Thank you for your interest in the work of the PhD students currently under the supervision of
Prof. Silvia Schultermandl.
Parisa Arasteh (PhD completed, 2026)
Ajani Burrell
Gulsin Ciftci
Su Kolsal
Estelle Krewiss
Alma Topalli
2026: PhD completed
2014: Master of Arts: English Literature, Universität Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran
2011: Bachelor of Arts: English Literature, Universität Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran
Working Title of Thesis:
Pomegranate Fiction: Cosmopolitanism and Contemporary Arab American Novels
Abstract:
The “transnational turn” in American literary studies has generated enormous literary analysis and debates on American literature’s encounter with and integration into transnationalism and cosmopolitanism. Writers from various marginal ethnicities have had their voices heard; one of the emergent literary groups involved in this transnational turn is Arab American Literature. The present research argues that Arab American writings strive for change in mainstream cultural and social assumptions of ethnicities and minorities, promoting a more plural and cosmopolitan perspective, or what cultural theorist Kwame Anthony Appiah calls “cosmopolitan contamination.” The study attempts to make a contribution to Arab American studies by analyzing selected novels’ engagement with cosmopolitanism and delineating how they contribute to current understandings of cosmopolitanism in literature as well.
Ajani Burrell is a doctoral student in American/Anglophone Studies at Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, working on his dissertation tentatively titled An Analysis of Contemporary Indigenous Culture in the English Language Narratives of the Mariana Islands Archipelago and Diaspora. He is currently an assistant professor in the Languages and Humanities Department at Northern Marianas College and served as the lead collection editor of and authored two chapters for A Marianas Mosaic: Signs and Shifts in Contemporary Island Life. Ajani holds a BA in history from the University of Michigan and an MFA in creative writing from Northern Michigan University. His research interests include neo- and postcolonialism, contemporary Indigenous and Pacific literature, transpacific and transnational studies, Indigenous studies, and the intersection of literature and culture.
Working Title of Thesis: An Analysis of Contemporary Indigenous Culture in the English Language Narratives of the Mariana Islands Archipelago and Diaspora
Abstract: Recent publications of Indigenous literature from the 15-island Marianas archipelago, encompassing the unincorporated U.S. territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, highlight a growing literary assemblage that provides vital exposure for the writing of the region. The Marianas sits at the nexus of many contemporary sociopolitical crosscurrents: (post/neo)colonialism and strident decolonization efforts; Pacific Indigeneity and American hegemony; migration and cultural revitalization. These dynamics are but a few that can be witnessed in the literature produced by Indigenous people of the region, those living in the archipelago and those in the diaspora.
Creative literary production and publication in the region has grown substantially in recent years, while critical scholarship on the region’s literature blooms more slowly in its wake. This project seeks to contribute to that upswell by examining the ways in which contemporary Marianas narratives create an evolving, dialogic framework of Indigenous onto-epistemology. In particular, the project focuses on Chamorro/CHamoru narrative writing from the last two decades and situates this discourse in the broader history of Marianas narratives and the narratives of the wider Pacific. The project chiefly draws on the precepts and practices of the Indigenous research method of talanoa, which was first articulated by Vaioleti, and thereby employs a metaphorically dialogical and trans-Indigenous approach to the inquiry. Additional literary studies approaches and Indigenous research methods and theories are also employed, including close reading and archival methods. Ultimately, the project seeks to support the contention that an examination of the narratives of the Marianas will reveal a novel, contemporary Indigenous onto-epistemology rooted in hope that evinces clear connections to traditional aspects of Marianas ways of being and knowing as well as asserts a powerful contemporary Indigenous agency.
2020: Master of Arts, American Studies/English Philology, University of Göttingen
2017: Bachelor of Arts, English Language and Literature, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi, Turkey
Working Title of Thesis:
Piecing Together the Fragmented: Towards a Poetics of Sexual Trauma
Y. Su Kolsal received her Master of Arts degree in English Literature in 2023 and her Bachelor's in English Language Teaching in 2020 from Middle East Technical University, Turkey.
Working Title of Thesis:
“A Morbid Longing for the Picturesque”: Aesthetic Engagements with Higher Education in Crisis in Dark Academia
Abstract:
While dark academia's emergence can be traced back to the reception of Donna Tartt’s 1992 debut The Secret History and of other texts and media associated with it on online platforms in early 2010s, soon after, the term has gained a second meaning as a digital subculture that venerates various cultural elements associated with the literary formation on an atmospheric basis. This study argues that this dual existence is a result of dark academia's affective potential as an object of attachment for readers who are interested in the aestheticization of study.
In addition to offering a descriptive account of the emergence and development of dark academia as a still-developing literary phenomenon, this project positions dark academia and responses to it as forms of affective and ideological engagements that reflect educational anxieties. In this study, the centrality of nostalgic depictions of higher education to the atmosphere that constitutes dark academia is not viewed separately from the cultural elements that make dark academia both relevant and popular. Rather, the problems of the contemporary corporate university are explored as socio-cultural factors that necessitate fictional engagements with universities, and in addition, influence the formation of affective attachments to these works and to the alternative their nostalgic atmosphere offers.
Estelle Krewiss recently joined the Graduate School Practices of Literature at the University of Münster as a PhD student in English Studies. She earned her MA in English literature from the Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle’s Monde Anglophone in 2023. Her master’s thesis explored the relationship between women and water in two works of creative nonfiction, examining how the shore favors interconnectedness. Currently, Estelle’s research focuses on the blue humanities and ecocriticism in North American literature. She explores the shore as a site of entanglements and loss, encompassing themes such as kinship, grief, and climate change in creative nonfiction.
In the summer of 2023, Estelle did an internship at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, where she contributed editorial work and participated in events. This experience further deepened her passion for the environmental humanities.
In her free time, Estelle enjoys swimming, taking long walks in parks, and drawing. She also loves baking and listening to jazz on Sunday mornings.
Working Title of Thesis:
Loss, Entanglement, and Discovery: Writing the Shore in Contemporary North American Fiction
Alma Topalli received her Master of Arts degree in English Language and Literature in 2021 from AAB College in Prishtine, Kosovo; in 2019 she received her Bachelor's degree in Interior and Furniture Design from the University Prishtins in Ferizaj, Kosovo.
Working Title of Thesis:
Female Central Figures – Gender Representation in six Newbery Award winning books
Abstract:
Since its inception in 1922, the Newbery Award has recognized the author of the most distinguished contributions to American literature to children. Widely available in public and school libraries, Newbery Award-winning books hold a special place in the literary landscape, ensuring widespread exposure among young readers. Several studies starting from the 20th century have shed light on the under representation of female protagonists among the honoured work and less studies have exposed the significant gender imbalance noticed in the books that won this award. This current study builds upon the foundations laid by the early studies of Kinman, Henderson, Powell and other scholars who have emphasized the gender imbalance in Newbery Award winning books since the early '70s, also adding on the latest research on the Newbery Award Winning books and gender roles by Alex Paige Brower in 2017 and Courage, Charm and Compassion by Meredith Jachowicz in 2010.
Taking into consideration the importance of reading at an early age and the huge role the books we read as children play in who we become and how we imagine ourselves, this study embarks on an exploration of prevalent stereotypes conveyed in various books, each featuring a female protagonist. The findings will not only contribute to the field of gender studies but also offer valuable perspectives for educators, authors and readers alike in promoting a more inclusive and equitable literary landscape, shaping a future where all voices are heard and celebrated.