What happened to the Gas Station?

Presentation (2016, January 14)

Would you buy flowers at the petrol station? This presentation examines the petrol station trope and its oscillation between site (a space where people interact) and sign or cultural signifier. It presents the result of the empirical study carried out in the interdisciplinary research project 'IDENT2 - Strategies of Regionalisation: Constructing Identity Across Borders', and examines the transformation of the physical 'petrol station' into a 'code' that is actively used as a qualifier in popular culture and in everyday life situations.

Petrol Stations as In-Between Spaces II: Transfiguration

in Wille, Christian; Reckinger, Rachel; Kmec, Sonja; Hesse, Markus (Eds.) Spaces and Identities in Border Regions. Politics – Media – Subjects. (2016)

This publication presents the results of a common interdisciplinary study carried out with Sonja Kmec, and continues her analysis of petrol stations as ‘in-between’ spaces. It analyses the representation of petrol stations in popular culture (films and TV shows, video-blogs, songs, internet memes), and examines how, in its oscillation between site and sign, the petrol station encodes meaning, emotions and emotional expectations in both popular and internet culture and in everyday life situations. It draws on and expands Danto’s concept of ‘transfiguration of life into art’ (1974) to reveal the constant transformative and participatory process of encoding and decoding that characterises the production of meaning. The publication’s interdisciplinary approach combines film and media analysis with empirical research in the form of qualitative interviews carried out in the interdisciplinary research project ‘IDENT2 - Strategies of Regionalisation: Constructing Identity Across Borders’, thus contributing to bridging the gap between the humanities and the social sciences. This publication should be read in combination with Sonja Kmec’s ‘Petrol Stations as In-Between Spaces I: Practices and Narratives’ (2016).

Repräsentationen und Projektionen.

in Wille, Christian; Reckinger, Rachel; Kmec, Sonja; Hesse, Markus (Eds.) Räume und Identitäten in Grenzregionen. Politiken – Medien – Subjekte. (2014)

Tankstellen als Zwischenräume II: Transfiguration

in Wille, Christian; Reckinger, Rachel; Kmec, Sonja; Hesse, Markus (Eds.) Räume und Identitäten in Grenzregionen. Politiken – Medien – Subjekte (2014)

(Re)reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 'The Yellow Wallpaper'

Presentation (2013, January 31)

This presentation explores constructions of 'female' spaces in literary texts of the turn of the 19th century in relation to the amalgamation of gender, desire and biological sex in the medical discourses of the period. Rereading 'The Yellow Wallpaper' involves reading it alongside other texts that draw on the notion of entrapment to articulate the difficulties faced by female artists of the late nineteenth century.

CSI and more: Negotiating Perceptions of Justice, Crime and Self in Contemporary Detective Fiction

in Mein, Georg; Sieburg, Heinz (Eds.) Medien des Wissens: Interdisziplinäre Aspekte von Medialität (2011)

Everyday Cultures and Identities

in IPSE – Identités, Politiques, Sociétés, Espaces (Ed.) Doing Identity in Luxembourg. Subjective Appropriations – Institutional Attributions – Socio-Cultural Milieus (2011)

Luxembourg – international financial center, European administrative center, destination country for immigration? This empirical study provides insights about a society that has hitherto largely eluded scientific investigation and observes the processes of identity construction in globalised conditions. The interdisciplinary team of authors exposes the processes of subjective appropriations and institutional attributions at work in the fields of languages, spaces, perceptions of self and others as well as everyday cultures, and identifies for the first time socio-cultural milieus in the Grand Duchy. The findings of the three-year research project uncover the ambivalences and dynamics of a multicultural and multilingual society.

Alltagskulturen und Identitäten

in IPSE – Identités, Politiques, Sociétés, Espaces (Ed.) Doing Identity in Luxemburg Subjektive Aneignungen – institutionelle Zuschreibungen – sozio-kulturelle Milieus (2010)

Luxemburg – internationaler Finanzplatz, europäisches Verwaltungszentrum, Einwanderungsland? Dieses Buch gibt Einblicke in eine wenig erforschte Gesellschaft und Hinweise auf Identitätskonstruktionen unter globalisierten Bedingungen. Das interdisziplinäre Autorenteam arbeitet subjektive Aneignungs- und institutionelle Zuschreibungsprozesse auf den Gebieten »Sprache«, »Raum«, »Alltagskultur« sowie »Selbst-« und »Fremdbild« heraus und ermittelt erstmals sozio-kulturelle Milieus im Großherzogtum. Der materialreiche Band zeigt Ambivalenzen und Dynamiken in einer multikulturellen und mehrsprachigen Gesellschaft auf.

La guerre au féminin : récit(s) et résistance(s)

Article for general public (2008)