About

I am currently a doctoral researcher at the Chair of British Cultural Studies at the University of Potsdam. Before joining Potsdam, I studied English and American Studies, History and Gender Studies at Ruhr-University Bochum. During my studies, I spent a semester abroad in Galway, Ireland, and completed an internship at the Goethe-Institut in New York City. I have also gained professional experience as a teacher, translator, teaching and research assistant, and workshop instructor. Alongside my academic work, volunteer work and activism have always been an important part of my life. I have been involved in various student and working groups focused on equality, anti-discrimination, and university politics. 

My MA thesis, From Shame to Celebration? Tracing Fat Body Politics in Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, examined representations of fat embodiment through fat studies, affect theory, and critiques of neoliberalism. I explored how the reality TV show celebrates fat, Black, and queer bodies through visibility, joy, and fat-flaunting while also negotiating these forms of embodiment within commodified body-positive frameworks, revealing tensions between fat liberationist politics, empowerment politics, and marketability.

In my PhD project, I explore fatness, visibility politics, and the politics of beauty in contemporary digital and celebrity cultures. I am particularly interested in the changing cultural meanings of fatness in the context of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, (post-)body positivity, fat liberation politics, and celebrity culture. My research examines how discourses of health, beauty, self-care, feminism, and individual responsibility shape which bodies become culturally desirable, legitimate, and intelligible.

• Body Studies (esp. Fat Studies)
• Gender Studies and Queer Theory
• Feminist Politics and Histories of Feminism
• Celebrity Studies
• Popular Culture
• Reality TV
• Digital Cultures
• Histories and Politics of Political and Social Movements (esp. 19th century)