Biografie
1997 Ph.D. Comparative Literature, State University of New York at Buffalo (USA)
1989 M.A. Germanic Languages & Literatures, University of Massachusetts at Amherst (USA)
1986 Diplôme French Language and Literature. Université d' Aix-Marseille (France)
Nina has obtained prestigious fellowships & awards, incl. support from the DAAD, DFG, NEH (The Writer`s Room, NYC), Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Baden-Württemberg-Stipendium etc.
Current and Recent R&D Projects
2024: video film production: Architektur des Musée Visionnaire.
(budget: US 33`983) (video submit to film festivals)
since 2022. Kara Walker. I am writing an article on Kara Walker`s videos. Kara Walker works on the intersection of history, race, and representation https://kunstmuseumbasel.ch/en/exhibitions/2021/kara-walker/films
since 2022. Diversity. I was granted a 5-mths. paid faculty leave (06/2024-02-2025)
since 08/2023: Program Director, developing a CAS in “Diversity Management” (master level) which I also co-teach w/ a jurist. https://www.hochschule-schaffhausen.ch/
reference: henning.Grossmann@hochschule-schaffhausen.ch (vice president of college)
Service:
since 07/2024: gallerist of the American Women`s Club of Zuerich https://awczurich.org/
2017-06/2024: Member of the Board, Musée Visionnaire, Zürich, museum for Outsider Art https://www.museevisionnaire.ch/en/
Work Experience / Colleges and Universities
Teaching
2009 - | Full-time professor (Hauptamtliche Dozentin). University of Applied Sciences, Lucerne, School of Engineering and Architecture. Areas: one-yr. class on German literature, coaching of student projects and independent studies, communication, writing, “Swissness“ (integration of foreign students), film. |
09-10/2024 | Guest professor, Institute for Global Engagement, Grinnell College, IA (USA). I teach a class on Swissness. https://www.grinnell.edu/academics/global/institute |
10/2023 | Visiting professor, ESILV, Paris. Atelier de la communication non-violente (Master spécialisé), La méthode Harvard de négociation (grad. research students). |
02/2022 | Visiting professor, Regis College, Boston, Dept. of Philosophy |
2007-9 | Full-time professor. University of Applied Sciences, Zürich (ZHAW, Winterthur). Communication Studies. |
2005-7 | Full-time professor. Teacher Training College Lucerne. German Language and Literature, Media Studies. Pädagogische Hochschule Zentralschweiz (continued part-time in Media Studies until 2012). |
S 03-05 | Lecturer. Humboldt University, Berlin. Cultural Studies. |
spring 03 | Guest Lecturer. De Paul University Chicago, Dept. of Philosophy. |
fall 2002 | Visiting Assistant Professor. Dept. of Philosophy. State University of New York at Cortland. |
WS 2001 | Lecturer (Lehrbeauftragte). University of Lüneburg (Germany). Pedagogy. |
04/2001 – 08/01 | German language teacher (Professora) Kulturforum, Cefalù, Sicily. |
10/97 – 4/99 | Assistant Professor (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin). Univ. Lüneburg (near Hamburg, Germany). Dept. of German and Cultural Studies. |
spring 1994 | Adjunct Professor. City University of New York, Dept. of English. Writing Classes. |
09/1989-12/1992 | Teaching Assistant. State University New York at Buffalo, Dept. of Comparative Literature. Composition Classes. |
09/1986-09/1989 | Teching Assistant. Univ. of Massachussetts/Amherst, Dept. of German. German as a Foreign Language, English writing classes. Student leader, GEO. Graduate Employee Organization. Part of a land-slide victory, obtaining recognition for the GEO as a bargaining partner. Procedures and documents served as guideposts for reaching full collective bargaining status for all graduate-student unions in the US, gradually acquired thereafter. http://www.geouaw.org/ |
Research / Development
2009 - | Full-time professor. University of Applied Sciences, Lucerne, Dept. of Technology and Architecture. |
2005-7 | Full-time professor. Teacher Training College Lucerne. German Language and Literature, Media Studies. Pädagogische Hochschule Zentralschweiz |
