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Prof. Dr. Astrid Fellner

Prof. Dr. Astrid Fellner
Universität des Saarlandes
Chair of North American Literary and Cultural Studies
Department of British, North American and Anglophone Studies
Building A5.3, Room 218
66123 Saarbrücken
Phone + 49-681-302 2330
Fax + 49-681-302 2710
E-Mail fellner@mx.uni-saarland.de
Homepage http://www.amerikanistik.uni-saarland.de/index.php?id=90&no_cache=1#c176
 
Astrid Fellner’s research interests include comparative ethnic studies, border studies, U.S. Latino/a literature, early American literatures, Canadian literature, gender studies, body studies, queer theory, and popular culture. Thematically, her research interests and academic output have focused on literatures, cultures, and identities in North America. Her understanding of “American culture” locates “Americanness” in a global context, analyzing the multiple crossroads of cultures in the U.S. from a transnational perspective and focusing on the diverse cultural contacts between Europe and the United States and Canada. Her most recent research project focuses on U.S. – Mexican and U.S. – Canadian border narratives, analyzing the interrelations between issues of nationalism, sexuality, and the politics of cultural translation. This project, entitled “Alterna(rra)tives in North American Borderlands” explores the ways in which border texts are invested in current debates on migration, ethnic belonging, and identitarian spaces.

Fellner has taught at various universities (Universität Wien, Stanford U, Bradley U in Peoria, IL) and was the organizer of an international team-teaching project between Universität des Saarlandes, Universität Wien and Bradley U in Peoria, Illinois, called “Transatlantic Dialogues: American/Cultural Studies as a Transnational Project“ (TAD). She is the coordinator of an East-Partnership Project (DAAD) on “Cultural Exchange” with Mykolaiv, Ukraine. She has been very active in mentoring students and junior colleagues. As a long-term board member and past President of the Austrian Association for American Studies (AAAS) she has stressed the importance of supporting young scholars by initiating the “Graduate Student Forum” at the annual conferences in which young Americanists can present their research. She has also twice (2007 and 2010) been chair of the committee responsible for selecting the Fulbright Prize for the best M.A. thesis and the best dissertation in American Studies in Austria. Currently, Fellner advises 9 Ph.D. students.

Academic Career

Study

1990-1991
Fulbright-Grant: Graduate Studies at University of Texas at Austin (Chicano/a Studies)
1986-1992
Undergraduate and Graduate Studies, Universität Wien: English and American Language and Literature, Spanish and Latin American Language and Literature (with Teaching Diploma for teaching ESL and Spanish as a second language at Austrian secondary schools)

Graduation / Academic Degrees

2006
Habilitation in North American Studies, Universität Wien, Austria
1999
Dr. phil. in North American Studies, Universität Wien, Austria
1993
Mag. Phil., Universität Wien, Austria

Current Position(s)

since 2014
Vice President for European and International Affairs, Universität des Saarlandes
since 2009
Chair of North American Literary and Cultural Studies, Universität des Saarlandes

Position(s) Held

2008
Appointment as Adjunct Professor of English at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois
2006-2009
Associate Professor of American Literature and Culture at the Department of English and American Studies at the Universität Wien
1993-2006
Assistant Professor at the Department of English and American Studies at the Universität Wien

Relevant (International) Research Experience

2013-2014
Visiting Scholar at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University; Hong Kong S.A.R.
2012, 2013
ERASMUS Guestprofessor at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia
2008-2009
Distinguished Visiting Austrian Chair in the Forum of Contemporary Europe and Visiting Professor in the Dept. of Comparative Literature at Stanford University
2003-2005
Visiting Scholar at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, MA

Major Research Grants, Scholarships and Awards

since 2015
East-Partnership Project (DAAD) on “Cultural Exchange on Languages, Literature and Cultural Studies: Sites and Insights” with Mykolaiv, Ukraine
2005
Theodor Körner Fonds Research prize for project “Bodily Sensations: The Female Body in Late-Eighteenth-Century American Culture”
2003-2005
Recipient of an Erwin-Schrödinger-Research Fellowship awarded by the Austrian Research Funds (FWF)

Memberships and other relevant Activities

since 2010
Member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association
2008, 2010
Chair of Selection Board for the Annual Fulbright Prize for Best Dissertation in the Field of American Studies in Austria
since 2008
Scientific Advisory Board for the AGPRO Research Prize

