I am an assistant professor (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the University of Hamburg. My teaching and research focuses on theories of and analytic approaches to children’s literature and other media, particularly children’s film. In this corner of my academic life, I am the co-founder of KinderundJugendmedien.de, a website dedicated to interdisciplinary research on literature, films, and picture books for children and young adults, and I am one of the editors of the academic book series Kinder- und Jugendliteratur Intermedial. My main contribution to children’s film research is the monograph Kinder- und Jugendfilmanalyse (with Tobias Kurwinkel). Currently I am working on a Handbook of Children’s Literature (with Tobias Kurwinkel) and on a monograph on Children’s Theatre.
Another part of my academic life is lived as a film philosopher: In my publications I explore the intricate entanglement between philosophical thought and its expression in (mainstream) cinema. My book Skepticism Films. Knowing and Doubting the World in Contemporary Cinema (Bloomsbury, 2015) introduces „Skepticism Films“ as a major group of films with a philosophical twist, which not only popularize the philosophical idea that in fundamental respects we may not know what we believe to know about our world, but also contribute to a better philosophical understanding of this idea.
I spent my formative student years at the University of Göttingen, at the Sapienza University of Rome, and at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where I came in close contact with analytic philosophy (particularly epistemology and the philosophy of language), film theory and film analysis. Armed with the idea of exploring the mutual influence between film and philosophy through the lens of skepticism films, I went on to write my PhD thesis at the University of Amsterdam. Along the way I discovered children’s media research as another highly fascinating yet still surprisingly unexplored area, which led to a number of teaching and research projects as well as the publications mentioned above.
This brought me to the University of Bremen, where for five years I worked as a lecturer in children’s literature and media research, participating in a number of projects in that area (see publications).
I am a member of Akademie für Kinder- und Jugendliteratur (AKJL), Arbeitsgemeinschaft Jugendliteratur und Medien (AJuM), Bremer Institut für Bilderbuchforschung (BIBF), Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft (GfM), Gesellschaft für Kinder- und Jugendliteraturforschung (GKJF), and of the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS),
Outside of academia, I have worked as an analyst, editor, translator and writer for several media analysis companies, online news sites and documentary film production companies.
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since 2018
Assistant professor (wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter) at the University of Hamburg, Institute for German Language and Literature (with a focus on children’s literature and children’s media)
2013-2018
University lecturer at the University of Bremen, Faculty 10: Linguistics and Literary Studies (with a focus on children’s literature and children’s media)
2017-18
Adjunct lecturer, University of Frankfurt, Department for Children’s and Young Adult Literature Research
2016-17
Adjunct lecturer, Ludwigsburg University of Education
since 2014
Adjunct lecturer, University of Erfurt, Communication Studies department
2014-2016
Associate Junior Fellow, Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg (HWK), Delmenhorst for a project on fear and self-empowerment in children’s film
2013-2015
Adjunct lecturer, University of Amsterdam, Department of Philosophy
2013
PhD degree, University of Amsterdam, with highest honours
2011-2013
PhD fellowship at Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam
2009-2013
Co-director of various research and teaching projects on the intermediality of children’s literature, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf
Since 2007
Freelance online editor and researcher for various media companies
2006-2007
University of Amsterdam. MA programme in Media and Culture (Film Studies), with highest honours
2006-2007
Adjunct lecturer at Georg August University of Göttingen, Centre for interdisciplinary media studies
2005-2013
Adjunct lecturer at the Department of German Languages and Literature, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf
2005-2006
University of California, Santa Barbara. Visiting graduate student, Department of Film and Media Studies, Department of Philosophy
1998-2005
Georg August University of Göttingen and Sapienza University of Rome. M.A. programme in Philosophy, Media and Communication Studies, Ancient History