Dr. Ariane de Waal

Dr. Ariane de Waal

Research Fellow

British Cultural Studies
Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum
Beethovenstraße 15, Room 4308
04107 Leipzig

Abstract

Ariane de Waal is a Senior Lecturer in British Cultural Studies at the Institute for British Studies, Leipzig University. Her research and teaching focus on the representation and 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, especially the field of Victorian 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 the Journal for the Study of British Cultures, the European Journal of English Studies, and Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies).

Professional career

  • since 10/2022
    Senior Lecturer in British Cultural Studies at the Institute for British Studies, Leipzig University
  • 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

  • since 11/2022
    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



  • de Waal, A.
    Big Other and Big Brother: State Violence, Surveillance, and Censorship in Contemporary Indian English Drama
    In: von Knebel Doeberitz, O. (Ed.)
    Contemporary Indian English Literature: Contexts – Authors – Genres – Model Analyses. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag. 2024. pp. 299–320.
    show details
  • de Waal, A.
    Exposure, Friction, and ‘Peculiar Feelings’: Victorian Travelling Skin
    Medicine and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century British Literature, History, and Culture. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 2023. pp. 213–234.
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  • de Waal, A.
    Ahuman Escape Routes: An Interview with Patricia MacCormack
    Journal for the Study of British Cultures. 2023. 30 (2). pp. 159–173.
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  • de Waal, A.
    Introduction: Towards Ahuman Futures? Cultural Studies for the End of the World
    Journal for the Study of British Cultures. 2023. 30 (2). pp. 139–157.
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  • de Waal, A. (Ed.)
    Becoming Ahuman
    Journal for the Study of British Cultures. 2023. 30 (2).
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more publications

  • Kulturstudien Großbritanniens
    Contemporary British Theatre Barcelona
    Start Date of Collaboration: 31/10/2022
    External participating organisations: Universität Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain)
    Involved persons: de Waal, Ariane
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more cooperations

  • Workshop
    Cultural Studies and the Nonhuman
    Kulturstudien Großbritanniens
    Event Organiser: de Waal, Ariane
    20/04/2023 – 21/04/2023
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more events

  • An Introduction to British Cultural Studies

  • Who Wants to Be Middle Class? The ‘Middling Condition’ in Historical Perspective

  • Contemporary British Art

  • Bollywood and Beyond: Indian Cinema

  • Black British Cultural Studies

  • Afrofuturism

  • HIV/AIDS and British Culture, 1981–2021

  • Trans Identities in Britain

  • Researching Victorian Culture

  • Masculinity Studies

  • Cultural Identities and the Classroom: Theories and Case Studies of Inter-, Cross-, Multi-, and Transculturalism

  • Cultural Identities and the Classroom: Cultures of Adolescence