List of Publications

a) Publications in refereed journals and book publications
2021
“Queer Eye for Reel Latinx: Camp, Chic and Queer Familia in Ugly Betty and One Day at a Time”, in: Jump Cut 60. Special Section on Queer Television: From Fan Practices to Representation. Ed. Joëlle Rouleau. [https://ejumpcut.org/currentissue/Fellner-LatinxCamp/index.html]
2020
(co-authored with Sebastian Weier/Joachim Frenk/Daniel Kazmaier/Eva Michely/Christoph Vatter/Romana Weiershausen/Christian Wille) “Bordertextures – vers une approche transdisciplinaire des frontières [Bordertexturen als transdisziplinärer Ansatz zur Untersuchung von Grenzen. Ein Werkstattbericht]”, in: Grégory Hamez/Jean-Marc Defays (eds.), Réalités, perceptions et représentations de la Grande Région Sarre-Lor-Lux (Louvain-la-Neuve: Éditions L’Harmattan), 29-48.
2020
“Counter-Mapping Corporeal Borderlands: Border Imaginaries in the Americas”, in: Florian Weber/Christian Wille/Beate Caesar/Julian Hollstegge (eds.), Geographien der Grenze (Wiesbaden: Springer VS), 287-300.
2020
“Ukrainian Canadian B/Orders: Culinary Remembrances and Queer Bordercrossings in Marusya Bociurkiw’s Food Was Her Country”, in: Tetyana Ostapchuk (ed.), Euxeinos: Culture and Governance in the Black Sea Region 10:30, 40-54. [https://gce.unisg.ch/en/euxeinos/archive/30]
2020
“Grenzen | Körper | Flucht: Grenz-Korporalitäten in Fluchträumen und Borderlands”, in: Patricia Oster-Stierle/Christoph Vatter (eds.), Fluchtraum Europa: Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven (Baden-Baden: Nomos), 271-289.
2020
“‘What’s Home Gotta Do With It?’ Reflections on Homing, Bordering, and Social Distancing in COVID-19 Times”, in: Christian Wille/Rebekka Kanesu (eds.), Bordering in Pandemic Times: Insights into the Covid-19 Lockdown. Borders in Perspective UniGR-CBS Thematic Issue 4, 89-94, https://doi.org/10.25353/ubtr-xxxx-b825-a20b
2020
(co-authored with Joachim Frenk) "Grenzziehungen / Grenzüberwindungen: (Re-) Präsentationen von Grenzen in Nordamerika und im Vereinigten Königreich”, in: Tiziana Chiusi/Anne Rennig (eds.), Europaforschung interdisziplinär. Beiträge zur 1. und 2. „Europa-Ringvorlesung“ des Europa-Kollegs CEUS der Universität des Saarlandes (Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Europaforschung 2) (Saarbrücken: Alma Mater), 27-39.
2020
“Grenze und Ästhetik: Repräsentationen von Grenzen in den kulturwissenschaftlichen Border Studies”, in: Dominic Gerst/Maria Klessmann/Hannes Krämer (eds.), Grenzforschung. Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium (Baden-Baden: Nomos), 436-456.
2020
(co-edited with Hugo Burgos/Ludger Santen/María Teresa Amido Lozano): Handbook of Higher Education in Latin America: Deans’ Views and Overviews. Saravi Pontes Volume 12 (Saarbrücken: Universaar).
2019
“To Live in the Borderlands Means …: The Transcultural Poetics of Lee Maracle“, in: Paul Morris (ed.), Le Canada: une culture de métissage / Transcultural Canada (Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval), 109-126.
2018
(co-authored with Eva K. Nossem): “The Politics of (Dis-)location: Queer Migration, Activism, and Coalitional Possibilities”, in: Gramma/Γράμμα: Journal of Theory and Criticism 25, 61-77.
2017
(co-edited with Marta Fernández-Morales and Martina Martausová): Rethinking Gender in Popular Culture in the 21st Century: Marlboro Men and California Gurls (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars).
2017
"Trans Television Culture: Queer Politics, Gender Fluidity, and Quality TV", Oceánide. Revista de la Sociedad Española de Estudios Literarios de Culture Popular 9. [https://oceanide.es/index.php/012020/article/view/14/117]
2017
"Camping Indigeneity: The Queer Politics of Kent Monkman", in: Franziska Bergmann/Ingrid Hotz‐Davis/Georg Vogt (eds.), The Dark Side of Camp Aesthetics – Queer Economy of Dust, Dirt, and Patina (New York: Routledge), 156-176.
2017
"'Hanging on': Mohawk Sovereignty and the Art of Failure", in: Katharina Motyl/Regina Schober (eds.), The Failed Individual: Amid Exclusion, Resistance, and the Pleasure of Non-Conformity (Frankfurt/Main: Campus Verlag), 182-197.
2017
(co-authored with Susanne Hamscha): "'What Goes on in the Coffin': Border Knowledges in North American Literature", in: Sebastian Weier/Marc Woons (eds.), Critical Epistemologies of Global Politics (Bristol: E-International Relations Publishing), 171-181.
2014
(co-edited with Susanne Hamscha/Klaus Heissenberger/Jennifer J*Moos) Is It 'Cause It's Cool? Affective Encounters with American Culture (Wien: LIT Verlag).
2014
(co-edited with Anne Conrad/Jennifer J*Moos) Gender Überall!? Beiträge zur interdisziplinären Geschlechterforschung (St. Ingbert: Röhrig).
2011
Body Signs: The Latino/a Body in Cultural Production (Wien: LIT Verlag).
2010
(co-edited with Stefan Brandt) Making National Bodies: Cultural Identity and the Politics of the Body in (Post-) Revolutionary America (Trier: WVT).
2010
"Translating Toronto on a Bicycle: Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For and the Challenges of Urbanity", in: Stefan Brandt/Frank Mehring (eds.), Transcultural Spaces: Challenges of Urbanity, Ecology and the Environment in the New Millennium (Tübingen: Narr), 231-244.
2009
“Performing Cultural Memory: Scenarios of Colonial Encounter in the Writings of John Smith, Cabeza de Vaca, and Jacques Cartier”, in: Udo J. Hebel (ed.), Transnational American Memories (Berlin: de Gruyter), 33-58.
2002
Articulating Selves: Contemporary Chicana Self-Representation (Wien: Braumüller), 2002.

