Annika Kraftzyk
Annika holds a master’s degree in English and American Studies from Bamberg University. She is a PhD candidate in American Studies and is currently working on a dissertation focused on sentimentality and eating disorders in US culture. Her research interests include theories of race and racism, affect theory, gender and body studies, and popular culture.
Project:
The construction of different racialized bodies, such as the fragile, thin, white female body as opposed to the non-white, voluptuous and sexually threatening female body, is a dominant trope in 18th and 19th century sentimental novel. In my doctoral thesis, I regard these different constructions of the female body as a sentimental code that promotes certain racial stereotypes and sentiments. I will, therefore, investigate how sentimental tropes such as the construction of white and non-white female bodies in British and American sentimental fiction from the 18th and 19th century contribute to the construction of modern body images in contemporary American fiction and movies about eating disorders. Moreover, I aim at exploring the impact these thus constructed and coded body images have on both white and non-white women, starting with the emotions these body images evoke up to more severe social and political consequences. The research topic is situated in different discourses, including Affect Theory, Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, Body Studies, and Foucauldian discourse analysis.
Talks
- 06/22: „Sentimentality and Race in Contemporary U.S. Literature and Movies about Eating Disorders.“ Futures of American Studies Institute 2022, Dartmouth College.
Fellowships & Grants