At the University of Giessen, I wish to facilitate work on the nexus between political and artistic practices and academic analysis, and am interested in mentoring projects concerning cultural approaches to law/Law and Humanities, the politics of form, critical media studies, American Studies, and feminism and sexuality studies. With Jeanne Gaakeer, I run the European Network for Law and Literature Research. The Center for Diversity, Media, and Law promotes anti-discrimination measures and critical media literacy, and investigates how legal norms interact with diversity and media. The Center participates in The Global Law and the Humanities Mentorship Program.
“Law and Critique / Recht und Kritik“ (2025): Available now open access.
Recent Publications
- Olson, Greta, Christian Schmidt, Benno Zabel, Jochen Bung, Franziska Martinsen, Hanna Meißner, eds. (2025). Law and Critique / Recht und Kritik. Kontrovers. Neue Diskurse zur Gesellschaft. Baden-Baden: Verlag Karl Alber.
- Bung, Jochen, Franziska Martinsen, Hanna Meißner, Greta Olson, Christian Schmidt and Benno Zabel, eds. (2025). Ökonomie als Gesellschaftstheorie. Kontrovers. Neue Diskurse zur Gesellschaft. Baden-Baden: Verlag Karl Alber.
- Olson, Greta (2025). “Legal Critique in the Polycrisis.”Law and Critique / Recht und Kritik. Kontrovers. Neue Diskurse zur Gesellschaft. Ed. Greta Olson, Christian Schmidt, Benno Zabel, Jochen Bung, Franziska Martinsen, Hanna Meißner. Baden-Baden: Verlag Karl Aber. 17-63.
- Olson, Greta (2025). “Sensus Juridicus:A Legal Hermeneut and Narrator’s Exploration of rechtsbewustzijn and Rechtsgefühl in the Praxis of Judging.” Forever Composed of Nows:Celebrating Jeanne Gaakeer’s Work on Law, Language and Literature.Ed. Claudia Bouteligier, Pauline Phoa and Sanne Taekema. The Hague: Boom. 221-233.
- Olson, Greta (2025). “Race as Predicating Law and Literature and as Simultaneous Late Arrival.” Special Issue on “The Place of Race in Law & Literature.” EJES 29 (1). Ed. Andrew Benjamin Bricker, Elise Wang, and Cedric Essi. 5-13.
- Olson, Greta (2025). EJES as a Joyful Practice in Transversing the Borders of the European and the Limits of English Studies. European Journal of English Studies, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/13825577.2025.2546945
- Olson, Greta. (2025). “Futures of Feminist Law and Literature – An Afterward.” Feminist Perspectives on Law and Literature. Ed. Hanna Luise Kroll, Laura Schmitz-Justen, Laura Wittmann and Laura Zander. Berlin: De Gruyter. 309-330.
- Olson, Greta (2025). “The Utopian Desire for a Just Legal Order and Rechtsgefühle” in a special issue on “Utopie einer neuen normativen Ordnung.” Ed. Daria Bayer, Sören Deister, Marcus Döller, Simon Kneip, Hannah Ofterdinger, Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 174: 11-25.
- Olson, Greta. (2025). Entry on “Victimization.” Elgar Encyclopedia of Law & Literature. Ed. Robert Spoo and Simon Stern. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 503-506.
- Von Der Brelie, Kira (2024). “US-Expertin: ‚Viele finden Trump humorvoll und bodenständig‘.” RND.de, November 9, 2024.
Recent Talks
- Invited Talk: “In Defence of the Legal Humanities and Narrative, Tropic, and Affect-Theoretical Approaches to Law.”Legal Humanities Association Launch and Inauguration Event (22 July 2025) Online.
- Facilitator for the Seminar “Disrupting the Affective work of Anti-Immigration Narratives and Images” at the summer school Critical Times 2025: Disruptions (30 June – 4 July) at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Legal Studies – lucernaiuris) (4 July 2025) University of Lucerne
- Invited Lecture: “Trump 2.0: The Return & The Resistance” at the Gießener Graduiertenzentrum Sozial-, Wirtschafts- und Rechtwissenschaften Summer Event (11 June 2025) University of Giessen
- Podcast (only available in German): “Die USA nach der Wahl”, Moderiert von dem Amerikanisten und Co-Sprecher des John McCloy Transatlantic Forums Johannes Völz (Frankfurt) diskutieren drei USA-Expertinnen und Experten – der Historiker Manfred Berg (Heidelberg), der Politikwissenschaftler Christian Lammert (Berlin) und die Kulturwissenschaftlerin Greta Olson (Gießen) – über den Ausgang der US-Präsidentschaftswahl am 5. November und deren Folgen für die amerikanische Demokratie. (21 November 2024) Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, gemeinsam mit der Hessischen Landeszentrale für politische Bildung und dem John McCloy Transatlantic Forum. Auch bei Spotify zu finden.
Contact
Professor Greta Olson
Institut für Anglistik
Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen
Otto-Behagel-Straße 10 B
35394 Giessen, Germany
Tel: +49 641 – 99 30091 or – 99 3031 (Administrative Assistant)
Fax: +49 641 – 99 30099
Email: Greta.Olson@anglistik.uni-giessen.de
Office hours during the semester: Please register online through Stud.IP.
The photograph above was taken in 2016 by Salar Baygan for a project on celebrating white hair initiated by Andrea Leicher, Oliver Metzler, and Nicolai Tilov.
Greta Olson 