Michael boehringer

CANDIDATES FOR VICE PRESIDENT (PICK ONE)
MICHAEL BOEHRINGER

Michael Boehringer is Associate Professor of German at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He has served as chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, as president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers of German, and on the board of the Journal of Austrian Studies. In 2013, he organized the annual meeting of the ASA at Waterloo. He fell in love with Austrian studies shortly after arriving at Waterloo, when he stumbled across the complete works of Ferdinand von Saar, and has focused his research and teaching on Austrian studies topics ever since. Research stays in Austria, articles, and an edited volume on von Saar followed. He has also co-edited Zeitenwende: Österreichische Literatur seit dem Millennium, 2000-2010 (2011) and Glaubenssysteme/Belief Systems in Austrian Literature and Culture (forthcoming), and written articles a.o. on Dinev, Schnitzler and Vertlib. He is particularly interested in questions of interculturality, migration, and gender, and is currently working on a monograph on the intersections of migration and masculinity in Austrian literature.

I am honoured to be considered for the position of Vice President. As one of only a handful of Austrian studies teachers and researchers in Canada, I am deeply committed to the future of the field through active outreach and by maintaining a welcoming atmosphere for all interested in Austrian studies. I am eager to support the needs of the membership, and expand on the priorities that the ASA has developed over the last few years, such as graduate student support, broadening of our member base, cooperation with affiliated associations, online presence, and transatlantic connections.

GREGOR THUSWALDNER

Gregor Thuswaldner (Ph.D. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Humanities at North Park University in Chicago and a Senior Fellow of the Salzburg Institute of Religion, Culture and the Arts. From 2003 until 2016 he was Professor of German and Linguistics at Gordon College in Wenham Massachusetts as well as Senior Fellow and Interim Director of Gordon’s Center for Faith and Inquiry. He co-founded the Salzburg Institute in 2011 and served as its Academic Director until 2016. Together with Armin Eidherr and Jens Zimmermann he organizes the Salzburg Institute Symposium in collaboration with the University of Salzburg and serves as general editor of the Institute’s interdisciplinarySymphilologus book series. He has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on Christoph Martin Wieland, Thomas Bernhard, Michael Haneke, Stanley Hauerwas, Michael Scharang, literary theory, linguistics, German and Austrian literature, history, culture, politics, and religion. His authored and (co)edited books includeDer untote Gott: Religion und Ästhetik in der deutschen und österreichischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts(co-edited with Olaf Berwald, 2007), Derrida und danach: Literaturwissenschaftliche Diskurse der Gegenwart(2008), Morbus Austriacus: Thomas Bernhards Österreichkritik (2011), and Making Sacrifices: Visions of Sacrifice in European and American Cultures (co-edited with Nicholas Brooks, 2016). With Robert Dassanowsky he translated Felix Mitterer’s play Jägerstätter (2015). His latest book, a co-edited collection of essays on The Hermeneutics of Hell: Visions and Representations of the Devil in World Literature, is forthcoming with Palgrave McMillian. He is an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, PEN Austria, and PEN American Center.

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AT-LARGE BOARD MEMBERS

(pick 2; at least one of the two winners must be from Europe, a requirement which might overtrump absolute rankings)
THOMAS ANTONIC

Working at the University of Vienna, my research focuses on Austrian literature, theater, film of the 20th and 21st centuries, and transnational connections of Austrian and American literature. I am currently working on the first (and authorized) biography on the Austrian-American Beat poet ruth weiss. A detailed volume on the life and works of Wolfgang Bauer will be published in 2017. I was Postdoc-Echchange Fellow at Stanford University in 2013, Max Kade Fellow at the University of California in Berkeley, and most recently received a Grant for Austrian-American Studies by the Botstiber Foundation.

I have been involved with ASA/MALCA, attending annual conferences since 2009, and endorse the concepts of expansion and solidification in the association's current direction. I became a board member in 2013 and would be happy to extend my membership for another term. As both scholar and artist (fiction writer, musician, performance artist, et cetera) based in Vienna, I am well connected in the Austrian cultural scene, something that could be of benefit to the ASA. For example, in 2013, I was able to gain Elfriede Jelinek as an ASA Honorary Member. As an executive committee member located in Austria, I can support the goals of the ASA and call attention to the work and opportunities of ASA in Austria and Europe.

ALLYSON FIDDLER

Allyson Fiddler is Professor of German and Austrian Studies at Lancaster University (UK). Allyson has served on the board of the Journal of Austrian Studies and is a board member of the UK’s Austrian Studies. Allyson is an international partner of the Forschungsplattform Elfriede Jelinek (University of Vienna) and sits on the board of the Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature and Culture (housed at the University of London’s Institute of Modern Languages Research). Allyson has written on a wide range of contemporary Austrian writers and filmmakers, most extensively on the work of Elfriede Jelinek. Recent publications include co-edited special issues of Austrian Studies on Jelinek and the themes of Sport, Cultural Understanding, and Translation to Page and Stage and on The Austrian Noughties: Films, Texts, Debates. Among her latest journal articles are essays on protest in Austrian popular music and on Austrian film-makers and the extreme right.

