Associate Professor for American Culture and Literature
Nicole Hirschfelder studied at Goethe University (MA), the University of Wisconsin (graduate studies, MA), and Yale University (PhD research scholar program). She completed her dissertation at Eberhard Karls University Tübingen. In 2014, she published an edited version of her PhD thesis as her first book titled, Oppression as Process: The Case of Bayard Rustin. The working title of her second book project is “The Gaze and Catastrophe.” Apart from her main areas of scholarship, she has also published and presented on the Black Lives Matter Movement. In this context, she frequently collaborates with schools and other institutions. Nicole Hirschfelder is an associated member of the collaborative research center 923 “Threatened Order – Societies under Stress” and was selected to be a young scholar in the Athene program which is part of the excellence initiative of the University of Tuebingen. She is an Alumna of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Fulbright and a member of the Figurational Research Network and the Matariki Risk Humanities Network. In fall 2016 and spring 2019, she was a visiting professor at the University of Maryland.
Attention: Dr. Nicole Hirschfelder is currently on leave. Her e-mail address remains valid, however, for urgent concerns, please reach out to the Help Desk or Main Office.
Kinship and Collective Action in Literature and Culture. Bauer, Heise-von-der-Lippe, Luther, Hirschfelder, Tübingen, Narr Francke Attempto Verlag, 2020.
2019
Who Can Speak and Who is Heard/ Hurt? Facing Problems of Race, Racism and Ethnic Diversity in American Studies in Germany and Beyond. Arghavan, Motyl, Kopp and Hirschfelder (eds.) Bielefeld, transcript, 2019.
“Deconstructing the (Idea of a White-Dominated) German Gaze: Specific Challenges for Germans and (Their) Scholarship on the Civil Rights Movement.” In: Contemporary Church History, 1/2020, pp. 37-58.
with Rebecca Hahn and Anya Heise-von der Lippe. “Wissenschafft: Zur feministischen Praxis im universitären Kontext.” In: Gero Bauer, Maria Kechaja, Sebastian Engelmann, Lean Haug (eds.): Diskriminierung und Antidiskriminierung: Beiträge aus Wissenschaft und Praxis. Bielefeld: transcript, 2021, pp. 79-98.
2020
“Change Starts with Us”: The Issue of Media Representation of Athletes’ Activism for Black Lives.” In: Frank Jacob (ed.): Sports and Politics. Berlin, DeGruyter, 2020, pp. tbd (1-22).
with Gero Bauer, Anya Heise-von der Lippe, and Katharina Luther. “Kinship and Collective Action in Times of the Coronavirus.” In: Gero Bauer, Anya Heise-von der Lippe, Nicole Hirschfelder and Katharina Luther (eds.) Kinship and Collective Action in Literature and Culture. Tübingen, Narr Francke Attempto Verlag, fall 2020, pp. 9-30.
with Gero Bauer, Anya Heise-von der Lippe, and Katharina Luther. “Kinship and Collective Action: A Conversation.” In: Gero Bauer, Anya Heise-von der Lippe, Nicole Hirschfelder and Katharina Luther (eds.) Kinship and Collective Action in Literature and Culture. Tübingen, Narr Francke Attempto Verlag, fall 2020, pp. 271-286.
2019
translated into Portuguese (original English title: “#BlackLivesMatter and the Meaning(s) of Social Transformation in the Global South and North, or: How do we define ‘Global?’ And Who is ‘We’?”) “#BlackLivesMatter e o(s) significado(s) da transformação social no Sul e Norte Globais, ou: como definimos ‘Global’ e quem define?” In: Fernando Resende, Roberto Robalinho and Diego Granja (eds.): Modos de Ser Sul: Territorialidades, Afetos e Poderes. Rio de Janeiro, E-papers, 2019, pp. 215 - 229.
