I am a political theorist and urban sociologist by training. Today, I mainly work in the interdisciplinary field of urban cultural geography. My interests revolve around manifestations of political agency and activism in urban space. In other words, I am curious about the many different places, faces and forms ‘the political’ can take in urban politics and space. In my work, I examine the roles artists and cultural workers embody in processes of urban development, change- and place-making. I approach challenges of urban power, (in)equality and segregation with a theoretical position of conflict theory – assuming that conflict and tensions are necessary (yet not necessarily a problem) to enact politics. But let’s go back a bit.
After graduating from high school in a small town somewhere in Germany in the summer of 2008, I pursued an interdisciplinary double diploma degree in Public Administration (B.A.) at Westtfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and European Studies (B. Sc.) at Universiteit Twente, the Netherlands. During my undergraduate degree, I spent an Erasmus semester abroad at Sciences Po, Lille, France. Shortly afterwards, I conducted a three-month internship in Santiago de Chile and travelled to the The Hague, Taiwan and Beijing, China as leading student delegate of the World Model United Nations (World MUN) conferences. I finished my B.A. with an honours thesis on Simone de Beauvoir’s novel Les Mandarins, examining different conceptions of freedom via an analysis of the novel’s male and female characters.
Following my passion for existentialist and feminist philosophy, I completed my M.A. in Political Science with a specialization in Political Philosophy at Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada, on a full academic scholarship. In the Canadian academic context, I was first introduced to critical scholarly activism against settler colonialism and petro-capitalism. I completed my M.A. with a major research paper (MRP) conceptualizing the figure of a public intellectual at the example of Simone de Beauvoir’s literary and political writings. The thesis has been published as a book chapter called Beauvoir as a ‘Public Intellectual’ Fusing Ethics and Politics into Responsibility in the bilingual volume Simone de Beauvoir. Lectures actuelles et regards sur l’avenir / Simone de Beauvoir. Today’s readings and glances on the future.
After finishing my graduate studies, I moved to Berlin and found myself working my first full-time job in the strategy consulting firm Institut für Strategieentwicklung – an invaluable time in which I learned so much about Berlin’s contemporary art scene and the art of Powerpoint presentations. Together with my boss Hergen Wöbken, I co-authored a mixed-methods national study on Germany’s contemporary and a book chapter on artist networks in Berlin. Attending uncountable meetings, gallery and exhibition openings , I gained a preliminary insight into the difficulties, yet ongoing attempts between Berlin’s cultural administration’s and different artistic scenes to initiate dialogue about funding mechanisms. From this diffuse atmosphere, first ideas for my Ph.D. project about arts activism in the city emerged in autumn candlelight at my breakfast table. With support of a full doctoral scholarship from the Green-inclined Heinrich-Böll-Foundation, and affiliation with the interdisciplinary urban research center Center for Metropolitan Studies, I started the transformative endeavour called Ph.D. (2015-2017). This experience has taught me the healing effects of good colleagues turning into good friends & vanilla ice cream with Nutella.
After my Ph.D., I served as postdoctoral fellow and lecturer (2017/18) and Guest Professor (2018/19) at the Faculty for Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Applied Sciences in Erfurt, as postdoctoral fellow at the Faculty for Arts & Design at Bauhaus University, Weimar (2018/19) and postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada (2019/20) under supervision of Eugene McCann, focusing on what I call ‚the politics of public art‘ at the example of public art projects (esp. murals) in Vancouver’s neighborhoods of Chinatown and Hogan’s Alley.. From October 2020 to April 2024, I worked as Assistant Professor for Cultural Geography at Radboud Universiteit in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. During this time, I taught Bachelor- and Master-level courses, supervised over 30 Bachelor and Master theses, and conducted a variety of individual and collective international research projects.
From April to September 2024, I served as Co-Lead of the international funding program Transcontinental Partnerships at the German Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes).
I am enthusiastic about feminist HipHop, vogueing, the politicaleducation-activist art group Radikale Töchter honest and mindful people, craft IPAs and (at least two scoops of) ice cream.