Hana Vrdoljak, M.A.

Research Interests

Hip Hop Studies
Sentimentality, Affect, and Public Feeling
Interamerican Studies
Gender Studies and Feminist Theory
African American Culture and Literature
Latinx Culture and Literature
Working-Class Culture and Literature

Current Research Projects

Hip Hop Sentimentality (Dissertation Project)

Education

M.A. in Interamerican Studies (The Americas/Las Américas), FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (2022)
B.A. in English and American Studies and French Philology, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (2019)

Employment

Since 2022: Doctoral researcher in Graduiertenkolleg “The Sentimental in Literature, Culture, and Politics” at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg

Fellowships and Grants

• 2023: Travel Grant from the Women’s Representatives of the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology at FAU
• 2023: Post-Graduate Scholarship (Research Travel Grant) of the Bavarian American Academy
• 2023: 12th International Summer Academy of the Bavarian American Academy in Lexington, Kentucky, June 5-13, 2023

Publications

Talks

• “’So Many Tears’: The Sentimental Self and Constructions of Black (Hyper-)Masculinity in Hip Hop Culture.” DGfA/GAAS Annual Meeting 2024: “American Soundscapes”, Oldenburg, May 25, 2024.
• “‘Te Saco Lo’ Papeles’: Afro-Dominican Immigrant Narratives In Contemporary Hip Hop Culture.” EAAS Conference 2024: “1924-2024: The American Immigrant Narrative Revisited”, Munich, April 4, 2024.
• “’Tears Dropping from the Barbed Wire’: Hip Hop Sentimentality and Prison Abolitionism.” International Symposium: Sentimental Ballads in Popular Music, Siegen, Sept. 13, 2023.
• “‘All of Us Worried, All of Us Buried, in Our Feelings Deep’: (Counter-)Narratives of the State and Hip Hop Sentimentality.” BAA Summer Academy: Cultural Narratives of the State in a Comparative Perspective, Lexington, Kentucky, June 6, 2023.
• “‘Girls in the Hood’: Black Feminist Thought in Contemporary Hip Hop Culture.” BAA Student Conference: Structural Racism in the U.S., July 24, 2021 (online).
• “‘I’d Rather Die than Be Trapped in a Living Hell’: The Imprisoned Self, Police Brutality, and Prison Criticism in 2Pac’s Trapped.” BAA Workshop: Critical Prison Studies, Nürnberg, Sept. 22, 2018.

Memberships

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien (DGfA)
International Association of Inter-American Studies (IAS)
Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS)

Teaching

• PS/MS “Hip Hop Culture” (SS 23)
• Tutor for “Basismodul The Americas/Las Américas” (WS 20/21, WS 21/22)

Community Involvement

• Workshops for high school students on “Black Activism in Rap Music” and “New York City in Rap Lyrics” (via the German-American Institute Nürnberg)
• Film talks at Casablanca cinema Nürnberg