with Nina Los and Matthias Riegel “Protest im Netz: Gelebte Demokratie oder Diktatur der Trolle? Podiumsdiskussion mit Nicole Hirschfelder, Nina Los und Matthias Riegel.” In: Martinsen, Franziska (ed.): Protest! Die 21. Hannah Arendt Tage 2018. Weilerswist, Velbrück, 2019, pp. 50-65.
with Mahmoud Arghavan and Katharina Motyl. “Who Can Speak and Who is Heard/ Hurt? Facing Problems of Race, Racism and Ethnic Diversity in American Studies in Germany and Beyond: A Survey of the Issues at Stake.” In: Arghavan, Motyl, Kopp and Hirschfelder (eds.): Who Can Speak and Who is Heard/ Hurt? Facing Problems of Race, Racism and Ethnic Diversity in American Studies in Germany and Beyond. Bielefeld, transcript, 2019, pp. 9-42.
2017
“The Case of Bayard Rustin as a Paradigm for the Transformation of Oppression.” In: Christa Buschendorf (ed.): Power Relations in Black Lives: Reading African American Literature and Culture with Bourdieu and Elias, Bielefeld, transcript, 2017. pp. 237-255.
2016
"A Study in Oppression: A Critical Perspective on 'Civilization' and 'Change.'" In: Civilization and Change/ Medeniyet ve Değişim, pp. 101-117. M.Tahir Kılavuz, Kamil Yelek (Hrsg.), İstanbul: İSAR Yayınları, 2016.
„#BlackLivesMatter: Protest und Widerstand heute“. In: Michael Butter, Astrid Franke and Horst Tonn (eds.): Von Selma bis Ferguson: Rasse und Rassismus in den USA. Bielefeld, transcript, 2016, S. 231–260.
2015
Gherairi, Jasmina and Hirschfelder, Nicole. „Wissenschaftliches Schreiben als Herausforderung im Studienalltag: Der Versuch eines integrierten Schreibprojekts.“ In: Tübinger Beiträge zur Hochschuldidaktik. Band 11/1. Christine Baatz, Andrea Fausel, Regine Richter (eds.). Tübingen 2015. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:21-dspace-630206. S. 5-50.
„Homophobie und Rassismus – eine figurationssoziologische Betrachtung des Falles von Bayard Rustin.“ In: Neue alte Rassimen? Differenz und Exklusion in Europa nach 1989, Drews-Sylla, Gesine, Makarska, Renata (ed.), Bielefeld, transcript, 2015, S. 149-163.
2014
(with Astrid Franke) “‘Maycomb was itself again’: Wandel und Resilienz einer ungerechten Ordnung”, in: Aufruhr – Katastrophe – Konkurrenz – Zerfall. Bedrohte Ordnungen als Thema der Kulturwissenschaften, vol.1 of the SFB 923-series 'Bedrohte Ordnungen‘, Ewald Frie und Mischa Meier (eds.), Tübingen 2014, S. 197 - 228.
February 2021 – “Weiße Solidarität und Black Lives Matter,” Talk, TANG e.V., Freiburg.
February 2021 – “Black Lives Matter, Covid-19 and the Challenges of (White) Solidarity in a Globalized World,” Symposium: From Racial Polarization to Black Liberation, Freiburg.
February 2021 – with Astrid Franke “Das Virus bedroht alle ungleich! Race, Class, Gender und Age im Kontext von COVID-19,” Presentation, SFB 923, Tübingen.
February 2021 – with Astrid Franke “Zur Qual (Nach) der Wahl: Ein (Rück-)Blick auf die Präsidentschaftswahlen, den Sturm auf das Capitol und Trumps Rolle in den USA,” Online Seminar, Frankenwarte, Würzburg.
February 2021 – with Esther Earbin “Anti-Schwarzer Rassismus und Polizeigewalt in Deutschland und den USA: Part III,” Zoom Live Event with Esther Earbin, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, Tübingen.
February 2021 – Book Launch Kinship and Collective Action, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, Tübingen.