I would be delighted to serve on the board of this vibrant organisation. I have attended numerous ASA conferences (my first was Riverside, CA, in 1998 and my most recent was Vienna in 2016). I’m very active in Austrian Studies in the UK too, and would be keen to see if we can lure ASA members from the States, from Continental Europe, and from much further afield to the UK for Austrian-related events (please don’t let the Brexit disgrace put you off). Our conference and our members’ publications engage scholars and students from a wide range of disciplines and time periods. This is one of the great strengths of ASA and one that I’m keen to see continue and thrive. I can bring to the board a strong knowledge of non-US Austrian Studies and an active networking capacity to help broaden yet further our co-operations with other associations, universities and enthusiasts of all matters Austrian.
CAROLINE KITA
I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Washington University in St. Louis. My research focuses on  nineteenth- and twentieth-century Austrian literature and culture, Austrian-Jewish culture, music and drama. I have published articles on the music of Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg, and the dramatic and poetic works of Richard Beer-Hofmann and Siegfried Lipiner. I am currently working on a project on soundscapes in the radio plays of Ilse Aichinger, Ingeborg Bachmann and Jan Rys. My research on Austrian culture has been supported by grants from the Fulbright Association and the Österreichischer Austauschdienst (OeAD). I have had the opportunity to present my research several times at meetings of the Austrian Studies Association and, if elected member-at-large, I would enjoy the chance to give back to the organization and to help increase its visibility and impact among scholars in our field. 


TERESA KOVACS

ist Universitätsassistentin an der interdisziplinären Forschungsplattform Elfriede Jelinek der Universität Wien. In ihrer Forschung beschäftigt sie sich seit Jahren intensiv mit dem Werk Jelineks, ihre Doktorarbeit verfasste sie an der Universität Wien zum Thema Drama als Störung. Elfriede Jelineks Konzept des Sekundärdramas. Darüber hinaus publiziert sie regelmäßig zu gegenwärtigen Dramenformen, zur Ästhetik des Gegenwartstheaters und zum Politischen Schreiben. Sie hat verschiedene Forschungsprojekte und Veranstaltungen zu Elfriede Jelinek, VALIE EXPORT, Herta Müller, Olga Neuwirth sowie Christoph Schlingensief konzipiert und organisiert. Zentrale Buchpublikationen der letzten Jahre sind: „Die endlose Unschuldigkeit“. Elfriede Jelineks „Rechnitz (Der Würgeengel)“ (Praesens 2010, hg. mit Pia Janke), Der Gesamtkünstler. Christoph Schlingensief (Praesens 2011, hg. mit Pia Janke), „Postdramatik“. Reflexion und Revision (Praesens 2015, hg. mit Pia Janke). Drama als Störung. Elfriede Jelineks Konzept des Sekundärdramas (transcript 2016). Daneben hat sie an der zweibändigen Ausgabe Elfriede Jelinek: Werk und Rezeption (Praesens 2014) mitgearbeitet.

Ich fühle mich geehrt, für den Beirat der Austrian Studies Association nominiert worden zu sein und verspreche, sollte ich gewählt werden, mich mit Engagement und Kreativität einzubringen. Die Organisation der ASA-Konferenz 2016 in Wien gemeinsam mit Maria-Regina Kecht und Pia Janke war ein Höhepunkt meiner bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Laufbahn. Ich würde sehr gerne in anderer Funktion die ASA weiterhin aktiv unterstützen. Die ASA könnte von meinen guten Kontakten zu zentralen österreichischen Wissenschaftler*innen, Künstler*innen und zu kulturellen Institutionen profitieren, ich würde mich aber auch sehr dafür einsetzen, Wissenschaftler*innen außerhalb der Germanistik als neue Mitglieder zu gewinnen, um den interdisziplinären Austausch weiter voranzutreiben.
ANITA MCCHESNEY

Anita McChesney is Assistant Professor of German at Texas Tech University. She spent three years studying in Austria before receiving her Ph.D. in 2005 from the Johns Hopkins University. At Texas Tech she teaches a wide range of courses in twentieth and twenty-first century German and Austrian literature and culture, and she has served as Graduate Advisor for the German MA program and as German Club Advisor since 2011. She also co-organized the 46^th Annual Comparative Literature Symposium, which brought more than 55 national and international scholars to Texas Tech University in 2014. Her research focuses on questions of media, genre, and national representation in contemporary Austrian literature. Publications include the articles “The Case of the Austrian Crime Novel,” “From the Island of the Blessed to Hades. Transforming Austria's Global Image in Gerhard Roth's Orkus,” and “On the Repeating History of Destruction: Media and the Index in Sebald and Ransmayr.” Her current book project examines how contemporary Austrian crime narratives use the familiar genre as a foundation for literary innovation and socio-historical critique. Her research serves as a framework to emphasize the unique contributions of Austrian authors to discussions on the possibilities and limits of literature to address historical realities.

