{"id":7764,"date":"2024-08-08T10:45:08","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T08:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hias-hamburg.de\/?post_type=fellow&p=7764"},"modified":"2026-04-24T13:42:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:42:34","slug":"karolin-machtans-2","status":"publish","type":"fellow","link":"https:\/\/hias-hamburg.de\/en\/fellow\/karolin-machtans-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Karolin Machtans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Karolin Machtans is Associate Professor and Chair of German Studies at Connecticut College. She is the author of Zwischen Wissenschaft und autobiographischem Projekt: Saul Friedl\u00e4nder und Ruth Kl\u00fcger<\/em> (2009); co-editor, with Martin Ruehl, of Hitler – Films from Germany: History, Cinema, and Politics since 1945 <\/em>(2012); co-editor, with Helga Druxes and Alexandar Mihailovic, of the first volume of criticism in English dedicated to Iranian-German author and scholar of Islam Navid Kermani (2016); and co-editor, together with David Coury, of the first volume in English about Iraqi-German author Abbas Khider (2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has published numerous articles in the fields of Holocaust studies as well as refugee and migration studies and is currently working on a new research project focusing on the representation of asylum interviews in contemporary German literature of refuge. Before joining Connecticut College in 2012, she was a Visiting Lecturer of German at the University of Cambridge (2006-2010) and Assistant Professor of German at California Polytechnic State University (2010-2012).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karolin Machtans\u2019 research focuses on refugee and forced migration studies, language and accent discrimination, minorities in Germany, Holocaust studies, German colonialism, 20th- and 21st-century German literature and film and post-1945 German history and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prove that their fear of persecution is real, asylum applicants must attend an interview during which they are \u201cobliged to tell the truth at all times\u201d. Yet what exactly is considered a \u201ctrue\u201d story? And how do factors such as gender, ethnicity, nationality, language, and accent impact the outcome of the asylum process? These are the questions that are at the core of contemporary German refugee literature. Through the use of innovative narrative techniques, this award-winning literature highlights the extent to which the outcome of the asylum process depends on the applicant\u2019s ability to tell a credible and convincing story, tailored to the narrative rules of the receiving country. Analyzing contemporary German refugee literature through the lens of refugee law, Machtans reads the selected texts not only as a literary representation <\/em>of the asylum process, but also \u2013 and more importantly \u2013 as a commentary <\/em>on the narrative authority of international, European, and German refugee law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Machtans\u2019 Tandem Partner is Doerte Bischoff, Professor of Modern German Literature at the University of Hamburg.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karolin Machtans’ HIAS Fellowship is provided by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the federal and state funds acquired by the University of Hamburg in the framework of its Excellence Strategy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Website<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Karolin Machtans<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The University of Hamburg<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Tandem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Doerte Bischoff<\/a>, Professor of Modern German Literature at the University of Hamburg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Image Information<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Robert Klank, Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Lectures and Events (excerpt)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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07\/01\/2025, Workshop: Asylum Law and Literature<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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04\/22\/2025, Lecture: Nothing but the truth: On the representation of asylum stories in contemporary literature and film<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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01\/28\/2025, #Tuesday Spotlight: The role and practice of decoloniality\/decolonizing in different fields and disciplines<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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02\/10\/2025, Workshop: belonging(s) \u2013 Property and belonging in 20th century German history<\/a> (commentary)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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01\/21\/2025, #Tuesday Spotlight: Whose Story? Asylum Narratives in Contemporary German Film<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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