College:
Jesus
Email:
nrc38@cam.ac.uk
Supervisor:
Research:
My doctoral dissertation, which was handed in in September 2020, examined literary engagements with histories and ideologies of work and labour in the works of a key set of contemporary German-language authors, focusing primarily on Volker Braun, Elfriede Jelinek, and Herta M眉ller. Focusing on sex work, forced labour, and state socialist labour ideologies, I sought to show how these authors used their writings as a way of critiquing and questioning dominant labour ideologies, intervening in the treatment of work鈥檚 history in cultural memory, and at times, used certain forms of labour as vehicles for exploring other issues.
My next research project is entitled 鈥楥itizenship after Hitler: Continuity and Change in West German Citizenship Law and Naturalisation Practice in West Germany, from 1949 till the Present鈥�. This project has grown out of work that I began in early 2019 relating to the German government鈥檚 handling of the naturalisation rights of the victims of National Socialist persecution and their descendants. My work on this issue was featured widely in the German and international press, and I served in October 2019 as an expert witness for a hearing on legislation relating to the matter in the 澳门六合彩开奖记录 Affairs select committee of the German Bundestag. You can watch the hearing , and read my written reports to the committee and .
The new project focuses on how the German government and administrative authorities dealt with four main challenges in the area of citizenship law and naturalisation practice after 1949; the naturalisation of so-called 鈥榚thnic Germans鈥� (deutsche Volkszugeh枚rige) from Eastern Europe; the treatment of the victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants; the implementation of gender equality in citizenship law in line with Article 3 of the German constitution; and the naturalisation of long-term resident foreigners. Aside from a series of significant laws in the 1950s, whose genesis has yet to be historically studied, German citizenship law remained largely unchanged until the reforms of 1990 and 1999. Despite this, administrative practice in this area changed significantly due to interventions by various executive authorities at the state and federal level, reflecting changing understandings of the limits and nature of national and political belonging.
I am currently working on two articles from this project. The first examines the genesis of the 1955 鈥楪esetz zur Regelung von Fragen der Staatsangeh枚rigkeit鈥�, with which the West German government sought to settle the legality of the mass naturalisations of ethnic Germans performed by the Nazis in the territories they had occupied during World War Two, and ended up creating the legal provision that would allow for the naturalisation of millions of ethnic German Aussiedler in the following decades. The law in its final form included a provision providing naturalisation rights for those persecuted under National Socialism, included only against the strong resistance of the Federal Government, and a provision granting a right to naturalisation to those who had served in the Waffen-SS. My article reconstructs the significance of the law as a way of reckoning with the recent Nazi past, both on a practical and symbolic level.
The second article examines the introduction of strict visa regulations by the West German Interior Ministry in 1954 for Israeli citizens and stateless Jews.
Scholarships/Prizes:
Studienstiftung des Berliner Abgeordnetenhauses, 2019-2020
Schr枚der Scholarship, 2016-2019
Clarendon Award, University of Oxford, 2015-2016
DAAD Scholarship for Graduates in All Academic Disciplines, HU Berlin 2014-15
Teaching:
In the past, I have taught undergraduate translation, twentieth-century women鈥檚 writing, lectured on Hegel and Marx, and run modules on representations of queer bodies for CS5. I am available for undergraduate supervision and supervision of YAPs and ODs in twentieth and twenty-first century German literature for 2020-21.
Conference papers:
- 鈥楢rt. 116 Abs. 2 GG and the Consequences: The Naturalisation Rights of NS-Verfolgten and their Descendants, 1949-2019鈥�, presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of German Studies in Bristol, September 2019.
- 鈥楽ex Work and Value鈥�. Presentation as part of the conference 鈥楺ueer/Marxism 2鈥�, Princeton University, 6-8th March 2019.