b) Other publications
2017
"Fluchträume – Räume der Flucht", Villa Europa 8, 11-12.
2016
(co-authored with Susanne Hamscha) “‘Solitary, Neglected, Despised’: Cruel Optimism and National Sentimentality”, in: Mary M. Balkun/Susanne Imbarrato (eds.), Women’s Narratives and the Formation of Empire (Houndmills: Palgrave), 157-170.
2016
“Subaltern Knowledges in the Borderlands: Drawing the Sexual Boundaries of the Early United States”, in: Markus Heide/Gabriele Pisarz-Ramírez (eds.), Hemispheric Encounters: The Early United States in Transnational Perspective (Frankfurt: Peter Lang), 203-220.
2016
“Recovering Queequeq’s Body: Alterna(rra)tives in the Borderlands”, in: Bettina Hofmann/Monika Müller (eds.), Performing Ethnicity, Performing Gender – Transcultural Perspectives (New York: Routledge), 53-68.
2014
(co-authored with Susanne Hamscha, Klaus Heissenberger and Jennifer Moos) "Introduction: Is American Culture Popular Because It's Cool? - Or Is It Cool Because It's Popular?", in: Astrid Fellner et al. (eds.), Is It 'Cause It's Cool? Affective Encounters with American Culture (Wien: LIT Verlag), 9-22.
2014
(co-authored with Anne Conrad and Jennifer J* Moos) "Gender überall!? – Eine Beobachtung und viele Fragen. Zur Einleitung", in: Astrid Fellner et al. (eds.), Gender Überall!? Beiträge zur interdisziplinären Geschlechterforschung (St. Ingbert: Röhrig), 13-15.
2013
"The Flavors of Multi-Ethnic North American Literatures: Language, Ethnicity and Culinary Nostalgia", in: Cornelia Gerhardt et al. (eds.), Culinary Linguistics: The Chef's Special (Amsterdam: John Benjamins), 241-260.
2013
"Mondlicht und Magnolien: Südstaatenklassiker von Margaret Mitchell, William Faulkner und Toni Morrison", in: Ralf Bogner/Manfred Leber (eds.), Klassiker Neu Lektüren: Saarbrücker Literaturwissenschaftliche Ringvorlesungen 3 (Saarbrücken: Universaar), 211-228.
2012
(co-authored with Eugen Banauch and Susanne Hamscha) "Networlds: Localizing Silicon Valley", in: Petra Eckhard et al. (eds.), Contact Spaces of American Culture: Globalizing Local Phenomena (Wien: LIT Verlag), 229-244.
2010
“‘At Last Lost in Paris’: A Canadian View on the Avant-Garde Paris of the 1920s”, in: Elke Mettinger et al. (eds.), Rive Gauche – Paris as a Site of Avant-Garde and Cultural Exchange in the 1920s (Amsterdam: Rodopi), 311-330.
2010
"Fronteras Americanas: Guillermo Verdecchia’s Canadian Border Texts", in: Silvia Schultermandl/Sebnem Toplu (eds.), A Fluid Sense of Self: The Politics of Transnational Identity (Berlin: LIT Verlag), 231-245.
2009
"Transhemispheric Visions, Border Studies and the Literatures of the Americas", in: Dorothea Steiner/Sabine Danner (eds.), Exploring Spaces: Practices and Perspectives (Berlin: LIT Verlag), 251-277.

