultural – including popcultural – phenomena in Great Britain, with a specific emphasis on literary and cultural theory  and interdisciplinary perspectives. While our research and teaching has covered British literature and culture from the Renaissance to the present, a main focus has been on the 16th/17th and the 19th/20th centuries. Of special interest are literary and cultural representations with intersecting categories of difference (especially ones relating to ethnicity and gender), their impact on identity formation and on processes of social stratification, and their connections to other discourses, such as economy, religion, politics, society or modern media. Historical case studies deal with specific socio-political structures and with politics, ideologies and mentalities in Great Britain. Focussing on these issues implies an extension of the text paradigm, which now also includes other, non-literary symbolic frameworks by which shared meanings are produced and circulated – an approach which has enabled us to foreground questions of canonisation, mediality and the materiality of culture.

Mission Statement

We as the Chair for English Cultural and Literary Studies are fully committed to diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our work. Our understanding of diversity and inclusion includes recognizing and valuing inputs from people of all backgrounds. Academic work is based on the exchange of ideas and it can only benefit from including diverse voices. This is a principle we carry into our research as well as our classrooms. We aim to promote equality in our teaching environments and do not tolerate discrimination or unfair treatment. Furthermore, many of us are active in various committees and groups helping to cement equality on a structural level at Friedrich-Alexander-University.