S 03-05 | Lecturer. Humboldt University, Berlin. Cultural Studies. |
spring 03 | Guest Lecturer. De Paul University Chicago, Dept. of Philosophy. |
fall 2002 | Visiting Assistant Professor. Dept. of Philosophy. State University of New York at Cortland, (Aug. 26 – Oct. 18) to develop a transnational feminist web site https://wagadu.org/ |
WS 2001 | Lecturer (Lehrbeauftragte). University of Lüneburg (Germany). Pedagogy. |
2001 | Fellow, summer school Products-Fetish-Consumption: Marxism today. Organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Renaissance Institute (Univ. Frankfurt/Main) and the Socrates Program of the EU. Salecina, Switzerland. |
2000 | Fellow, summer school Sense and Sensuality: Towards a History of the Senses. Organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Renaissance Institute (Univ. Frankfurt/Main) and the Socrates Program of the EU. Salecina, Switzerland . |
10/98 –4/2000 | Fellow. Graduiertenkolleg Aesthetic Education, University of Hamburg. |
1998 | Fellow, summer school Subjects and Subjectivities. Organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Renaissance Institute (Univ. Frankfurt/Main) and the Socrates Program of the EU. Salecina, Switzerland. |
WS 97 | Visiting researcher, Media Studies (Gastwissenschaftlerin). Univ. Siegen. Ästhetik, Pragmatik und Geschichte der Bildschirmmedien. DFG Sonderforschungsbereich 240 |
11/1994-1997 | Fellow. Univ. Konstanz, Graduiertenkolleg Theorie der Literatur und Kommunikation |
1996 | Fellow, summer school The Forces of Nature of the Collegium Phaenomenologicum (International Association for the Study of Phenomenology), Perugia, Italy. |
Publications
books
2001 Die andere Hälfte der Globalisierung. Menschenrechte, Ökonomie, Medialität aus feministischer Perspektive. Steffi Hobuss, Christina Schües, Nina Zimnik (eds.) München: Campus Verlag. http://www.amazon.de/gp/reader/3593368781/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link
http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/images/3593368781/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=299956&s=books
1997 The Formation of Female Fascist Subjectivity. Thea von Harbou and Leni Riefenstahl (dissertation). UMI, Michigan.
magazines
2003 Wagadu. Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies. Founding Editor. (internet publication launched out of State University of New York, fall 2003, published in German, English, French, Spanish, Haussa)
http://colfax.cortland.edu/wagadu/main/contact.html
https://www.facebook.com/Wagadu/
2002-6 Research in Philosophy and Technology (JAI Press), Assistant Review Editor, Vol. 22
2002 manuscript reader, German Quarterly
2002-5 manuscript reader, Hypatia
2002-5 manuscript reader, Focus on German Studies
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1990-1 founding member of CIRCLES: The Buffalo Women’s Journal of Law and Social Policy. State University of New York, Buffalo. Interdisciplinary journal of the Law School, Women’s Studies and Comparative Literature, homepage s. http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/womenslaw/
publications – articles
submit:
2024 article: “Accepting the hippie inheritance. On Paul Thomas Anderson`s film “Inherent Vice” (2014).” Riss.
published in journals and anthologies:
2023 “Musée Visionnaire in Zürich – Architecture and Outsider Art“ [video, 12 min.] https://amps-research.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Amps-Proceedings-Series-32.pdf
2008 „Deutsch als Zweitsprache – Interkulturelle Perspektiven auf den Zusammenhang von Schulerfolg und Zweisprachigkeit.“ Report, PHZ Luzern.
2006 “Die Farbe des Fetisch? Jackie Brown (1997) von Quentin Tarantino.” Wie der Film den Körper schuf. Ein Reader zu Gender und Medien. Hg. Schmiedel, Stevie, Wagner, Hedwig et al. vdg – Verlag, Weimar.
- „Vivre libre à Paris. . .” Romy Schneider als Die Spaziergängerin von Sans-Souci (Rouffio 1982). From Berlin to Paris. Issues in Modernism. Arminia Brueggemann, Peter Schulman (eds.) Routledge: New York.
