I am a doctoral candidate in Medieval and Modern Languages, funded by the AHRC Open-Oxford-Cambridge studentship, with a research focus on Jewish-German intellectual history of the 20th century. 

My DPhil project examines how Walter Benjamin, a prominent twentieth-century philosopher and cultural critic, engaged with anthropological texts and how this shaped his idea of embodied presence. Simply put, I look at how Benjamin’s readings of anthropology contributed to his understanding of how people experience and inhabit the world physically, not just intellectually. 

With my work, sitting at the intersection of cultural theory, philosophy and literary studies, I seek to foster an understanding between different forms of world-building. More broadly, I am interested in how scholarship can contribute to peacebuilding through nurturing deeper cross-cultural understanding.

Education

Before coming to Oxford, I earned an MA in Critical and Cultural Theory from University of Leeds, where I focused on Decolonial Thought, 20th-century Cultural Studies as well as Performance Studies. I also studied Art History with a minor in Language and Media Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich and spent one year at the Centre for Jewish Cultural History at Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, learning modern Hebrew.

Publication

Peer-reviewed

“On the Caesura in Dance: Reading Black Waters As History at a Standstill” In: Performance Philosophy Vol. 7 No. 2 (2022) pp. 32-47, https://doi.org/10.21476/PP.2022.72361

Conferences

'Demarcations of Thought. Navigating the Boundaries of Our Minds', conference paper, Constellations - 2024 AHRC International Conference, Robinson College, Cambridge, 16 - 18 September 2024, (accepted)

Symposium '21st Annual German Graduate Symposium: Cognition and Corporeality', 22 June 2024, Co-organiser with Sarah Schwarz and Martin Lindner, Taylor Institution, Oxford. Funded by the MML Faculty

Conference 'Medieval Women's Writing: Exchanging Words', 18 June 2024, Chair, Taylor Institution, Oxford. Funded by TORCH

'Imaginaries of Justice: Arendt, Benjamin, Scholem', conference paper, 16th International Critical Theory Conference in Rome,  John Felice Rome Center of Loyola University Chicago, 5 - 7 May 2024, (accepted)

‘Where do we stand when we stand up for justice? A Comparison of the Historian’s Position in Walter Benjamin and Michel-Rolph Trouillot’, conference paper, International Walter Benjamin Society, Warsaw, 27 – 30 September 2023

‘Speaking in tandem – on relationality in language’, paper, public event ‘Exploring Language Diversity’, Jesus College Oxford, Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub, 2 June 2023

‘“They had to go there physically.” Reading Black Waters as History at a Standstill’, conference paper, 20th annual Modern German Graduate Symposium, St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, 5 May 2023

Academic Teaching Experience

At Oxford, I have given several translation tutorials from English to German. In 2023 - 2024, I co-convened the German Graduate Seminar on the theme 'Writing Bodies and Minds'. I was also a Sessional Lecturer at Advanced Studies in England, Franklin and Marshall College, in Bath in 2023.

Related Teaching Experience

From 2022 - 2024, I was the Waynflete Academic in German at Magdalen College School, Oxford. I have six years of teaching experience in German as a Foreign Language in the UK, Ireland and Germany, including language support for asylum-seeking children.

Outreach and Public Engagement

I coordinate the Oxford German Network and its ‘A German Classic’, an essay competition for sixth formers from schools across the UK. I interviewed academics and students at Oxford to discuss our set texts for the project’s YouTube video podcast.

Alongside my studies, I have gained professional experience in directing and set management in theatre, film and television as well as working as a theatre chaperone for children in dance.