About
Kelsi Morefield is a PhD student in German studies at the University of Michigan. She holds her BA in Germanic Studies and Communications from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and received her MA in Germanic Studies from UIC in May of 2022. Kelsi was awarded grants during her undergraduate and graduate studies to conduct archival research at the National Library in Vienna, to develop and teach a unit for undergraduate German students about nationalism and racism in reunified Germany, and to collect and didacticize cultural materials for the German basic language program at UIC. Additionally, she participated in two conferences by presenting original work in German Studies and Second Language Pedagogy, entitled “Hybridity in Morenga: How Uwe Timm Uses Form and Opposing Perspectives to Reflect Postcolonial Aesthetics” and “Reflecting on Two Years of Teaching in Basic Language Programs”, respectively.
Kelsi’s primary research interests are women’s literature of Weimar Germany, rightwing extremism in postwar Europe, gender politics, and analyses of space and social power. Each time she engages with a familiar or new piece of literature or film, she asks how one might introduce said text into the language classroom, and thus also tries to center pedagogy in her studies.
Although she is now focusing on Germanic Studies, she remains active in the field of Communications, and is the coauthor of a recently published article entitled “Snapchat This, Instagram That: The Interplay of Motives and Privacy Affordances in College Students’ Sharing of Food Porn”.