Verena Baier

Research Interests

Life Writing Studies

Social Movements and Activism

Memory Studies

US-Nicaraguan Relations

Transnational American Studies

Dissertation project: Life Writing of the US-Nicaragua Peace and Solidarity Movement and the US-Contra Movement, 1979-1990

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Short CV

Since 2019: Assistant Manager of the Promotionskolleg der Philosophischen Fakultäten der Universität Regensburg (PUR)

Since 2018: Doctoral candidate in American Studies, University of Regensburg (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Volker Depkat)

2022: Visiting Scholar at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), UC Berkeley; research stay at Hoover Institution, Stanford University

2019/20: Visiting scholar at the Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley

2017/18: Instructor (substitute position), American Studies, University of Regensburg

2017: State exam in English Studies, Spanish Studies, Educational Science, University of Regensburg

2017: B.A. in American Studies, University of Regensburg

2014/5: International student at Universidad de Sevilla

2012/13: International student at Augustana College, Illinois

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Fellowships and Grants

Early-career scholarship, Koordinationsstelle für Chancengleichheit der Universität Regensburg (2023)

PhD scholarship, FAZIT-Stiftung (2023)

Full PhD scholarship, Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw) (2018-2022)

Travel Grants for inter/national conference participation, Fakultät für Sprach-, Literatur und Kulturwissenschaften (multiple times)

Graduate travel fellowship for archival research at the Bancroft Library and Archives, UC Berkeley and the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, granted by the Bavarian American Academy Munich (2021)

Heidelberg Spring Academy, funded by Heidelberg Center for American Studies (2021)

International Summer Academy fellowship, granted by the Bavarian American Academy Munich (2019)

2019/2020 candidate of the Regensburg-Berkeley Doctoral Exchange Program, granted by the University of Regensburg (2019)

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Articles

“Nicaragua in the Rearview Mirror: Life Writing by Leftist US Activists since the 1980s,” in: Remembering Contentious Lives, eds. Ann Rigney, Clara Vlessing, Duygu Erbil, Palgrave Macmillan Memory Studies series (in preparation)

With Markus Diepold, Lena Gotteswinter, Tamara Heger, Bill Henderson, Christian Knittl, Jon-Wyatt Matlack, Efthalia Prokopiou, Katharina Röder, and Jiann-Chyng Tu (Regensburg) “Remembering Transnational Memory Cultures and American Studies,” Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies 24 (1) (2023)

 “‘Whose Tomorrow is Tomorrow?’: Remembering (Past) Futures in Autobiographical Writings of the US-Nicaragua Solidarity Movement and the Contra War, 1979-1991”, in: COPAS (Current Objectives in Postgraduate American Studies) (Vol. 20.1) (2019)

“Collective Writing – Writing Collectives: Die Konstruktion Kollektiver Identität in Life Writings der US-Nicaragua-Solidaritätsbewegung der 1980er“, in: Zeitschrift für Kultur- und Kollektivwissenschaft (Vol. 5.1) (2019)

Conference Reports and Blog Articles                            

With Vasiliki Belia (Maastricht) “Conference Review: Remembering Contentious Lives”, in: IABA/ SNS Blog, Students and New Scholars Network der International Auto/Biography Association (2022)                      

With Tamara Heger (Regensburg) “Workshop Report: Narrated Lives, Remembered Selves: Emerging Research in Life Writing Studies”, in: Frictions: Europe, America and Global Transformations (2021)

“Sometimes the Past is Just Around the Corner: Impressions from Berkeley”, in: Frictions: Europe, America and Global Transformations (2021)

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Organized Conferences

Tag des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses, Annual conference of the doctoral research group of the faculties of philosophy (PUR), University of Regensburg (2019-2024)

“Remembering - Transnational Memory Cultures and American Studies” 32nd Annual Conference of the Postgraduate Forum (PGF) of the German Association for American Studies (GAAS), University of Regensburg, 10-12 Nov. 2022 (with Markus Diepold, Lena Gotteswinter, Tamara Heger, Bill Henderson, Christian Knittl, Jon-Wyatt Matlack, Efthalia Prokopiou, Katharina Röder, and Jiann-Chyng Tu, University of Regensburg)

Masterclass “Performance Beyond the Pale” with Prof. Dr. James Harding (University of Maryland), Promotionskolleg (PUR), University of Regensburg, 15-16 Dec. 2021.