January 2021 – “Zur Diskussion um den Begriff ‘Rasse’ im Grundgesetz aus kulturwissenschaftlicher Persepctive,” Talk, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.
January 2021 – “Jetzt erst recht?! Verändert die #metoo Bewegung das gesellschaftliche Miteinander?” Talk, Frankenwarte, Würzburg.
December 2020 – “Rassismus – nicht mein Problem?” Talk und Discussion, Evangelische Studierende Gemeinde, Tübingen.
December 2020 – “Introduction: Die Bürgerrechtsbewegung bis hin zu den Black Lives Matter Protesten,” Talk, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Stuttgart.
November 2020 – America Street, Paneldiscussion as part of the Französische Filmtage, Tübingen.
November 2020 – “Luncheon nach der Wahl,” Moderation, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, Tübingen.
November 2020 – “Die Präsenz der Vergangenheit: der Einfluss (post-)kolonialer Strukturen auf die Bürgerrechtsbewegung und Black Lives Matter,” Talk as part of the Wintervortragsreihe: (Post-)Koloniale Welten. Umschreiben und Umkartieren hegemonialer Verhältnisse, Katholische Universität, Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.
October 2020 – “Die US-Wahlen und die Frauenfrage: Prämiere einer Vize-Präsidentin oder Business as Usual im weißen Haus?” Talk, Fridtjof-Nansen-Akademie für politische Bildung im WBZ, Ingelheim am Rhein.
October 2020 – “Black Lives Matter: US-Wahlen, Coronoa und Gelebte Solidarität,” Online Seminar, Frankenwarte, Würzburg.
October 2020 – “Feministisches Zeitalter oder Corona-Rollback?” Talk, Prediger, Schwäbisch Gmünd.
October 2020 – “Black Lives Matter und weiße Solidarität,” Talk, Leibniz Kolleg, Tübingen.
October 2020 – “The Black Lives Matter Movement,” Talk, Wilhelm Schickard Schule, Tübingen.
September 2020 – with Esther Earbin “Anti-Schwarzer Rassismus und Polizeigewalt in Deutschland und den USA: Part II,” Zoom Live Event, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, Tübingen.
September 2020 – “From the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter,” Talk, Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst.
August 2020 – “Black Lives Matter and COVID-19,” Webinar, Black Caucus, Democrats Abroad.
July 2020 – “Literature as Protest?! Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle,” Talk as part of the lecture Introduction to Literary Studies, Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen.
July 2020 – “Black Lives Matter und Covid-19: Zur Verschränkung zweier Krisen,” Talk, Leibniz Kolleg, Tübingen.
June 2020 – “Black Lives Matter,” Interview, Deutschlandfunk.
June 2020 – with Esther Earbin “Anti-Schwarzer Rassismus und Polizeigewalt in Deutschland und den USA,” Zoom Live, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut, Tübingen.
June 2020 – “Black Lives Matter,” Talk as part of the Menschenrechtswoche, Amnesty International, Tübingen / Hannover.
March 2020 – “The Future is Female(!?): Current Debates on Gender and the upcoming Elections in the US,” Talk, Deutsch-Amerikanisches-Zentrum, Stuttgart.
May 2020 – “Was zählen schwarze Leben während und nach der Pandemie?” Talk, Atlantische Akademie, Kaiserslautern.
March 2020 – “Screening of the movie: Knock Down the House,” Introduction, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut / Terre des Femmes, Tübingen.
March 2020 – “Showdown 2020 – die USA im Wahlkampf: Afroamerikanische Perspektiven auf den Wahlkampf und Black Lives Matter,” Online Seminar, Fridtjof-Nansen-Akademie für politische Bildung im WBZ, Ingelheim am Rhein.
February 2020 – “Black Lives Matter,” Talk, Wilhelm Schickard Schule, Tübingen.
February 2020 – “Rassismus im akademischen Feld: (Selbst)reflexion von Machtstrukturen und Identitäten in Deutschland,” Talk, Zentrum für Gender and Diversity, Tübingen.
