Katharina von Hammerstein

Emerita Professor, German Studies

Katharina von Hammerstein is a professor of German studies. She investigates textual representations of human rights issues in historical contexts. Foci of her publications include: testimonies, literature and art in relation to human rights, war and genocide (specifically, WWI and colonial wars in former German colonies in Africa); postcolonial approaches to representations of Blacks in German-language literature around 1900; and gender in literary, social and political discourses from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. She regularly conducts archival research, gives conference presentations and publishes in Europe, Africa and the United States. She recently published the volume on Women Writing War and is currently working on testimonies about the Herero genocide. She is furthermore Co-Director of the Connecticut / Baden-Wuerttemberg Human Rights Research Consortium.