2002 “Blicke der Opposition: „Race“ im Kino.” Kunst und Unterricht. Heft 264/2002
2002 “Hegemonie im Kontext des postkolonialen Feminismus. Ernesto Laclaus Beiträge.“ Proceedings of 9th Symposion of The International Association of Women Philosophers (Zürich 2001)
2001 “Babs und Boris, eine Bubengeschichte. Beiträge zu Critical Race Studies im deutschen Wartezimmer.“ Die andere Hälfte der Globalisierung. Menschenrechte, Ökonomie, Medialität aus feministischer Perspektive. Steffi Hobuss, Christina Schües, Nina Zimnik (Hg.) München: Campus Verlag, 2001
2001 “Sexualität und Politik. Zur Debatte um das masochistische Genießen.“ Sinneslust und Sinneswandel: Beiträge zu einer Geschichte der Sinnlichkeit. Gisela Engel and Gisela Notz (eds.). Berlin: Trafo-Verlag, 2001
2001 „Is White Guilt Supposed to Make Me Forget I’m Running a Business?“ From Foxy Brown (Jack Hill 1974) to Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino 1998). Hg. Eva Schäfer. Internet. Film. Fernsehen. Zur Nutzung aktueller Medien als Folie für Selbst- und Weltbilder. Ästhetik-Medien-Bildung, Bd 3. München: kopaed, 2000
2000 “No Man, No Cry? The Film Girls in Uniform (Germany 1931) and Its Discourses of Political Regime.“ Women in German Yearbook Feminist Studies in German Literature & Culture, University of Nebraska Press, 2000. 15(1):161-183. DOI: 10.1353/wgy.2000.0020
- ”Film lehren.” Schnittmengen ästhetischer Bildung. Hg. Jochen Bauer, Susanne Eigenmann. München: kopaed, 2000
1999 „Ernesto Laclaus Theorie der Hegemonie. Ein Modell für feministische Solidarität unter dem Vorzeichen der Globalisierung.“ Globalisierung und Universalität: Interdisziplinäre Beiträge. Gisela Engel and Birgit Marx (eds.). Dettelbach: Verlag J.H.Röll, 1999 (=Forum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung [FIF] Bd. 20)
1998 “Der Film Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) als Symptom des amerikanischen Traums.“ http://www.uni-madgeburg (Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaften, Bildwissenschaftliches Kolloquium, s. homepage Prof. Marotzki)
1998 "What Will This Century Be Known As? Deleuze and Resistance for Theory." http://www.mailbase.ac.uk./lists/film-philosophy/files. film-philosophy, internet journal. June
1998 "'Give me a body': Techniques of Radiographic Imaging. Gilles Deleuze's Time Image and the Presentation of the Body in the Work of Gabriele Leidloff". enculturation http://www.uta.edu.enculturation. May
1997 "Allegory und Subjektivität am Ende von Walter Benjamins Ursprung des deutschen Trauerspiels, The Germanic Review, Columbia University, NY, Hg. Harro Müller, vol. 72, no. 4, Fall 1997
1997 "Frauen und Demokratie: Siegfried Kracauers Interpretation von Mädchen in Uniform (Deutschland 1931) und Lacans Theorie der zwei Väter als Modelle deutscher Identitätsformierung". Riss Sonderheft Film (Sommer 1997) Zürich. Hg. Peter Widmer, Assoziation für Freudsche Psychoanalyse
dictionary entries:
2006 „Kunstvermittlung“. Metzler Lexikon Ästhetik. Kunst, Medien, Design und Alltag. Hg. Achim Trebess.
2006 „Rokoko“. Metzler Lexikon Ästhetik. Kunst, Medien, Design und Alltag. Hg. Achim Trebess.