January 2020 – “Black Lives Matter in den USA – eine feministische Perspektive,” Talk, Münster.
January 2020 – with Astrid Franke as part of the lecture Introduction to Cultural Studies “Sports and Race in Cultural Studies: Against Process Reduction,” Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen.
Dezember 2019 - mit Astrid Franke und Rica Ulmer “Visual Literacy”, Talks & Discussions, Teachers’ Day Tübingen, invited by Prof. Uwe Küchler, Universität Tübingen.
November 2019 - “Missing the Basics?!: On Some Specific Challenges for Germans and Scholarship on the Civil Rights Movement,” Talk & Discussion, Universität Oldenburg.
May 2019 – “Great (Un)Equalizers? A Re-Consideration of Early American Quakerism”, GSNAS, JFK Institute, Berlin.
May 2019 – “William Penn to Bayard Rustin: Radical Quaker Pacifism in American Cultural History”, Talk, English Department (Local Americanists Lecture), University of Maryland, College Park, Invited by Prof. Bob Levine (English Department).
April 2019 – Screening of movie Brother Outsider, Introduction and Discussion, Honors College, University of Maryland, College Park, Invited by Dr. Traci Dula (Honors College).
March 2019 – “It’s (not) just Emotions: On the Precarity of the Black Freedom Struggle Today”, Talk and Discussion, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Invited by Dr. Anne Garland Mahler (Global South Studies).
March 2019 – “#metoo here and there”, Talk and Discussion, Honors College, University of Maryland, College Park, Invited by Dr. Traci Dula (Honors College).
December 2018 – “‘Change Starts with Us’ – The Issue of Media Representation of Athletes’ Activism for Black Lives” & participant on panel discussion, CUNY, New York, USA.
December 2018 – “From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Reconsidering the 1960s in the Age of Black Lives Matter” As part of the lecture series “Issues in American Literary and Cultural History IV: From the First World War to the Present”, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
July 2018 – with Astrid Franke as part of the lecture series on Karl Marx: „Amerika in Marx und Marx in Amerika: Oder: Why Black Lives Matter (to Marx),” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Invited by Prof. Dr. Rieger-Ladich (Erziehungswissenschaften).
June 2018 – “Ziviler Ungehorsam & Protest Heute” (Politologie), Talk and Discussion, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Invited by Lisa Palm and Johannes Schwietering, (Politikwissenschaften).
June 2018 – “#BlackLivesMatter Protest & Aktivismus einer neuen sozialen Bewegung,” Political Science Department, Leibniz Universität Hannover.
May 2018 – “Bayard Rustin and the Challenges of Radical Pacifism” As part of the lecture series “Issues in American Literary and Cultural History III: Outlaws, Bandits, Terrorists from 1868 to 1968”, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
April 2018 – “Affect, Protest, and Research: On the Effects of (Seeking) Knowledge on Protest”, EAAS, London, UK.
March 2018 – “Fictional Approaches to Disaster & Catastrophe – or: Attempting to Narrate the Unspeakable.” PCA/ ACA Conference, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
February 2018 – “‘Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way’- Representations of American Expansionism” As part of the lecture series “Issues in American Literary and Cultural History II: From the Revolution to the Civil War”, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
December 2017 – “An “Outsider’s” Integrated Perspective: Bayard Rustin’s Quaker Views on Israel,” International Conference Jews and Quakers: On the Borders of Acceptability – Brighton, UK.
October 2017 – “MODES OF BEING SOUTH: Territorialities, Affects, Powers,” Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; (as part of delegation of Literatures and Cultures of the Global South Collaborative research center).
September 2017 – “Perspectives on Refugees & Germany Since the Summer of 2015,” UMD Bahai Chair, University of Maryland, Invited by Prof. Hoda Mahmoudi.
