Profile

Nicole Maruo-Schröder has been a professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Koblenz since 2013, where she teaches in the field of American Studies, Cultural Studies, and Didactics. She studied English, American, and German literature as well as history of arts at the University of Düsseldorf, Duke University, NC, and the University of California, Davis. In 2005 she earned her PhD with a dissertation on Spaces and Places in Motion: Spatial Concepts in Contemporary American Literature (Narr, 2006). She held research positions at the University of Stanford and Harvard University. Her research interests include material cultures (with a focus on antebellum American literature), traveling and the body, concepts of space and place, and visual cultures (specifically contemporary American film). Her most recent publications are a co-edited collection on Traveling Bodies (Routledge, 2023), a special issue of the European Journal of American Studies on "Envisioning Justice: Mediating the Question of Rights in American Visual Culture" (2018) as well as collections on Young Adult Dystopian Literature (Winter, 2018) and Literature and Consumption in Nineteenth-Century America (Winter, 2014). She is currently working on a monograph on commerce and consumption in antebellum American literature. She is also part of an interdisciplinary research group on Foodways (funded by the BMBF) and co-speaker of an international research network on the role of the body in travel writing.

• Professor of Cultural Studies (American Studies), Department of English and American Studies (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik)

• associated member of the Department of Cultural Studies (Institut für Kulturwissenschaften)

• associated member of the Center for Research on Body Cultures in Motion (BOCULT), Ghent University, Belgium

• co-speaker (with Prof. Dr. Uta Schaffers) of the international research network "Traveling Bodies: Corporeality in Travel Literature" (DFG-funded, 2023-2025)

• member of the research cluster "Esskulturen: Objekte, Praktiken, Semantiken" and co-speaker of the project on food, religion, and American literature, together with Prof. Dr. Michaela Bauks (BMBF-funded, 2018-2021

• associated member of the research cluster "Kulturelle Orientierung und Normative Bindung" (Schwerpunkt der Forschungsinitiative des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz)

Services

University

• co-chair of the Department of English and American Studies

• member of the university senate (representative for FB2)

• member of the faculty committee (Fachbereichsrat FB2)

• deputy member of the "Kollegiale Leitung" IKaruS (Interdisziplinäre Karriere- und Studienzentrum)

Profession

• managing editor for the Kulturwissenschaftliche Zeitschrift

• co-editor of the book series a&e (Anglistik & Englischunterricht)

• speaker of the division "Material Cultures" (part of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft)

• mentor for several programs (e.g., Selma Meyer Mentoring Programm, GAAS mentoring program)

• referee/ manuscript reader for publishers/ journals and research organizations

Curriculum Vitae

Experience Abroad

Professional Affiliations

German Association for American Studies (DGfA)

Association for Anglophone Postcolonial Studies (GAPS, formerly ASNEL/GNEL)

European Association for American Studies (EAAS)

American Studies Association (ASA)

Modern Language Association of America (MLA)

Kulturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft (KWG)

Teaching

I teach in the area of American Studies, focusing especially on visual culture (film, photography) as well as the intersection of American literature and material culture studies (consumption, food) as well as travel writing and the body.
In the winter term, I regularly organize an English project day together with the Realschule Plus Auf der Karthause, Koblenz, in which students from my M 5 or M 8 courses teach a whole day in schools.

Please refer to KLIPS for course descriptions, requirements, and deadlines. Session assignments and material can be found on OLAT (click on the respective course titles below). Please also note that, with the exception of the lecture, I will delete the OLAT courses (including the material that can be downloaded) after the term is over.

I am available as a supervisor for final theses (bachelor and master levels), depending on the topic area (within American Studies, Cultural Studies) you would like to focus on. If you would like to write with me, contact me as soon as possible (preferably with an idea of what you would like to explore and work on). Before I sign anything for the HPA, you need to discuss your project with me in detail (which includes writing an abstract, listing possible primary and secondary literature as well as making a suggestion for a timeline). Moreover, students who are supervised by me are expected to actively participate in the colloquium in M 7 (see below).

For more information on exams and requirements (term papers, oral exams, etc.), please refer to the respective exam folder on OLAT. Term paper topics must be discussed with me beforehand. If you wish to schedule an oral exam in the lecture-free period, you need to contact me at the latest on May/November 30 of the respective term. Two (yes, really!) different topics with several primary texts each are needed for oral exams (see OLAT).

winter term 2023-2024

Introduction to Cultural Studies (B.Ed. M 3.1; BA M 1.3; open to BA Kulturwissenschaft; Studium Generale)

Colloquium Cultural Studies (including American literature) (M 7.1, new PO)

Teaching Poetry and Song (M.Ed. 8.2)

American Photography (M 9.1, 11.1; open to BA Kulturwissenschaft; Studium Generale)

Reel Matters: Film, Genre, Ideology (M 11.2; open to BA Kulturwissenschaft; Studium Generale)

summer term 2023

Introduction to Cultural Studies (B.Ed. M 3.1; BA M 1.3; open to BA Kulturwissenschaft; Studium Generale)

