Members

Prof. Dr. Uta Schaffers (University of Koblenz, Germany; German Studies: Literary Studies and Teaching Literature)

Uta Schaffers is Professor of German Literature and Didactics at the University of Koblenz, Germany. Her main research areas include East Asia in literature, economics and literature, travel writing (with special focus on Japan and the Swiss travel writer Annemarie Schwarzenbach), and traveling bodies.
Prof. Dr. Nicole Maruo-Schröder (University of Koblenz, Germany; American Studies/Cultural Studies)

Nicole Maruo-Schröder is Professor of Cultural Studies (American Studies) at the University of Koblenz, Germany. Her research focuses on nineteenth-century American literature, material (food) culture, visual culture, travel writing, and traveling bodies.

Lauren Rebecca Bruce, M.A. (Nottingham Trent University, UK; English Studies/Literary Studies)

Bruce is a PhD student at Nottingham Trent University in the Centre for Travel Writing Studies. Her research focuses on the concept of ‘travel and the body’ examining how Egyptian mummies were treated and perceived during the long nineteenth century. She is the co-founder/co-chair of ISSE, the International Society for the Study of Egyptomania. She runs the project Narratives of Mummified Remains: Exploring Travel and the Body.

Prof. Dr. Sofie Decock (Universiteit Gent, Belgium; German Studies: Literary Studies/Applied Linguistics)

Sofie Decock is Associate Professor at the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication at Ghent University, Belgium. Her main research interests include the study of language and gender beyond the binary, (intercultural) pragmatics, and travel writing.

PD Dr. Stefan Hermes (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; German Studies: Literary Studies)

Stefan Hermes teaches German literature (from the Age of Enlightenment
to the present) at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany. His main
research areas include (post)colonial literature, (cultural)
anthropology and literature, and travel writing (with special focus on
southern Africa and 'the Orient').

Dario Lehmler (University of Koblenz, Germany; German Studies)

Dario Lehmler is a doctoral assistant at the Department for German Literature at the University of Koblenz, Germany. His research interests include the connections of travel (literature) and narration as well as social, cultural, and historical concepts of time.

Prof. Dr. Alison E. Martin (University of Mainz/Germersheim, Germany; British Studies/Translation Studies)

Alison E. Martin is Professor of British Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität-Mainz in Germany, and works at the faculty in Germersheim, which specialises in Translation Studies and Interpreting. She has published widely on travel writing, from the 18^th century to the present day, with a particular focus on scientific writing and gender. Her most recent monograph, Nature Translated: Alexander von Humboldt’s Works in Nineteenth-Century Britain (Edinburgh University Press, 2018), explores the role played by Humboldt’s female translators in the transmission of scientific knowledge to a general audience in the 19^th century

Prof. Dr. Andreas Niehaus (Universiteit Gent, Belgium; Japanese Studies/Cultural Studies)

Andreas Niehaus is Professor of Japanese Studies at Ghent University. His main research areas include early modern and modern Japanese body culture (food, health and traveling) and sports.

Kira Schmidt, M.A. (University of the Western Cape, Capetown, South Africa; German Studies: Literary Studies)

Kira Schmidt is Section Head of German Studies at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Her main research areas include Africa in literature, ecocriticism and animal studies, as well as travel writing (with a focus on the German-Bulgarian author Ilija Trojanow).

Dr. Björn Weyand (University of Bochum, Germany; German Studies: Literary Studies)

Björn Weyand is a lecturer in Modern German Literature at the Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. His research interests are travel literature and the orders of knowledge, consumer culture, literary and cultural theory (with special focus on Roland Barthes). He is editor of the works of the almost forgotten German-Jewish writer, artist, and filmmaker Edmund Edel.

Christian Wilken, M.A. (University of Koblenz, Germany; American Studies)

Christian Wilken is a research associate and lecturer in the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Koblenz and an adjunct lecturer in the English department at the University of Düsseldorf. With a background in Japanology, his research explores cultural and ontological intersections between weird fiction, continental philosophy, and the Anthropocene. Specializing in Gothic literature, the Weird, and non-human philosophy, Christian brings inter- and transcultural perspectives to his work.

Prof. Dr. Tim Youngs (Nottingham Trent University, UK; English Studies/Literary Studies)

Dr. Johannes Görbert (University of Fribourg)

Johannes Görbert is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). His research interests include travel literature, literature and the natural sciences, intercultural literary studies, poetry, and contemporary literature. He is co-founder of the DFG network "Inclusive Philology". Literary Disability Studies in the German-Speaking Countries” (with Klaus Birnstiel).