Dr. Sina Schuhmaier

Sina Schuhmaier’s research focuses on approaches in postcolonial studies and cultural studies, in particular pertaining to national and cultural identity, as well as on the genre of the song lyric, contemporary British literature, and Black British literature. Her PhD thesis examines contemporary British song lyrics, bringing into dialogue the fields of literary studies and popular music studies. The thesis contributes to the growing field of critical Englishness studies and sheds light on the cultural functioning of the song lyric against the backdrop of the dominant discourse of the nation.

Further research areas include:

• infectious diseases in literature, pathogenic environments, and material ecocriticism
• depictions of the British landscape and the pastoral tradition
• literary representations of capitalism and neoliberalism

Sina Schuhmaier is an academic staff member and doctoral student at the Chair of English Literary and Cultural Studies (A II). She studied English studies at the Universities of Heidelberg and Nottingham and completed the Master programme “Modern Literature, Media, and Culture” at the University of Mannheim. She submitted her PhD thesis on “Dominant and Dissonant Discourses of the Nation: Pop Music, the Song Lyric, and Englishness in the 21st Century” in September 2023. In spring 2022, she spent a three-month research visit as a PhD student at the University of Bristol.

Sina Schuhmaier’s teaching comprises Anglophone literature from different periods, with a focus on contemporary British literature and postcolonial literature. Courses cover especially the genres of the novel and poetry, as well as multimedial forms such as the song lyric or the TV series. Students acquire an understanding of literature as a medium of cultural self-reflection, which negotiates, amongst other things, discourses of nation, empire, and identity.