In addition to her scholarship, Anita promotes the study of Austrian culture through active participation in the Austrian Studies Association. She presents regularly at the annual conference, and she has published three articles and seven book reviews with the Journal of Austrian Studies. She also served as external article reviewer for the Modern Austrian Literature journal. Anita sees the ASA as an integral organization in the field of German-Language Studies. Its role in supporting scholarship, strengthening scholarly networks, and helping integrate Austrian studies into university curricula is vital to promoting Austria’s rich cultural heritage. Anita would be honored to contribute to the Austrian Studies Association’s important work to advance scholarship on Austrian literatures and cultures by serving on the Association Board.
SŁAWOMIR PIONTEK

Seit 1993 bin ich Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl für österreichische Literatur und Kultur (besteht seit 1978) im Institut für germanische Philologie der Adam-Mickiewicz-Universität in Poznań (Polen), 2012 übernahm ich den Lehrstuhl in der Nachfolge von Prof. Stefan Kaszynski. Seit 2012 bin ich auch Leiter des Instituts, wiedergewählt für 2016-20. Meine Dissertation (1998) und Habilitationsschrift (2009) sowie zahlreiche Aufsätze betrafen die österreichische Literatur Ich war Gottfried-von-Herder-Stipendiat in Wien (1992-93) und Franz-Werfel-Stipendiat (1995-97, Klagenfurt bei Prof. Lengauer und Wien bei Prof. Schmidt-Dengler). In den letzten Jahren veranstaltete ich Tagungen „Die Wende von 1989 und ihre Spuren in den Literaturen Mitteleuropas“ (2014), „Zwischen Einflussangst und Einflusslust. Die Auseinandersetzung mit der Tradition in der österreichischen Gegenwartsliteratur“ (2015). Ich bin Mitglied der ASA seit 2014, meine Amerikaerfahrung begann 2013: zweiwöchiges Praktikum an The Rutgers State University of New Jersey 2013, GSA-Tagungen 2014 und 2016, ASA-Tagung 2015.

Dank dem Franz-Werfel-Programm sind mir alle wichtigsten Forscher aus mitteleuropäischen Ländern, wo das Bewusstsein für Austrian Studies besonders deutlich ausgeprägt ist (Tschechen, Ungarn, die Slowakei, Rumänien, Bulgarien, die Ukraine), persönlich gut bekannt. Ich würde mich dafür einsetzten,

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  einzelne direkte wissenschaftliche Kontakte innerhalb der Austrian Studies zwischen Amerika und Mitteleuropa zu vermitteln,
  
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  strukturelle Zusammenarbeit in Form von gemeinsamen Projekten (mit Unterstützung u.a. nationaler Wissenschaftsfonds etc.) zu fördern,
  
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  amerikanische und mitteleuropäische Austriazisten persönlich näherzubringen (gerne auch auf einer ASA-Tagung z.B. in Poznań).
  

Ich würde es auch interessant finden, durch Vermittlung der Kontakte zu Slawisten, Bohemisten, Hungarologen in MOE (u.a. gemeinsame Tagung 2014) österreichbezogene Forschungsschwerpunkte (vor allem bis 1918) interdisziplinär abzurunden. Durch meine persönliche Teilnahme an den Tagungen der ASA möchte ich darüber hinaus Impulse aus der polnischen Austriazistik, die an vielen Universitäten (Wrocław, Kraków, Łódź, Lublin, Poznań) seit Jahren präsent ist, vermitteln.
GERALD  STEINACHER

I was born and raised in the Tyrol region and received my Ph.D. in History in 1999 from the University of Innsbruck (Austria). In 2006 I was a Visiting Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and moved to the United States after completing my Habilitation. I am currently an Associate Professor of History and the Rosenberg Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  Prior to my appointment at the University of Nebraska, I served as the Austrian Research Fellow (Joseph A. Schumpeter-Professor) at the Center for European Studies at Harvard University. I am a scholar of the Holocaust with a special interest in perpetrators and Erinnerungskultur. I joined the Austrian Studies Association three years ago and feel strongly connected with its mission, based on my own Austrian background and the Central European focus of my academic research. I am also very active with the University Nebraska Press, which publishes the Journal of Austrian Studies