Film Analysis (B.Ed. M 6.1; BA M 4.1/6.1/7.1; open to BA Kulturwissenschaft; Studium Generale)

American Poetry (B.Ed. M 6.3; BA M 4.3/6.3/7.3; open to BA Kulturwissenschaft; Studium Generale)

Traveling - Bodies - Writing/ Reisen - Körper - Schreiben (M.Ed. 10.1/12.1/12.2; open to BA Kulturwissenschaft) - co-taught with Prof. Dr. Uta Schaffers, German Department

Colloquium Cultural Studies (B.Ed. 7.1 (new PO)

Ringvorlesung Zertifikat Gender Studies
session on "Reise-Kleider: Gender und Körper in Reiseliteratur" (with Prof. Dr. Uta Schaffers, German Department); May 15, 2023, 6-8 pm, M 201

winter term 2022-23

Introduction to Cultural Studies (B.Ed. M 3.1; BA M 1.3; open to BA Kulturwissenschaft; Studium Generale)

Ecocriticism in the EFL Classroom (B.Ed. M 5.2; school project)

Film Analysis (B.Ed. M 6.1; BA M 4.1/6.1/7.1; open to BA Kulturwissenschaft; Studium Generale)

Current Perspectives on Ecocriticism (M.Ed. M 9.1; 11.1; 11.2 (new PO); open to BA/MA Kulturwissenschaft)

Symposium: Research Perspectives on Cultural Studies (M 11.2)

Ringvorlesung Koblenzer Forschungsfelder (M.A. Kulturwissenschaft)
session on "Körper-Reisen“ (with Prof. Dr. Uta Schaffers, German Department); January 10, 2023 (3-4 pm)

Research

Research Interests

• 19th- and 20th-century American literature

• Material Culture, Food Studies
  BMBF-project: "Esskulturen"

• travel writing & the body
  research network "Traveling Bodies"

• dystopia, disaster, and apocalypse
  Dystopia & the Body (in narrative and film)

• Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Intersectionality

• Cultural Studies (esp. concepts of culture, space, place)

• Ecocriticism

• Visual Culture (in particular: contemporary Hollywood film)

I am currently working on a book project focusing on the portrayal of consumer practices in antebellum American literature. Moreover, I am the co-speaker (with Prof. Dr. Uta Schaffers, German Department) of the international research network "Traveling Bodies: Corporeality and Travel Literature" (funded by the DFG 2023-2025). With colleagues from the University of Koblenz-Landau, the University of Bonn, and the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Koblenz), I have worked on the relationship between food and culture: "Esskulturen: Objekte, Semantiken, Praktiken" (funded by the BMBF, 2018-2021). Since 2015, I have been a founding member and the co-speaker of the division "Material Cultures" (together with Dr. Stefanie Mallon and Dr. Marion Steinicke), which is part of the Kulturwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft (German Association of Cultural Studies).

I am also part of two editorial teams (a journal and a book series):

Publications (selection):

For a complete overview of publications, please see my SciPort page. Many of my publications are also available via "The Stacks" (Library of Anglo-American Culture & History).

Edited Collections:

Monographs:

Articles:

"'The most dirtiest children': Spectacles of Otherness on the American Frontier." Traveling Bodies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Traveling as an Embodied Practice. Eds. Nicole Maruo-Schröder, Sarah Schäfer-Althaus, and Uta Schaffers. Routledge, 2024, 99-120. (Series: Routledge Research in Travel Writing)

"Alien (Alien – Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Welt; Ridley Scott, 1979)." Kleiner Kanon großer Film. Eds. Michael Braun and Stefan Neuhaus. Stuttgart, Metzler, 2024, 185-192.

„Esskultur und Servicepersonal im Amerika des 19. Jahrhunderts“ Bulletin Esskulturen (Mappe IV, Faszikel 19-24: Servicepersonal. Sozialstatus und Rollenspiel). Hg. Marion Steinicke. Jahrgang 2020. Görres Verlag, o.S.

„‘A Family of Peculiar Construction’. Tisch-(Un)Ordnungen in Frank J. Webbs The Garies and Their Friends.“ Bulletin Esskulturen (Mappe I, Faszikel 1-6: Tisch­ordnungen. Hierarchisierung und Egalisierung). Hg. Marion Steinicke. Jahrgang 2019. Görres Verlag, o.S.

"Justice Has a Bad Side": Figurations of Law and Justice in 21st-Century Superhero Movies. EJAS 13.4 (Winter 2018): 1-23.

"Technological Progress, Adult Power, and Teenage Bodies in 21st-Century Dystopias." '"Tell Freedom I said Hello": Issues in Contemporary Young Adult Dystopian Fiction. Heidelberg: Winter, 2018, 47-72.

"Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women." Handbook of the American Novel of the Nineteenth Century. Ed. Christine Gerhardt. Berlin/ Boston: De Gruyter, 2018, 385-403.

"Framing War: Teaching (with) the Graphic Novel The Photographer." Anglistik 29.1 (2018): 87-101.

