Florian Bast, MA
Assistant Lecturer for American Studies
Room 3502 | Phone: (0341) 973 7334
Office Hours: Monday, 11-noon
http://americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de/faculty/bast
florian.bast@uni-leipzig.de
Bio
I was born and raised in the Westerwald Region of Rhineland-Palatinate. Choosing German Studies, American Studies, and Journalism as my subjects, I enrolled at the University of Leipzig in 2003. A year of studying German literature and American literature at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, was influential in convincing me to pursue an academic career in American Studies. Having graduated from the University of Leipzig in 2008, I am currently working on my dissertation project.
Teaching
I teach and have taught a number of classes in the “Literature and Culture” track of American Studies Leipzig's Bachelor of Arts program. These include introductory courses and tutorials as well as topical seminars. I have also co-taught an MA level class on "Methods and Theories." In 2011/12 I taught the MA class which resulted in the publication of the fifth issue of aspeers: emerging voices in american studies. I am particularly invested in teaching students to work closely with primary texts, to recognize the heterogeneity and diversity of American literature, and to appreciate the omnipresence of texts and their interpretation in everyday life.
Research
My dissertation looks closely at the work of African American science fiction author Octavia Butler. Specifically, I am interested in the ways in which her novels and short stories present and discuss notions of agency and subjectivity. Thus far, my research has focussed heavily on post-modern conceptions of subjectivity, on feminist and African American theory, and on the genre of science fiction in general.
More broadly speaking, my research interest lies in American fiction writing, movies, and TV series. My studies tend to focus on African American literature. I have taught and done extensive scholarly work on subjects such as the neo-slave narrative, vampires, the portrayal of psychological wounds, and African American literature.
Community Service
My most important work for the community may be managing the Picador Guest Professorship for Literature at American Studies Leipzig. I organize and co-organize most of the readings and public events the professorship entails and this consider them a great opportunity to interact with the city’s public. After several years of membership in the student council, during which I advised fellow students about their academic options and study tracks, I am now one of the academic advisors (Fachstudienberater) for the Bachelor of Arts in American Studies.
I am a member of numerous organizations devoted to establishing and maintaining academic networks in the broadest sense of the term, such as the American Studies Alumni Association, the DGFA (German Association for American Studies), the Alumni der Studienstiftung, the Vereinigung von Förderern und Freunden der Universität Leipzig, the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, and the Collegium for African American Research.
In 2010 I was one of the organizers of the Postgraduate Forum of the German Association for American Studies.
Selected Publications and Talks
- "Agency in Octavia Butler's Novels." Presentation. Postgraduiertenforum der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien. Munich, Germany. 31 October 2009.
- With Alexandra Hähnert, Máté Vince Horváth, Diana Labisch, and Sevara Pan, eds. aspeers: emerging voices in american studies 5 (2012).
- "Biology and Symbiosis in Octavia Butler's Fledgling." Presentation. Letting the Vampire In. Bochum, Germany. 9 December 2010.
- With Marie-Louise Löffler. "Bites from the Margins: Contemporary African American
Women’s Vampire Literature." Kultur und Geschecht 8 (2011). <http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/genderstudies/kulturundgeschlecht/aktuell.html> - "Confronting Bodies: Octavia Butler's Kindred as a Narrative of Agency." Presentation. 31st International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts. Orlando, Florida, USA. 19 March 2010.
- With Anne Grob, Sebastian M. Herrmann, Franziska Kloth, Frank Usbeck, guest eds. Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies 12 (2011).<http://www-copas.uni-regensburg.de/articles/issue_12/12_00_contents.php>
- "‘The Evening and the Morning and the Night’ as an Example of Agency in the Works of Octavia Butler.’" Guest lecture given in the seminar "‘Ok Computer? American Science Fiction in the 20th Century’" taught by Johanna Heil, MA, at the Chair of Prof. Dr Carmen Birkle. Philips-University Marburg, Germany. 8 December 2011.
- "Fantastic Voices: Octavia Butler's First-Person Narrators." Presentation. Dreams Not Only American: Science Fiction Research Association Conference. Lublin, Poland. 9 July 2011.
- "‘I won't always ask.’ Complicating Agency in Octavia Butler's Fledgling." Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies 11 (2010). <http://www-copas.uni-regensburg.de/articles/issue_11/11_08_text_bast.php.>
- "‘No.’: The Narrative Theorizing of Embodied Agency in Octavia Butler's Kindred" Extrapolation. 53.2 (2012).
- "Reading Red: The Troping of Trauma in Toni Morrison's Beloved." Callaloo. 34.4 (2011): 1069-86.
- "‘Shori Matthews Has Told Us the Truth’: Unreliable Narration in Octavia Butler's Fledgling. Presentation. 33rd International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts. Orlando, Florida, USA. 21 March 2012.
- "Stories of Self: Narrative Agency in the Works of Octavia Butler." Presentation. Black States of Desire: Dispossession, Circulation, Transformation. Bi-Annual Conference of the Collegium for African American Research. Paris, France. 8 April, 2011.
- "The Unreliable Heroine: Fledgling's Shori as Octavia Butler's Most Problematic Protagonist." Presentation. 43rd Annualy Convention of the Northeast Modern Language Association. Rochester, NY, USA. 17 March 2012.
Honors, Awards, Distinctions
- German National Academic Foundation from 2003 to 2008.
- German National Academic Foundation Position as a Research Assisstant and Graduate Student at the German Department of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, in 2005/2006.
- DAAD Conference Travel Scholarships in March 2010 and in March 2012.
- Fulbright Summer Institute in San Francisco and Washington, DC, in the Summer of 2012.
- 2012 Student Paper Award of the Science Fiction Research Association.