Solemn award: Dr. Gabriele Dürbeck celebrates for 25 years!

Solemn award: Dr. Gabriele Dürbeck celebrates for 25 years!

In the south of Lower Saxony, a very special anniversary is celebrated at the University of Vechta: Prof. Dr. Gabriele Dürbeck looks back on 25 years in the public service. On this occasion, the interim president, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bals, and praised her extensive work in science. Dürbeck can look back on an impressive career that started at universities in Hamburg, Paderborn and the former IU Bremen. Her dissertation, which deals with the connection of imagination and education in the 18th century, was published in 1998.

After her time in Rostock, she habilitated in 2004 with a work on the travel literature of the 19th century, which devoted herself to oceanism. Since her appointment as corner professor for literary and cultural studies at the University of Vechta in 2011, Dürbeck has not only shaped the academic landscape, but also actively participated in university self-government. She worked in various positions, including a member of the Academic Senate, Dean and Study Chanery.

commitment in research

Dürbeck's commitment goes far beyond the borders of the university. She held guest lectures in the United States, Australia and Cameroon and took part in Humboldt-Kollegs. They have made their research interests, especially the area of ​​post -colonial German studies, the pioneer in this field. She justified the topic of post-colonial studies in Germany by a DFG network and a series of books that she published together with Axel Dunker. In this context, the band "Postcolonial German Studies", which promotes the theoretical and historical examination of the topic and gathered the results of the network 'postcolonial studies in German studies'. This anthology consists of two parts: inventory and theoretical perspectives as well as critical reading to existing postcolonial analyzes and media.

The postcolonial studies have become more important in recent years and have developed into three phases. First of all, the focus was on cultural and rule criticism. Today there are also aesthetic perspectives as well as the analysis of migration literature in the context of multiculturalism and globalization. These are just a few of the approaches that Dürbeck's work highlighted and which she also integrated into her teaching activity in order to inspire students for this dynamic research area. In addition, it attaches great importance to an interdisciplinary exchange and the promotion of young scientists: inside.

further projects and publications

Currently Dürbeck leads several important projects, including the DFG project "The natural cultural memory in the anthropocene-archives, literatures and media of earth history", which will run from 2023 to 2026. In addition, she is responsible for the MWK project "Natural Cultural Transformation in Lower Saxony" with her colleague Simon Probst. Her publications for the German-speaking Nature Writing, which deal with ecological consciousness and literary representations of nature, prove to be valuable contributions to the current debate in the field of literature and cultural studies.

Prof. Dr. Gabriele Dürbeck has been an editor-in-chief of the cultural science magazine (KWZ) since 2024 and has headed the cultural science society from 2015 to 2019. Their commitment on many levels testifies to their deep interest in interdisciplinary and reflected research, which takes into account both knowledge and social-historical aspects. With her short, concise manner, she not only stimulated the study of the humanities at the University of Vechta, but also created new perspectives for the scientific examination of the challenges of our time.