"A(t) Home on the Frontier: Place, Narrative, and Material Culture in Caroline Kirkland and Eliza Farnham," ZAA 64.1 (2016): 43-59.

"'From the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of freedom': Raum, race und gender in afroamerikanischen Sklavenerzählungen." Intersektionalität und Forschungspraxis: Wechselseitige Herausforderungen. Eds. Mechthild Bereswill, Folgert Degenring, and Sabine Stange. Münster, Westfälisches Dampfboot, 2015, 115-133.

"A 'Dish Offered to the Public': The Business of Gender and Class in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables." Literature and Consumption in Nineteenth-Century America. Eds. Nicole Maruo-Schröder and Christoph Ribbat. Heidelberg: Winter, 2014, 49-70.

"Commodifying Difference: Depiction of the Other in 19th-Century American Trade Cards." 19th-Century Contexts 34.2 (2012): 85-115.

Selected Talks:

• “'tickl[ing] the palate of the most experienced gourmand': Feeding the (Traveling) Body in 19th-Century American Travel Writing ”
  invited talk, Technical University Dortmund, April 19, 2024

• "Einführung: Populäre Materielle (Fest-) Kultur – Objekte auf Bildern, Bilder als Objekte“
  Workshop „Populäre Materielle (Fest-) Kultur“ of the Division "Material Cultures", Saarland University, Saarbrücken, September 29, 2023

• (with Uta Schaffers) "Der Körper als Grenze und Medium der Welterfahrung in Reiseliteratur: ‚Traveling Bodies‘ als Forschungsfeld“
  Workshop: „Körper und Körperlichkeit in der Reiseliteratur“, Annual Conference of the Gesellschaft für interkulturelle Germanistik (GiG), University of Utrecht, June 15, 2023

• "Laying the Table: The Politics of Food and Identity in 19th-Century US America“
  invited talk, Technical University Dortmund, February 13, 2023

• (with Uta Schaffers) "Reisende Körper/Traveling Bodies“
  invited talk, Kolloquium am Kap, University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and the University of the Western Cape, November 10, 2023

• „Of Servants, Cooks, and (Fancy) Dinners: (Material) Food Culture in Nineteenth-Century American Literature“
  invited talk, Ruhr Universität Bochum, July 19, 2021

• „Unseemly Sights: Bodily Encounters in 19th-Century Women’s Travel Narratives“
  invited talk, Universität Duisburg-Essen, July 9, 2021

• „‚the frightful manner of feeding with their knives‘: Esskultur, Materialität und (nationale) Identität in der amerikanischen Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts“
  invited talk, lecture series "Exquisit und inklusiv? Essen, Materialität und Migration in Bad Godesberg und anderswo“, University of Bonn, November 27, 2019

• „Kulinarische Vergemeinschaftung versus Vereinzelung beim Essen. Beispiele aus der US-amerikanischen Literatur“
  keynote, autumn school "Esskulturen der Ver­ge­mein­schaftung“, Trifels, September 12, 2019

• Bodies and Identities in Young Adult Dystopian Fiction
  invited talk, lecture series "Lecture Series "Reading in the Classroom, Learning for the World," University of Würzburg, May 20, 2019

• "Oh! such a supper!": Tischszenen in der amerikanischen Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts
  lecture series "Esskulturen in Kunst, Literatur und Film" (Kulturwissenschaftliches Kolloquium), University of Koblenz-Landau, April 17, 2019

• "I breathe free…": (De)Civilized Bodies on the Frontier
  International Conference "Traveling Bodies," University of Koblenz-Landau, July 6, 2018

• "'Fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way': Ausnahmezustände im zeitgenössischen Superheldenfilm.“
  lecture series "Ausnahmezustand" (Kulturwissenschaftliches Kolloquium), University of Koblenz-Landau, May 16, 2018

• "Buying and Selling (Self-) Culture in Thoreau's Walden"
  Invited Talk, Lecture series for the 200th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau, University of Münster, July 3, 2017

Conference Organization

Sektionentagung der Kulturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft
University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Koblenz, September 23-25, 2019
co-organization with Michael Klemm and Wolf-Andreas Liebert
International Conference "Traveling Bodies" University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Koblenz, July 5-6, 2018
co-organization with Sarah Schäfer-Althaus and Uta Schaffers
Symposium "Auf-Sammeln und Ver-Werten" University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Koblenz, July 14-15, 2017
co-organization with Melanie Hackenfort and Marion Steinicke
"Tell Freedom I said Hello": Issues in Contemporary Young Adult Dystopian Fiction University of Koblenz-Landau, Campus Koblenz, January 22, 2016
co-organized with Christian Ludwig, University of Karlsruhe
Buying America: Literature and Consumption in the 19th Century University of Paderborn, 12-13 June 2012
co-organized with Christoph Ribbat
Reading the Everyday University of Paderborn, 3-4 July 2009
co-organized with Miriam Strube
Amerika und Europa im Dialog: Philosophieren über Literatur und Kunst University of Duesseldorf, 21-22 Mai 2004
co-organized with Astrid Böger and Georg Schiller