2004 “French Film.” Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought. Ed. Christopher J. Murray, New York: Fitzroy Dearborn
1996 “French Feminism.” Feminist Theory: A Dictionary. Garland Publishing: New York, 1996
review and review articles:
2002 "Tom Gunning’s Fritz Lang." http://www.mailbase.ac.uk./lists/film-philosophy/files. film-philosophy, internet journal. February (review article)
2000 “Untersuchungen zur Funktion des Mythos in Hölderlins Feiertagshymne von Yahya A. Elsaghe. Tübingen: Francke Verlag,1998.” Colloquia Germanica. Bd. 33, 2000, 2
2000 “Thinking Television. Jacques Derrida’s Echographies de la télévision. Entretiens filmés.“ http://www.mailbase.ac.uk./lists/film-philosophy/files. film-philosophy, internet journal. Fall 2000
1999 Cinema Futures: Cain, Abel or Cable? The Screen Arts in the Digital Age. Thomas Elsaesser, Kay Hoffmann (eds.). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1998. http://www.mailbase.ac.uk./lists/film-philosophy/files. film-philosophy, internet journal
translations:
e.g.
1996 "'Die allgemeine Erniedrigung des Liebeslebens': Kieslowskis Kurzer Film über die Liebe und Sautets Herz im Winter." Slavoj Zizek. Die Metastasen des Genießens. Piper: Wien, 1996
1991 "The Task of the Translator," translation of "Die Aufgabe des Übersetzers," von Walter Benjamin, 1-800, summer issue 1991
Honors and Awards (Auszeichnungen)
- Grant, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Summer school Sense and Sensuality: Towards a History of the Senses. Organisation: Renaissance Institute @ Univ. of Frankfurt und Socrates Program of the EU. Salecina, CH
1998 Grant, Heinrich Böll Foundation to attend the summer school Subjects and Subjectivities. Organized by the Renaissance Institute (Institut für Frühe Neuzeit) @ Univ. of Frankfurt and the Socrates Program of the EU. Salecina, CH
1994 - Dissertation Stipend, (German National Research Foundation), Deutsche
1997 Forschungsgemeinschaft, Graduiertenkolleg Theorie der Literatur und Kommunikation), Univ. Konstanz (10/94-10/97)
1995 - National Endowment for the Humanities of the USA, Member of The Writer's Room, 1997 urban writer's colony, New York City
1996 Grant of the Graduate Student Association of SUNY Buffalo to present a prized talk at the annual convention of the Modern Language Association of America, Washington, D.C.
1996 Research Stipend, Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft für das Collegium Phaenomenologicum (International Association for the Study of Phenomenology), Perugia, Italy
1989 - Teaching Assistantship (tuition waiver plus salary), Department of Comparative
1993 Literature, State University of New York at Buffalo
1987 - Teaching Assistantship (tuition waiver plus salary), Department of Germanic
1989 Languages and Literatures, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
1987 Baden-Württemberg/Massachusetts Exchange Stipend, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA (affiliated with Depts. of Women's Studies and German)
Guest speaking engagements / addresses
2003 “Deleuze on Cinema.” De Paul University, Chicago. Dept. of Philosophy. Spring Semester.
2002 “Representations of Race in Blade Runner (Ridley Scott 1982)”. SUNY Cortland Faculty Seminar. Oct.
2001 “Processing Color. Racial Aesthetics of Blade Runner (Ridley Scott 1982).” Swarthmore College. Depts. of German, English, Film, Febr.
2000 “’Is White Guilt Supposed to Make Me Forget I’m Running a Business?’“ From Foxy Brown (Jack Hill 1974) to Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino 1998).
SUNY Cortland. Depts. of English and Philosophy, May
1998 "Cyborgs oder der kleine Unterschied - Die Ethik der sexuellen Differenz in Bladerunner." Otto-von-Guernicke-Universität Magdeburg, Veranstaltungsreihe des Filmtheoretischen Kolloquiums, Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaften, Nov.
1997 "'Daddy, daddy, can't you see I'm filming?' Blickkonstruktion in Leni Riefenstahls Olympia (1936)". Univ. Siegen. Ästhetik, Pragmatik und Geschichte der Bildschirmmedien. DFG Sonderforschungsbereich 240. Nov.
1996 "'Ein Körper wird geschlagen'": Leni Riefenstahls Olympia (1936)" Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Facultà di Lettere, Instituto di Germanistica, Rome, Italy. Nov.