July 2017 – “‘The Ground on Which I Stand’ (Today): Zur Popularisierung von Drama im Protest und Protest im Theater” As part of the Workshop “Vorhang Auf! Zur Popularisierung von Diversitätsdiskursen in Drama & Theater,” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Invited by Dr. Katja Kauer, Dr. LilyTonger-Erk, Dr. Gero Bauer (Germanistik & Zentrum für Gender und Diversitätsstudien)
June 2017 – “‘Do you feel the same?’: On the Significance of Emotional and Affective Practices in/ for Grassroots Activism and Populism,” Futures of American Studies Institute, Dartmouth, USA (19.-25.06.2017).
Mai 2017 – “William Penn’s Holy Experiment: Quakers’ Foundation of Pennsylvania.” As part of the lecture series “Issues in American Literary and Cultural History I: The Colonial Americas,” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
October 2016 – “Worlds Apart?! #BlackLivesMatter and the Police.” International Conference Black America and the Police, Otto Friedrich Universität Bamberg, Invited by Dr. Georgiana Banita (Department of Literature and Media).
September 2016 – “Visualising or Obscuring ‘Female’ Power?” International Conference Re-thinking Gender in the Global South(s), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico-City.
June 2016 – “Images of America after the Civil War: Landscape Paintings of the Plantation and Other Imaginary Spaces.” As part of the lecture series “Issues in American Literary and Cultural History III: From the Civil War to World War I,” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
April 2016 – “‘No Justice, No Peace’: On New Forms and Challenges of (Understanding) Black Protest.” Talk at the European Association for American Studies, Ovidius University, Constanta.
March 2016 – “Narrating the Unspeakable: Disaster & Catastrophe in Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth and Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones.” Talk at the American Comparative Literature Association, Harvard University, Cambridge.
December 2015 – “How Realistic is Realist Fiction?” As part of the lecture series “Introduction to Literary Studies”, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
November 2015 – “Picturing a Nation: American Landscape Paintings and National Identity.” As part of the lecture series “Issues in American Literary and Cultural History II: From the Revolution to the Civil War,” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
October 2015 – “Black Lives Matter - Afroamerikanischer Widerstand heute.” As part of the Studium Generale lecture series “Von Selma bis Ferguson - Die USA nach der Bürgerrechtsbewegung,” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
June 2015 – “William Penn’s Holy Experiment: Quakers’ Foundation of Pennsylvania.” As part of the lecture series “Issues in American Literary and Cultural History I: The Colonial Americas,” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
May 2015 – “Civil Rights in the US.” Beijing Foreign University, Invited by Peking Prof. em. Harold Weaver (The China Film Project; prev. Harvard University).
November 2014 – “How Good Were the ‘Good Sixties?’” Pacifism and the Civil Rights Movement.” As part of the lecture series “Issues in American Literary and Cultural History IV: From the First World War to the Present,” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
June 2014 – “Religion & Resistance: The Impact of Quakerism on Political Activism.” Talk as part of the Workshop „Race, Rights, and Religion,” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
November 2013 – “Oppression amongst the Oppressed: How Inequality Pervades Social Dynamics.” As part of the Workshop „Ungerechte Ordnungen – The Structure and Dynamics of Inequality,” Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.
February 2013 – (with Christine Knauer) “Multiple Bedrohungen in amerikanischen Rassenbeziehungen nach 1945,” As part of the SFB 923 colloquium, Tübingen.
November 2012 – “Why it Matters How We Remember: The Case of Bayard Rustin and the Issue of Fragmented Memory.” Talk at the International Conference “What is LGTB(Q) History and Where Do We Stand?,” Queen Mary University, London.
November 2012 – “A Study in Oppression: A Critical Perspective on ‘Civilization’ and ‘Change.’” Talk at the Conference “Civilization and Change” (International ISAR Symposium), Istanbul.
June 2010 – “A Figurational Approach to the Issues of Class and Race – the Case of Bayard Rustin as a Paradigm for the Transformation of Oppression.” Talk at the International Conference “Trans-Formations of Class and Race,” Albert Ludwig Universität Freiburg.
