Profile
Abstract
Ariane de Waal is a Lecturer and Researcher in British Cultural Studies at the Department of English Studies at Leipzig University. Her research and teaching focus on the negotiation of political phenomena such as climate change, terrorism, neoliberalism, migration, and racism in contemporary British literature and culture. Her monograph on British post-9/11 drama, 'Theatre on Terror', which was based on her PhD thesis (completed at Ruhr University Bochum in 2016), was published by De Gruyter in 2017. Her second key research area is the 19th century with a special focus on the Victorian Medical Humanities and Material Culture Studies. Ariane de Waal has published extensively both on contemporary and 19th-century literature and culture. Next to articles and book chapters, she has co-edited several collections and special issues (e.g. for SUNY Press, European Journal of English Studies, Journal for the Study of British Cultures, JCDE, and Liminalities).
Professional career
- since 10/2022
Senior Lecturer in British Cultural Studies at the Institute for British Studies, Leipzig University (on maternity leave from 08/2023 until 03/2024) - 09/2019 - 08/2022
Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer in English Literature and Culture, Department of English and North American Studies, MLU Halle-Wittenberg - 04/2016 - 08/2019
Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer in English Literary and Cultural Studies, Department of English, University of Innsbruck - 10/2012 - 07/2014
Teaching Associate, British Cultural Studies and English Language Training, English Department, Ruhr University Bochum - 10/2010 - 03/2013
Research Assistant in British Cultural Studies, English Department, Ruhr University Bochum
Education
- 09/2012 - 02/2016
PhD, English Literature and Culture, Ruhr University Bochum - 09/2014 - 12/2014
Postgraduate Research Associateship, Drama Department, Queen Mary, University of London - 10/2010 - 03/2012
MA, English and American Studies, University of Bochum - 01/2009 - 05/2009
Exchange Programme, Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Oklahoma - 10/2005 - 11/2008
BA, English and American Studies, Drama, and Modern Standard Arabic, Ruhr University Bochum and University of Hull
Panel Memberships
- 11/2022 - 08/2025
Co-Investigator for “Gender, Affect and Care in the Twenty-First Century British Theatre” at the University of Barcelona, a three-year research project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the EU European Regional Development Fund - since 12/2021
Co-Founder of DACH Victorianists, a network for scholars of Victorian studies based at German-speaking universities - since 06/2021
Member of the Editorial Team and Book Review Editor for the Journal for the Study of British Cultures - 07/2016 - 08/2019
Representative for Early Career Researchers at the Faculty of Languages and Literature, University of Innsbruck
Research in the field of Victorian Studies:
- History of Dermatology
- Victorian Material Culture
- Realism
Research on contemporary British and postcolonial literature and culture:
- Discourses and Representations of Terrorism
- Climate Change Literature and Drama
- Discourses of Migration and Racism
- Analyses of Neoliberalism
- Media Discourses and Representations of Pregnancy, Birth, Parenthood
- Contemporary Indian and British South Asian Theatre
Theoretical Approaches:
- Medical Humanities
- Queer Studies
- Postcolonial Theories
- Ecocriticism, New Materialisms, and Ahuman Theory
- Critical Race & Critical Whiteness Studies
- show detailsde Waal, A.Big Other and Big Brother: State Violence, Surveillance, and Censorship in Contemporary Indian English DramaIn: von Knebel Doeberitz, O. (Ed.)Contemporary Indian English Literature: Contexts – Authors – Genres – Model Analyses. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag. 2024. pp. 299–320.ISBN: 978-3-8233-8591-2
- show detailsde Waal, A.Exposure, Friction, and ‘Peculiar Feelings’: Victorian Travelling SkinMedicine and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century British Literature, History, and Culture. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 2023. pp. 213–234.ISBN: 978-3-031-17019-5
- show detailsde Waal, A.Introduction: Towards Ahuman Futures? Cultural Studies for the End of the WorldJournal for the Study of British Cultures. 2023. 30 (2). pp. 139–157.
- show detailsde Waal, A. (Ed.)Becoming AhumanJournal for the Study of British Cultures. 2023. 30 (2).
- show detailsde Waal, A.Pandemic Citizenship, Care, and the Joys of Denial in It’s a Sin (2021): Remembering AIDS in the Post-COVID ConjunctureCoils of the Serpent. 2025. pp. 133–157.
- show detailsBritish Cultural StudiesContemporary British Theatre BarcelonaStart Date of Collaboration: 01/11/2022External participating organisations: Universität Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain)Involved persons: de Waal, Ariane
- show detailsWorkshopCultural Studies and the NonhumanBritish Cultural StudiesEvent Organiser: de Waal, Ariane21/04/2023 – 22/04/2023
My teaching combines my two core interests: contemporary British culture and Victorian literature and culture. My current classes explore ways to refocus British Cultural Studies through global frameworks, and particularly with a focus on Black cultural expressions. Some of my current seminars include "Black British Cultural Studies" and "Afrofuturism". My teaching on the Victorian era centres on the Victorian Medical Humanities and Material Culture Studies.
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An Introduction to British Cultural Studies
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Who Wants to Be Middle Class? The ‘Middling Condition’ in Historical Perspective
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Contemporary British Art
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Bollywood and Beyond: Indian Cinema
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Black British Cultural Studies
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Afrofuturism
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HIV/AIDS and British Culture, 1981–2021
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Trans Identities in Britain
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Researching Victorian Culture
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Masculinity Studies
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Cultural Identities and the Classroom: Theories and Case Studies of Inter-, Cross-, Multi-, and Transculturalism
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Cultural Identities and the Classroom: Cultures of Adolescence