Julia Reichenpfader

BACKGROUND: Julia Reichenpfader
I studied German Language and Literature, Gender Studies and Social Policy at the Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany. My studies gave me a great chance to experience interdisciplinary research fields. I am thus used to analyzing research areas from various perspectives. I received my graduate degree in 2012. My thesis in literature “Wetlands: A Book and Its Impact” (“Feuchtgebiete: Ein Buch und seine Wirkung”) was awarded the University of Göttingen prize for an outstanding thesis in Gender Studies 2012 (“Preis für die herausragende Abschlussarbeit im Bereich der Geschlechterforschung im Jahr 2012”). During my studies, I worked at the Equal Opportunities Office and the Research Development Office of the University of Göttingen. After graduating, I worked at the LAGEN organization, which is a workgroup of institutions of Women and Gender Studies in Lower Saxony. Furthermore I worked at the Research and Development Department of the Göttingen State and University Library. Due to my cultural interests, I participated in the “Göttinger Literaturherbst, which is an annual local festival of international literature, and in the “Junges Theater Göttingen”, a local theatre. Moreover I volunteered as a tutor at the Migration Center in Göttingen.

THE GRK IS...
a great chance for everyone involved to broaden their horizons and to get exposed to the opportunities that emerge when different research areas collaborate._MG_1873

MY GOAL IS...
to widen my perspective of Literary Studies by using theoretical approaches based on interdisciplinary Gender Studies and by involving theories and concepts of both medical and psychological disciplines.

MY PROJECT...
with the title “Opened Female Bodies: Body Modification and Its Impact in Texts from German-Language Female Writers” will illustrate the impact of body modification on society and its significance in the areas of medicine, psychology and art. I consider the cutting of skin as an artistic act in terms of abject art. I will also examine how society deals with these opened female bodies because this element has been neglected in Literary Studies.

CONTACT: reichenpfader@uni-mainz.de