Biography
Laura is a PhD Candidate in German Studies with an M.A. in Language Studies/TESL (SLA concentration) from Indiana State University.
Research Interests
Literature, Media, Culture:
- 20th-21st-Century German Literature and Media, Popular Culture, Migration Studies, Memory and Trauma Studies
Linguistics:
- Second Language Acquisition, Sociolinguistics, Foreign Language Pedagogy
Research Description
My dissertation topic is rooted in very contemporary German literature and media production. I am examining how new German identities are negotiated in fact and fiction. Through a comparative analysis of select narratives by, or centered around, marginalized Germans, I want to highlight and contextualize re-emerging patterns of identity negotiation. I focus especially on how the binaries of German and non-German are contested. One re-emerging pattern I find over and over, for example, is the disidentification with the nation as a crucial identity-shaping factor. My sources are a collection of contemporary identity narratives as told in a novel, a digital interview series, lyrics and a film.
Awards and Honors
Illinois
- 2023 John A. Howard and James Marchand Award
- 2022-2023 Illinois Distinguished Graduate Fellowship in the Humanities and Arts
- 2021-2022 Illinois Distinguished Graduate Fellowship in the Humanities and Arts
- 2021 John A. Howard and James Marchand Award
- 2020-2021 Illinois Distinguished Graduate Fellowship in the Humanities and Arts
ISU
- 2016 University College Council Certificate of Recognition for the 2015-2016 Academic Year, A Student-Nominated Award
- 2015 Graduate Leadership in Teaching Award, College of Graduate and Professional Studies
- 2015 University College Certificate of Recognition for Outstanding Student Support as Nominated by a 1st Year Student
- 2015 Outstanding Student Organization Award For Excellence in Global Education
- 2014 Julie Bevilacqua Cutter Memorial Scholarship
Courses Taught
Summer I 2022, 2023: GER 103 (4-week intensive course session)
Additional Campus Affiliations
German Club Graduate Liaison
Kaffeestunde Coordinator
Recent Publications
Conference Talks: German Studies and German Language Teaching
Olbrich, Laura. “Teaching Contemporary German Identities in the Global Modern Languages Classroom.” Gerutscht Teacher Workshop, Southern Illinois American Association of Teachers of German, Jan 7 2023, online.
Olbrich, Laura. “Heimat eins, Heimat zwei? Teaching Contemporary German Identities.” Inspire & Empower: Teaching Toward Tomorrow, Illinois Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages Fall Conference, Oct 15 2022, NIU Naperville Conference Center, Naperville, IL.
Olbrich, Laura. “Spaces of Imagination: When Migrants say what Almans say - Performing New Norms of German Identity via Satire on Social Media.” German Studies Graduate Colloquium, Department of German Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, April 22 2022, Urbana, IL.
Olbrich, Laura. “Haunted by Hanau, Haunted by History: The Precarity of (Non-White) Lives in the German Context.” 4th Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Memory Studies, The Initiative in Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, March 25 2022, online.
Olbrich, Laura. “Metropole Ruhr: Von Bergbau und Industrie zurück zu Natur und Kultur - Ideen für eine virtuelle Unterrichtsreihe zum Thema Ruhrgebiet.” Maifest Teacher Workshop, Southern Illinois American Association of Teachers of German, May 1 2021, online.
Book and Technology Reviews
Olbrich, Laura. "Identitti." Book Review of Identitti (2020), by Mithu Sanyal. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 55.4, 07 November 2022, 265-266.
Olbrich, Laura. "Fast ein neues Leben (2020)." Book Review of Fast ein neues Leben (2020), by Anna Prizkau. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 54.2, 29 November 2021, 330-331.
Olbrich, Laura. "MURAL." Software Review of MURAL. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German, 54.1, 10 June 2021, 150-154.