- 鈥樷�渄ie wahrheit ist ein dreck鈥�: Documentary Forms, Socialist Classicism and the Arbeitswelt in the Work of Ronald M. Schernikau鈥�. Presented as part of a three-day seminar on documentary fiction and post-industrial worlds of work and labour at the German Studies Association Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 27-30th September 2018.
- 鈥榋um Nachlass Ronald M. Schernikaus鈥�. Presented at the HU Berlin as part of the yearly meeting of the network 鈥楲iterature in Divided Germany鈥�, 20th July 2018.
- 鈥淶ur Kritik an Lossungssprache im Werk Volker Brauns鈥�. presented as an introduction into an interview with Volker Braun at the HU Berlin, 9th July 2018.
- 鈥樷�淒as Werkzeug bin ich鈥�: Slavery, Subjection and Human Instruments in Herta M眉ller鈥檚 Atemschaukel鈥�. Presented a the conference 鈥楨conomic Subjects in German and Comparative Culture鈥�, Jesus College, 澳门六合彩开奖记录, 5-7th of July 2018.
- 鈥楳artin Dannecker Reimut Reiche鈥檚 Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt鈥�. Presented as part of a two-day workshop on 鈥楺ueer/Marxism鈥� at the HU Berlin as part of the HU鈥揚rinceton Strategic Collaborative Programme, January 2018.
- 鈥楺ueer Theory and Normative Confusion: Normalisation, Normativity, Possibility鈥�, given at the 41st annual German Studies Association conference in Atlanta, Georgia, 7th October 2017.
- 鈥楺ueer Theory as a Normative Enterprise? Rethinking Queer Theory鈥檚 Normativity with Contemporary German Sozialphilosophie鈥�, Association of German Studies Conference at Warwick University, September 2017.
- 鈥樷�淶um Haupthelden unserer B眉cher m眉ssen wir die Arbeit machen鈥�: Working through Working in Volker Braun鈥檚 Machwerk鈥�, delivered at the 澳门六合彩开奖记录 German Graduate Conference on 鈥楢esthetics and Politics鈥�, 13th May 2017.
- 鈥樷�淣ur die Arbeit hilft gegen das ganze schlimme Leben鈥�: 尝别产别苍蝉濒盲丑尘耻苍驳 and Busy-Bodies in Rainald Goetz鈥檚 Irre鈥�, delivered at the Oxford German Graduate Symposium on 鈥楳otion鈥�, 29th April 2017.
- 鈥樷�渆in kleines delay鈥撯��: 脛sthethische Eigenzeit and Resisting Social Acceleration in Kathrin R枚ggla鈥檚 wir schlafen nicht鈥�, delivered at the conference 鈥楽yncing...Subject, Media, Society鈥�, UC Berkeley, CA, February 2017.
- 鈥樷�滻t was a strange conviction that I had, that I could somehow make these boys鈥� lives better, as by a kind of patronage鈥�: Cruel Compassion in Hollinghurst鈥檚听The Swimming-Pool Library鈥�, delivered at the 鈥橶riting Affect鈥� conference at the Humboldt-Universit盲t zu Berlin.
Publications:
- 鈥楻e-Forged or Deformed? Forced Labour, Human Instruments, and the Critique of the Gulag System in Herta M眉ller鈥檚 Atemschaukel鈥�, Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies, 57.1 (2021). [accepted for publication]
- 鈥楽eeing the Human in the (Queer) Migrant in Jenny Erpenbeck鈥檚 Gehen, Ging, Gegangen and Ter茅zia Mora鈥檚 Alle Tage鈥�, in Queering German Culture, ed. Leanne Dawson (Rochester, NY & London: Camden House, 2017)
Popular-Academic Publications:
- 鈥楤esser sp盲t als nie. Die M眉hlen der staatsangeh枚rigkeitsrechtlichen Wiedergutmachung seit 1949鈥�, Jalta. Positionen zur j眉dischen Gegenwart 7 (2020): 73-79.
- Together with Ben Miller: , LA Review of Books.
