University of Reading cookie policy

We use cookies on reading.ac.uk to improve your experience, monitor site performance and tailor content to you

Read our cookie policy to find out how to manage your cookie settings

Dr Claire A. Ross

Dr Claire Ross profile picture
  • +44 (0) 118 378 3205
  • Lecturer in German Studies (Teaching Intensive)

BAME Lead for Department of Languages and Cultures

Areas of interest

Teaching interests

  • Migration and minority discourses.
  • Turkish German literature and film
  • Refugee literature and film
  • German colonialism
  • Contested architectural landmarks
  • Creative and inclusive pedagogical practices

Research interests

I am interested in the role that cultural products (literature, film, architectural landmarks) and the intertextual links between them play in the legitimation and subversion of inequalities - in particular, ethno-racial inequalities - in 20th and 21st-century Germany. I am currently completing my first monograph on eclectic intertextuality in the work of Turkish German author Yadé Kara and developing a second project on colonial-era landmarks in contemporary German culture. 

Link to Orchid page.

Teaching

Broadly speaking, I teach German language, literature and film; comparative literature; translation studies.

I convene and teach on the modules:

  • GM1L2 (Intermediate German Language),
  • ML1TRANS (Thinking Translation: History and Theory),
  • ML3EE (Extended Essay).

In addition, I contribute towards the German language modules GM1L2, GM2L4, GM3L6, and the cross-listed modules ML1COMP (What is Comparative Literature?) and ML1GEC (Greats of European Cinema).

To assist all students in reaching their potential (and having fun doing so!), I am committed to implementing creative and inclusive pedagogical practices and drawing on materials that reflect a diverse range of experiences and perspectives.

Research projects

I am currently completing my first monograph on eclectic intertextuality in the work of Turkish German author Yadé Kara and developing a second project on colonial-era landmarks in contemporary German culture. 

Academic qualifications

  • PhD in German Studies with Graduate Certificate in Film and Media Studies (Washington University in St Louis)
  • MSc in Cultural Studies (University of Edinburgh)
  • MA (Hons) in German (University of Edinburgh)

Awards and honours

Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence (Washington University in St Louis, 2017)

Professional bodies/affiliations

I am the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the Association for German Studies in Great Britain and Ireland

In addition, I am affiliated with a number of other scholarly associations, including:

I am also a founding member of a new professional network, writing and reading group focused on diversity and decolonising German Studies in the UK and Ireland. Contact me for more information or to join the network.

Conference and professional presentations

Decolonising and Diversifying German Studies

Turkish German literature and cinema

  • “Yadé Kara’s Cafe Cyprus and the imperial property ladder” Association for German Studies, U. of Nottingham (2022)
  • Yadé Kara’s literary countermonumentalism in Cafe Cyprus (2008)” (Re)thinking Countermonuments, U. of Leeds (2022)
  • “Black Orpheus on the Underground: Kara’s Cafe Cyprus (2008)” Words, Music and Marginalisation, St. Andrew’s (2020)
  • Yadé Kara’s ‘Kelim’ or ‘The epistemological carpet.’” Women In German, Sewanee, Tennessee (2018)
  • “Digging in the Kazim family archive. Yadé Kara’s Selam Berlin.” Beziehungskrisen: Deutsch-türkische Verhältnisse in Literatur und Film, Ege University, İzmir, Turkey (2017)
  • “Kebab Connection: An apprenticeship in adaptation.” Recycling and Rebirth: 24th Annual Graduate Student Symposium, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Washington University in St Louis (2015)

Scriptural Intertextuality

  • “Crowd pleasing? Yadé Kara’s ‘Kelim’ and the Qur’an” Performing Heritage, Writing Migration, Cambridge Uni. (2018)
  • “Luther’s concept of ‘Beruf’ and Social Mobility in Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué’s Undine” Conflicts of Interest – The Productive Power of Confrontation: First Annual Graduate Student Conference, UCLA Dept of Germanic Languages (2016)

German cinema

  • “The Fragile Center: Camera distance in Karim Aïnouz’s refugee documentary Zentralflughafen THF” German Studies Association (2020)
  • “Diegetic Laughter in Fritz Lang’s M.” Laughter: German Studies Conference, University of California, Berkeley (2013)
  • “The Joker, the Audience and the Butt: Triangle of Ridicule in Fritz Lang’s M.” Crisis, Conflict, Configuration: 22nd Graduate Student Symposium, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Washington University in St Louis (2013)

German national identity

  • “Citizenship discourse in the German blogosphere (Flickr) during the 2005/06 ‘Du bist Deutschland’ campaign.” Innovation & Recycling in post-unification German Culture, Leeds University (2007)

 German graphic novels

  • “What’s Eating Heinrich Faust? Interethnic romance in Flix’s graphic novel adaptation.” GSA, Kansas City (2014)
  • “The adventuress. Opposing discourses in Ulli Lust’s Heute ist der letzte Tag vom Rest deines Lebens.” 75th conference of the Assoc. for German Studies in GB & Ireland, University of Edinburgh (2012)

History and trauma

  • Untitled joint presentation w/ Prof. Todd Decker on Tourists of History by Marita Sturken (2007) to Transnational Postmemory Reading Group, Washington University in St Louis (2013)

Invited conference contributions:

  • Invited commentator, “Vexierbilder: Autorinszenierungen u. Autorbilder von 1800 (2),” GSA, Portland (2019)
  • Invited podium member, Grenzenlos! Slavic Studies Grad. Conference, Hamburg Uni. (2017)  
  • Invited moderator, “Rewriting Belonging: Gender, Race, and National Identity” panel, Resisting the Status Quo and Rewriting Belonging: 25th Annual Graduate Student Symposium, German Dept., Washington University in St Louis (2016)

Publications