1996 "Frauen - Film - Faschismus. Zwischen Freiheitsphantasie und Unterdrückung“, Vortragsreihe Gender Studies, Univ. Konstanz. Nov.
1995 "Frauen und Demokratie: Die Verteidigung des demokratischen Vertrages im Stummfilm Mädchen in Uniform" (Deutschland, 1931). Univ. München, Graduiertenkolleg für Geschlechterfragen. Nov.
Gastvorträge, Univ. Lüneburg:
1999 "Vom anderen Geschlecht zum postkolonialen Subjekt. Die Entwicklung der Feministischen Literaturwissenschaft". Vortrag in der Reihe Frauenstudien. Feb.
1998 "Das Regime der Freders. Die Ästhetik der Herrschaft in Fritz Langs Metropolis". Talk Serie Ästhetische Bildung. Nov.
Conference activities and organization of academic lecture series
Conferences and series
2012 Forum Schreiben. PHZ Luzern. (Internat. Konferenz der Schreibwerkstätten)
2004 Tagung “Filmforschung und Filmlehre in der Hochschullandschaft” Otto-von-Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg. 24-25.6.04
2003 Conference to launch Wagadu. Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies. SUNY Cortland, fall.
- Organization of lecture series “Frauen und Globalisierung“, Universität Lüneburg,
-2000 Kulturwissenschaft
WS ’96 "Anthropophagie", DFG-Sonderforschungsbereich 511 Literatur und Anthropologie, Universität Konstanz
S 90 “Women and Violence”, (national Women's Studies conference incl. workshops), SUNY Buffalo, USA
Organization of Panels
1998 "Re-reading Deleuze on Cinema: New Perspectives on Film, Television and Electronic Media. American Society for Cinema Studies“, La Jolla, California, USA. April
1997 “The Aesthetics of Cooption: Women Who Supported National Socialism“. MLA in Toronto, CN. Dec.
1996 "Ending the Trauerspiel: The Place of the Subject" (Panel on Walter Benjamin) Conference of the American Association of Comparative Literature, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA. April
1996 "'My Own Private Germany'. Paranoia and the Schreber Case". Modern Language Association, Washington, USA. Dec.
1994 Chair of Panel "Literature and Philosophy," North Eastern Chapter of the Modern Language Association of America, USA. April
1993 Secretary of Panel "Literature and Philosophy," North Eastern Chapter of the Modern Language Association of America, Philadelphia, USA. April
1993 "Vampire Films." Conference Death and Dying,“ English Department SUNY Buffalo, USA. March
Talks at conferences
selection
2007 „Ein Text wird geschlagen. Die Lust am Text im Zeitalter der Schreibwerkstatt“. MLA, Chicago.
2007 EATAW, Bochum. (European Association of Teachers of Writing). Roundtable : Enhancing Literacy at Colleges of Education: Teaching Writing to Students Who Are Training to Be Writing Teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools. 30.6.1007
2004 „Filmcurricula US-amerikanischer Hochschulen“. Filmforschung und Filmlehre in der Hochschullandschaft. Otto-von-Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg. 24.6.04
2003 „Jede Frau kann zaubern“. Küchendesign in den US-re-education-Filmen für Frauen (1946-53).“ Organische Visionen - Gestaltung, Lebenswissenschaften und Gender, Universität der Künste Berlin, Fakultät Gestaltung
2003 „Begehren oder nicht? Psychoanalyse in den Sozialwissenschaften.“ Methoden- Workshop des Zentrums für Frauen-, Geschlechter- und Queer-Forschung, Universität Hamburg, Nov.
2001 "Vom Deutsch- und Türkisch-Sein -- in den USA. Zafer Senocaks Die Prärie." Panel “Dislocation, Expatriation and Transnationalism at the End of the Millenium.” Modern Language Association in New Orleans. Dec. (invited)
2001 “Processing Color. Racial Aesthetics of Blade Runner (Ridley Scott 1982).” Konferenz “Cultural Identities.” Universität Konstanz. Nov.
2001 „Virtuell und persönlich – Facing the ‚inter’: Soziale Arbeit im Zeitalter des Internets und der Interkulturalität.“ Bundeskongress Soziale Arbeit, Mainz. Sept.
