Since 2012 I am professor in Comparative Literature at Södertörn University.

I was born in 1955 in Lübeck/Germany and studied German literature and American studies in Berlin. 1981 I moved to Sweden where I completed my teacher education. In 1992 I defended my dissertation about the dramatist Peter Weiss. My focus was the reception of his play "Marat/de Sade" in both Germanies and Sweden.

After that I was a German Lecturer at Stockholms University. I taught German literature, grammar, translation, pronunciation. In 1997 I became lecturer in German at Södertörn university. When in 2006 all modern languages were set aside I worked with teacher education programmes.

Since 1997 I worked in four research projects all funded by the Foundation for Baltic and European Studies:

1997 – 2001 researcher ”Bilder i förvandling – om stereotyper i den interkulturella kontakten mellan Tyskland och Sverige” (”Bilder im Wandel – über Stereotypen in den kulturellen Kontakten zwischen Deutschland und Schweden”, about intercultural encounters between Germany and Sweden.

2002 – 2004 researcher ”Den nya kvinnan mellan två sekelskiften” (”Die neue Frau zwischen zwei Jahrhundertwenden, 1900-2000, about the New Woman between two Turns of the Centuries (1900-2000). 

2005 – 2007 project manager ”Modersfigurer i tyskspråkig och svensk nutidslitteratur” (Mutterfiguren in deutschsprachiger und schwedischer Gegenwartslitteratur), about conceptions of motherhood in German and Swedish literature.

2008 – 2011 researcher ”Familjen och den starka staten i ett Östeuropa/ Östersjöperspektiv: frigörelse eller tvång?” (“Die Familie und der starke Staat au seiner Osteuropa- und Ostseeperspektive: Befreiung oder Zwang?”. My part-project dealt with East German Women remembering the past after transission.

The results of these projects are published in monografs and articles mainly in German.

For the time being I am a member of the project "The (dis-)connected refugee". I am interested in refugees life stories and how they create trust and familiarity. By analyzing life stories I want to learn more about the narrative strategies that empower refugees to go on in and deal with precarious life situations.