Mascha Helene Lange
Doctoral Candidate
Room 3311 | Phone:
Office Hours: by appointment
https://americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de/users/mascha-lange
mascha.lange@uni-leipzig.de
Bio
I received both my undergraduate (B.A. American Studies) and graduate (Staatsexamen für höheres Lehramt) degrees from the University of Leipzig. My master thesis – the results of which were published in the 2019 issue of aspeers – focused on “Narratives of Intersex in Contemporary US-American Literature.” Broadly speaking, my research revolves around the idea that (literary) texts work as cultural shorthands affecting people’s perception of reality, and I see my work as a process of interpretation and translation. Over the course of my studies, I have worked at the institute as a teaching assistant in several different positions, in B.A. courses as well as modules for students in teacher training. Retrospectively, one of the most rewarding experiences during my own studies were two semesters spent abroad at Bangor University (Prifysgol Bangor, Wales) and Rice University in Houston, Texas. The latter in particular inspired me to prolong my graduate studies and pursue a PhD. From March 2019 until February 2020, I was granted a Pre-Doc Award from the Research Academy Leipzig which allowed me to conceptualize a PhD project and apply for further funding. My dissertation, supervised by Prof. Dr. Katja Kanzler, investigates negotiations of sexual(ized) violence in contemporary US-American literature and culture with a focus on the transmediality of current narratives. Since July 2020 my work is funded by the Hans-Boeckler-Foundation.
Research Interests
Originally trained in literary studies, my primary research interest lies in US-American literature of the 20th and 21st century, especially works from authors who – because of their race, class, and/or gender – have traditionally been more marginalized than others. Over the course of my studies, and owing especially to experiences abroad, I developed an interest in gender, women’s and queer studies. More recently, I started to investigate the concept of transmediality, trying to reconcile research from media studies and narrative theory with the cultural work approach and the “politics” of texts.
Publications
- “Transmediale Verhandlungen sexueller Gewalt: Der Fall Elva und Stranger.” Interdisziplinäre Beiträge zur Geschlechterforschung, edited by Ann-Christin Kleinert et al, Verlag Barbara Budrich, 2021.
- “Science Fiction Imagines Intersex: Melissa Scott’s Shadow Man (1995).” GenderGraduateProjects V, edited by Stefan Horlacher et al, Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2021. [Forthcoming]
- “Transmedial Negotiations of Gender-Based Violence in Contemporary US-American Literature and Culture.” Research poster. Research Academy Leipzig, 2020.
- “Of Pregnant Kings and Manly Landladies – Negotiating Intersex in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness.” aspeers: emerging voices in american studies, vol. 12, 2019, pp. 117-138.
- Peña, Daniel. Interview by Mascha Helene Lange. “Interview with Daniel Peña.” R2 Rice Review, 2018, pp. 16-24.
Conference Presentations
- “Chanel Miller’s Know My Name and (the Art of) Vulnerable World Making.” Real, Imagined, and Displayed Fragility: Vulnerable Positions and Positioning in Society. Bremen-Turku-Warsaw-Stockholm Series on Studies in Discourse and Contradiction #3. Warsaw. 25-27 Mar. 2021. Online Conference Presentation.