2000 “Hegemonie im Kontext des postkolonialen Feminismus. Ernesto Laclaus Beiträge.“ Wissen-Macht-Geschlecht. International Women Philosophers Association, Zürich, CH. Okt.
1999 „Die Frage des Vertrauens. Humphrey Bogart ‚In A Lonely Place‘ (Nicolas Ray 1951). Konferenz „Vertrauen in Bilder und Bildung“, Bauhaus, Dessau. Juni
1998 "Politik der Sauna. Leni Riefenstahls Darstellung der Homosexualität in Olympia (1936)." Film- und Fernsehwissenschaftliches Kolloquim, Universität Kiel, Fachbereich Germanistik. Okt.
1998 "Nomadic Subjects, Virtual Reality and the Gendered Body". Subjektentwürfe des Instituts für Frühe Neuzeit der Universität Frankfurt a.M. and the Socrates Program of the EU, Salecina, CH. August
1998 "'Give me a body ... give me a brain'. The Work of Gabriele Leidloff." Panel: Re-reading Deleuze on Cinema: New Perspectives on Film, Television and Electronic Media. American Society for Cinema Studies, La Jolla, California, USA. April
1997 "'The Body in Pain.' The Possibilities for a Discourse of Justice." Panel on Bosnia. Modern Language Association in Toronto, CN. Dez.
1997 “’Die Kriegspflicht der Frau’ im Nazi-Besteller: Die Schriften von Josefa Berens-Totenohl.” Panel: The Aesthetics of Cooption: Women Who Supported National Socialism . Modern Language Association in Toronto, CN. Dez.
1997 "The Democratic Vice: Gilles Deleuze's Redefinition of Masochism." Deleuze Panel. American French Studies Conference, Columbus, Ohio. April
1997 "The Doubling of the Battlefield: Peter Handke Travels in ex-Yugoslavia." Panel: "Bosnia and Its Aftermath." North Eastern Chapter of the Modern Language Association of America, Philadelphia. April
1996 "Kant and the Concept of Radical Evil," Panel: "The Long Arm of Kant." Modern Language Association, Washington. Dez.
1996 "The Fuehrer's Cut - The Films of Leni Riefenstahl." Panel: "My Own Private Germany. Paranoia and the Schreber Case." Modern Language Association, Washington. Dez.
1996 "'Das Regime des Bruders: Totem und Tabu und die Etablierung der demokratischen Gemeinschaft." Conference "Anthropophagie und Literatur". Univ. Konstanz. Dez.
1996 "What Saint Teresa Knew: Lacan on Bernini's Sculptural Work." Conference of The National Research Foundation of Germany (DFG) "Rome and Memoria." Rom, Italien. Nov.
1996 "Kant's Influence on Benjamin's Origins of the German Tragic Drama." Conference of the Collegium Phaenomenologicum (international association for the study of phenomenology), Perugia, Italy. Juli
1996 "Allegory at the End of the German Tragic Drama.""Ending the Trauerspiel: The Place of the Subject." Panel on Walter Benjamin. Conference of the American Association of Comparative Literature, Notre Dame, Indiana. April
1995 "Allegorie und Subjektivität in Walter Benjamins Trauerspielbuch." "Allegorie - zwischen Materialität und Bedeutung", Colloquium of the Univ. Konstanz. April
1995 "Heimat (Germany, 1988): Fetishism and Paranoia as Paradigms of German Identification in the TV Series Heimat," North Eastern Chapter of the Modern Language Association, Boston, USA. April
1994 "How To Found Your Own Publication", invited by the Editors of Learned Journals Division (MLA). North Eastern Chapter of the Modern Language Association, Boston, USA. April
1993 "Djuna Barnes and Modernism." Panel: "The Dehiscing Sublime." National Graduate Student Conference at SUNY Stonybrook, USA. April
1992 "Walking without Banister: Hannah Arendt and the Frankfurt School." North Eastern Chapter of the Modern Language Association, USA. March
1992 Hannah Arendt on Rahel Varnhagen. National Women in German Conference, Great Barrington (MA),USA. Febr.