Dr. Ruth Gehrmann
wiss. Mitarbeiterin, Abteilung Banerjee
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the DFG CRC 1482 “Studies in Human Differentiation” in Professor Mita Banerjee’s project on “Successful Aging: Best Agers at the Intersection of Age and Performance Differentiation.” I am specifically interested in the representation and construction of age and aging in the field of lifestyle. In this context, I explore the representation of older people in the pop cultural realm and investigate how established readings of age are circumvented or reinforced. In recent articles, I have looked at the role of age (also intertwined with gender) in the Twilight series, the TV show and comic series The Boys, and social media.
My dissertation Future T/Issues: Organ Transplantation in Medical and Literary Narratives, employs a new historicist approach to interrelated works of different forms of writing. By engaging with life writing, for instance doctor’s autobiographies, works of medical research and examples of speculative fiction, I emphasize intrinsic ties between these publications and underline their shared interest in speculation. I developed the project within the DFG Research Training Group “Life Sciences – Life Writing” at Mainz University.
I hold a B.A. in British and American Studies from the University of Konstanz, an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Augsburg, and a PhD in American Studies from JGU Mainz. During my studies, I stayed at the National University of Ireland in Galway for one semester, had the opportunity to spend a semester as a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, New York, and taught at York University in Toronto.
Research Interests
- The New Media
- Postcolonial Studies
- Aging Studies
- Medical Humanities
- Ecocriticism
- Popular Culture
- Young Adult Fiction
- Speculative Fiction
Contact
Dr. Ruth Gehrmann
Philosophicum II
Jakob-Welder-Weg 20
Room 02.221
Phone: +49-6131-39-29229
gehrmann@uni-mainz.de
Office hours: by appointment
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