Training of Young Researchers

Dissertations Currently Supervised

Katharina Doudouktsidou: American Pop-Culture in the 1950s and 60s: The Rise of the Independent Woman?! (since 2012)

Lea Gerhards: Gender and Sexuality in ‘Urban Fantasy’: The Postfeminist Agenda of Contemporary Vampire Romances (since 2012)

Claire Massey: Running Hand in Hand – The Librotraficantes and the Liberation of History (since 2014)

Bärbel Schlimbach: (South-)Western Borderland Narratives (since 2014)

Mohammad Al-Saqqa: Representations of ‘America’ in Media Discourses in the Middle East (since 2015)

Verena Bernardi: Regional Identity and the Stigmatized South: Representations of Southern Small Towns in the US Television Series True Blood, Hart of Dixie and Justified (since 2015)

Sonja Brass: US American TV Series (since 2015)

Yulia Gordina: ‘A Boon to Our Quest for Continuity’: Memory and the Construction of Russian Jewish North American Diaspora (since 2016, Doctoral Researcher IRTG Diversity)

Nora Koller: What Does a Transfeminist Look Like? The Body Image as Surgically Mediated Practice (since 2016)

Finished Dissertations

Christine Sabadello: Austria in American Literature: A Country and Its People. (University of Vienna, July 2008, time to degree: 4 years; current position: Consultant in a Fundraising Company)

Maria Hinterkörner: 'Kiwi' Masculinities in New Zealand Short Stories (Universität Wien, 2012, time to degree: 5 years; current position: MFA program in US)

Marc Bauch: Europäische Einflüsse im amerikanischen Musical" (Universität des Saarlandes, 2012; current position: High School Teacher)

Katharina Wiedlack: 'We're Punk as Fuck and Fuck like Punks': Queer-Feminist Counter-Cultures, Punk Music and the Anti-Social Turn in Queer Theory (Universität Wien, 2013, time to degree: 4 years; current position: Post-doc at Universität Wien)

Viera Novakova: Gender Identities in Contemporary American Pop-Culture (Safarik University, Kosice/Slovakia, 2013; current position: Post-doc at Safarik University in Kosice)

Elisabeth Tutschek: Dimension lapsisée: Revised Subjectivity in Québécois Women’s Narratives (Universität des Saarlandes, 2014; current position: post-Doc and coordinator of IRTG in Montréal)

Katja Kohler-Golly: 'Location is everything': The Concept of Space in John Updike's Rabbit Tetralogy and Richard Ford's Bascombe Trilogy" (Universität des Saarlandes, 2014; current position: High School Teacher)

Judith Kohlenberger: The Formula for Cool: Legitimating Technoscience in Contemporary US-American Popular Culture (Universität Wien, 2014, time to degree: 4 years; current position: Position at Universität Wien of Business and Economics)

Katrin Fennesz: The Becoming of Space/Place: Shifting Paradigms of Un/Mappable Spatiality in Contemporary North American Fiction (Universität Wien, 2014, time to degree: 5 years; current position: High School Teacher)

Leopold Lippert: Performing America Abroad: The Politics of Transnationalism in the Age of Neoliberal Difference (Universität Wien, 2015, time to degree: 5 years; current position: Post-Doc position at Universität Salzburg)

Svetlana Seibel: 'Personal Totems': The Poetics of the Popular in Contemporary Indigenous Literatures and Media in North America. (Universität Saarbrücken, 2016, time to degree: 3 years; current position: Post-Doc position at Universität des Saarlandes, IRTG Diversity start-up funding for postdoctoral project)
 
 
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