Stefanie Rück (M.A.)
Stefanie Rück works as an administrative assistant to Professor Olson. She studied English and German Literature and Linguistics at the JLU Giessen and has a Master’s Degree in English Literature.
PD Dr. Birte Christ
Birte Christ teaches American Literature and Cultural Studies and has been working with Greta at JLU since October 2009. Birte has previously held positions at the University of Bonn and the University of Freiburg. Her teaching and research interests include law and literature, transmedial narratology, women’s studies, middlebrow literature and culture, poetry studies, and approaches to teaching American literature and culture.
Birte is the author of Modern Domestic Fiction: Popular Feminism, Mass-Market Magazines, and Middle-Class Culture, 1905-1925 (Winter 2012) and has co-edited three volumes: a collection of collaborative essays on the state of the field of American Studies, American Studies / Shifting Gears (Winter 2010; with Michael Butter, Christian Kloeckner and Elisabeth Schäfer-Wünsche), a more “popular” book in German on the impact of 9/11 on American politics and culture, 9/11. Kein Tag, der die Welt veränderte (Schöningh 2011; with Michael Butter and Patrick Keller), and Obama and the Paradigm Shift – Measuring Change (Winter 2012; with Greta Olson). A special issue of Amerikastudien/American Studies on “Poetry and Law” appeared in 2017 (ed. with Stefanie Müller), as did a comparative volume entitled Death Sentences (ed. with Ève Morisi) in 2019. Recent essays have appeared in Narrative, American Literary History, and Post-45.
Birte is currently finishing her second book (Habilitation) on representations of capital punishment and their racial politics from the 1840s to the 1990s. She also works on further publications on poetry and law (with Stefanie Müller) and is preparing a larger project on middlebrow transnationalism (with Faye Hammill).
For a full list of Birte’s publications please refer to her profile on Academia.edu.
Jannik Born (B.A.)
Jannik Born is one of three student assistants working for Professor Olson. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Anglophone Studies at the Justus Liebig University Giessen, majoring in Literary, Cultural and Media Studies. He previously acquired a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy & English Literature, Language, and Culture, but decided to focus on English Studies going forward. Jannik is mainly interested in analyzing new media, namely social media, video games, movies, and series, especially anime.
Hatice Korkmaz (B.A.)
Currently under construction.
Felix van Groningen
Felix van Groningen is a student assistant to Professor Olson and currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Anglophone Studies at the Justus Liebig University Giessen with a major in Literary, Cultural and Media Studies and a minor in Linguistic Studies. His main interests lie in gender and queer studies, but branch off in a variety of topics.
In his free time Felix likes to learn new languages and has recently discovered translating as a passion of his, having already translated one published book. He hopes to work further in translating in the future.
Laura Borchert (M.A.)
Laura Borchert is a research assistant to Prof. Greta Olson. She acquired a B.A. and M.A. in British and American Studies with a minor in Law (Bielefeld University).
Laura is a PhD candidate at the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC). Her project “Beyond Bostock, Towards a New Queer Rights” analyzes the connections between cultural narratives and constitutional protections of sexual minorities in the US. Her research areas include LGBTQIAP* Studies, Law and X, and Legal Gender Studies.
For a list of Laura’s publications, please refer to her profile on Academia.edu.
Melanie Kreitler (M.A.)
Melanie Kreitler is a postdoctoral researcher at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. Her Ph.D. thesis, Fictions of Experience: Mental Illness in Puzzle Films and Complex Television, considers the impact of narrative complexity on meaning-making and viewers’ understandings of lived experiences of mental illness. She has published on complex film, video games, the television musical, and the intersections of medical and media discourses, and co-edited a Special Issue of On_Culture on the theme of “Illness, Narrated” in 2021.
Former Team Members
Greta Olson 