Coaching Meets (Applied Linguistic) Research at the Department of English

Forthcoming Publication & Upcoming Event: Eva-Maria Graf’s „The Pragmatics of Executive Coaching” will be published in April 2019 as part of John Benjamin’s Pragmatics and Beyond New Series (303). The monograph and coaching as a new and innovative research field in applied linguistics will be the focus of an event in June 2019. Read more →

Studying coincidence in literature and films

A position as post-doctoral researcher at the Department of English and American Studies brought Matthias Klestil to Klagenfurt from Bayreuth. His research currently focuses on material from literature and films, which addresses versionality and coincidence. In our interview with Matthias Klestil, he tells us about the paths that led him to Klagenfurt, and he reveals what he finds fascinating about the USA.

Guest Lecture by Prof. Dr. Wojciech Malecki “What Animal Stories Do to Your Mind: Narratives, Psychology, and Social Change”

The power of stories to raise our concern for animals has been postulated throughout history by countless scholars, activists, and writers, including such greats as Thomas Hardy, Leo Tolstoy and Alice Walker. This paper aims to investigate that power and explain the psychological and cultural mechanisms behind it. Read more →

Can novels make us care about others? A study based on ethnic American literatures

When President Donald Trump addresses the nation, he often resorts to discriminatory stereotypes when referring to African American, Mexican American and Muslim American communities. The narrative that suggests that these groups represent a threat to the American nation is shaping a number of current debates, but there are also important counternarratives. Within the scope of a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), scholars from the field of American Studies are investigating how ethnic American literary texts are inviting readers to imaginatively step into the shoes of a character who is different from themselves and to see the world through that character’s eyes.