International Workshop “Narrated Lives – Remembered Selves: Emerging Research in Life   Writing Studies” with keynotes by Prof. Dr. Sidonie Smith (Ann Arbor), Prof. Dr. Julia Watson (Columbus) and Prof. Dr. Mita Banerjee (Mainz), University of Regensburg, 13-14 May 2021 (with Tamara Heger, University of Regensburg)

International Regensburg-Brno PhD Conference, Telč, Czech Republic, 11-13 Nov. 2019 (with Promotionskolleg (PUR) and Department of English and American Studies, Masaryk University, Brno) 

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Selected Conference Papers and Presentations

“Archiving Hope: Remembering Activism in Collaborative Life Writings of the 1980s US- Nicaragua Peace and Solidarity Movement,” Remembering Contentious Lives, University of Utrecht, 12-14 Sept. 2022.    

“Remembering Nicaragua – Remembering Heroes? Life Writings by US Volunteers in the Nicaragua Peace and Solidarity Movement and the Contra War, 1979-1990,” Center for Latin American Studies, UC Berkeley, 31 Mar. 2022.

“Where And When Is Nicaragua? Remembering Transnational Activism in Life Writings of the US-Nicaragua Peace Movement and the Mercenaries of the 1980s Contra War,” Life Writing: Transnationalism, Translingualism, Transculturalism, International Auto/Biography Association Asia-Pacific Conference, University of Adelaide, 20-23 Nov. 2021.

 “The Making of Communicative Networks,” SAMLA's 93rd Annual Conference Social Networks, Social Distances, Southern Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, 4–6 Nov. 2021.

“Zwischen Konflikt und Kompromiss: Autobiographische Erzählungen von Religiösen Organisationen in der US-Nicaragua Friedens- und Solidaritätsbewegung der 1980er,“ Jahrestagung der Görres-Gesellschaft, University of Regensburg, 25 Sept. 2021.

 “Rambos and Martyrs: The Making of Heroes in Life Writings of the US-Nicaragua Solidarity Movement and Contra War of the 1980s,” Department of North American History, John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, 14 June 2021.

 “’But in Nicaragua There’s a Lot of Hope’: US-Peace Activists' Life Writings of 1980s Revolutionary Nicaragua,” International Workshop Narrated Lives – Remembered Selves: Emerging Research in Life Writing Studies, Regensburg, 13-14 May 2021.

 “Remembering Nicaragua?: Life Writings by US American Volunteers in the Nicaragua,” Peace and Solidarity Movement and the Contra War, 1979-1990,” HCA Spring Academy, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Heidelberg University, 24 Mar. 2021.

“Memory Production in the US Nicaragua Solidarity Movement and US Latin American Relations in the Cold War,” FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (guest talk, invited by Daniela Axa Gutiérrez Fuentes), 3 Feb. 2021.

“‘A Bunch of Rambos’: Remembered Lives of US Mercenaries in the Nicaraguan Contra War,” Brno-Regensburg PhD Conference, Telč, 11-13 Oct. 2019.

 “‘The America I Identify With?’: Life Writings of the US-Nicaragua Solidarity Movement and Contra War, 1979-1991,” BAA 11th International Summer Academy, Nuremberg, Berlin, Regensburg, 25 May- 8 June 2019.

 “Life Writings of the US-Nicaragua Solidarity Movement and Contra War,” Young Scholars Forum at Annual Meeting of the Historians of the German Association for American Studies (GAAS), Lichtenfels, 8-10 Feb. 2019.

 “Negotiating Utopia in Life Writings of the US-Nicaragua Solidarity Movement and Contra War, 1979-1991,” Postgraduate Forum (PGF) of the German Association for American Studies (GAAS), University of Essen, 8-10 Nov. 2018.

 “Narrating Lives, Narrating Progress: Progress and the Self in Life Writings of the US-Nicaragua Solidarity Movement,” GSNAS Graduate Conference, FU Berlin, 7- 8 June 2018. 

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Memberships

German Association for American Studies/ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien (GAAS/DGfA)

International Auto/Biography Association (IABA)

Memory Studies Association (MSA)

Promotionskolleg der Philosophischen Fakultäten der Universität Regensburg (PUR)

Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw)