Laura Schmitz-Justen

Englisches Seminar
© Noack
Englisches Seminar
Assistant Professor
Chair of British Studies
Room 324
Johannisstr. 12-20
48143 Münster
T: 0251- 83 24826
laura.schmitz-justen@uni-muenster.de
Consultation hours: Thursdays, 4:00-5:00 pm (Please register for appointments via Learnweb).

  • Information for Students

    In principle, I am happy to act as an advisor for BA or MA/MEd theses. Before reaching out, please

    1. make sure that your proposed topic falls within the realm of British Studies and ideally corresponds to my research interests;
    2. write a proposal of ca. 300 words explaining what you would like to work on. Please include your selected literary texts, relevant theory, a preliminary research question, and evidence of initial research (i.e. a short list of relevant secondary literature and theory).

    This is to provide a basis for us to find out whether I would be a helpful advisor and a starting point for your development of your thesis.

  • Research Interests

    • 18th-, 20th, and 21st-Century British Literature
    • Women’s Suffrage Fiction
    • Law and Literature
    • Feminist, Gender and Queer Theory
    • Disability Studies
    • Postcolonial Studies
    • Intertextuality, Intermediality, Ekphrasis

  • Curriculum Vitae

    Positions

    2024– : Assistant Professor to the Chair of British Studies, English Department, University of Münster

    April 2024–Sep 2024: Visiting Scholar, Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin

    Oct 2023–Jan 2024: Research associate to the Chair of British Studies, English Department, University of Münster

    2020–2023: Research associate at the CRC 1385, University of Münster

    2022: Visiting Researcher, Faculty of English, University of Oxford
     

    Academic Education

    2020–2024: PhD in English Literary and Cultural Studies (defended January 2024)

    2017–2019: Master of Arts in in British, American and Postcolonial Studies, University of Münster (supported through a ProTalent scholarship)

    2018: Visiting Student, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford (funded by a PROMOS Partial Stipend of the DAAD)

    2014–2017: Bachelor’s Degree Programme in English/American Studies and Communicational Sciences, Dual-Subject Bachelor, University of Münster

    2012–2014: Bachelor's Degree Programme in English/American Studies and Biology, Teacher Training Programme, University of Münster
     

    External Functions

    Oct 2024– : alternate member of the philology department’s council

    Oct 2023– : alternate member of the philology department’s study advisory board

     

  • Publications

    Edited Collection

    Feminist Perspectives on Law and Literature. Ed. with Laura A. Zander, Hanna Luise Kroll and Laura Wittmann. De Gruyter (under contract; forthcoming April 2025).
     

    Peer Reviewed Journals

    – “‘And Then I Told You I Fell in Love with a Tree’: Queer Ecologies in Ali Smith’s Short Stories.” Journal of Lesbian Studies (2024), pp. 1-19.

    – “‘Art is Seeing Things’: Ekphrastic Dimensions in Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet.” English Studies, vol. 103, no. 3 (2022): pp. 317–337.

    Contributions in Edited Collections

    – with Laura A. Zander, Hanna Luise Kroll and Laura Wittmann.“Introduction,” Feminist Perspectives on Law and Literature. Ed. Laura Schmitz-Justen, Laura A. Zander, Hanna Luise Kroll and Laura Wittmann. De Gruyter (under contract; forthcoming April 2025).

    – (with Frank Reinker) “Die Anfänge (1956 – 1977): Münster hat nun auch ein Zimmertheater.” In Meinhard Zanger and Tanja Weidner (Ed.), Alles verspielt. Das Wolfgang Borchert Theater. Coppenrath, 2018, pp. 9–27.

    Review

    “Review: Erzählen und Recht. Narrative and Law. Edited by Monika Fludernik and Frank Schäfer. Nomos, 2022.” Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch, vol. 65 (2024): pp. 368-372.

     

  • Talks

    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “Narrating Disability: ‘things that didn’t happen’ in Sarah Moss’s The Tidal Zone (2016). Lecture Series: Hot Spots in Literary/Cultural Studies and Linguistics, University of Münster, 18.11.2024.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “A ‘Sense of Imperial Interest’: Nationalist and Imperialist Ideologies in Women’s Suffrage Literature.” Modernism and Decadence Studies 2024: Global Encounters, Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, 28.09.2024.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “‘The Feminist Vortex’: Individualism and Collective Interest in Women’s Suffrage Literature.” Workshop: Women’s Suffrage Literature, Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, 20.09.2024.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “Sister Suffragette? Women’s Suffrage Literature and Coalitional Politics.” Lunch Talks Lecture Series, Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, 13.06.2024.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “(Re)Covering Rebecca: A Reception and Marketing History in Book Covers.” Reimagining Rebecca: A Symposium on Du Maurier’s Novel and its Legacy, University of Sussex, 27.05.2022.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “The Poet as Lawgiver in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Culture.” Workshop British Literature as Equity in the Long 19th Century (and Beyond), University of Münster, 26.04.2022.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “Detransition, Baby. A Limit Case for Law and Literature?” Workshop of the Dynamic Cluster Feministische Perspektiven auf “Recht und Literatur” with Laura Borchert and Greta Olson 11.02.2022, University of Münster and Zoom.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “‘Arty Art’: Ekphrasis in Ali Smith’s Autumn.” Lecture Series: Hot Spots in Literary/Cultural Studies and Linguistics, University of Münster, 17.12.2019.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “‘Universally Acknowledged’: Transmedia Storytelling in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.” Connect the Dots: Student Conference Bayreuth, Bayreuth University, 11.01.2014.