Dr. Isabel Kalous
Dr. Isabel Kalous
Research Interests
Travel Writing
African American Literature
Cultural Mobility Studies
Transnational American Studies
Climate Change Fiction
Current Research Project
Sacrifice and Survival: Antinatalism and Environmental Discourse in Literature and Culture in the Anthropocene
Administrative Functions & Service to the Department/Faculty
Study advisor (American Studies) for studies abroad
Webmaster (American Studies/Prof. Paul)
Education
Dr. phil. in English and American Literature, Justus Liebig University Giessen (2020)
M.A. in International Cultural and Business Studies, University of Passau (2013)
Employment
as of 2023: Senior lecturer in American Studies at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg
2021-2023: Scientific coordinator of the “Schelling-Forum,” Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities
2020-2021: Research Assistant at the Department of English and American Studies, LMU Munich
2015-2019: Research Assistant at the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture, JLU Giessen
Fellowships, Grants, Awards
- 2023: Participant of the 12th International Summer Academy of the Bavarian American Academy in Lexington, Kentucky
- 10/2019–03/2020: Doctoral completion grant, FAZIT Foundation
- 2016–2019: Several travel grants from the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture and the International PhD Programme Literary and Cultural Studies for conference presentations in Germany, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, and the US
- 2018: Dr.-Herbert-Stolzenberg Award for Excellence in Higher Education Teaching, JLU Giessen
- 2017: Participant of the annual summer school of the Hermes Consortium for Literary and Cultural Studies, Aarhus University
- 2015: Yale University Post-Graduate Research Fellowship of the Bavarian American Academy
- 2015: Travel grant for female early career researchers from the University of Passau
- 2014: Travel grant of the Graduate Center at the University of Passau
Service to the Profession
- Elected representative of the research management team of the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture in the Board of Directors (2017–2019)
- Supervision of a teaching assistant (STIBET program, DAAD), JLU Giessen (winter term 2017/18)
- Member of the editorial team of On_Culture – The Open Journal for the Study of Culture (2016–2018)
Teaching
- Lektürekurs: American Civilization (FAU)
- Grundseminar Culture (FAU)
- American Journeys: Travel in Literary and Cultural Texts (FAU)
- Introduction to Climate Change Fiction (University of Passau)
- American Travel Writing (University of Passau)
- Slavery and Resistance in African American Literature and Culture (University of Passau and JLU Giessen)
- Introduction to Transatlantic North American Studies (JLU Giessen)
Publications
Authored Books
- Kalous, Isabel. Black Travel Writing: Contemporary Narratives of Travel to Africa by African American and Black British Authors. transcript, 2021.
BibTeX: Download
Journal Articles
- Guttzeit, Gero, and Isabel Kalous. "Covering Surveillance: The Visualization of Contemporary Surveillance on Scholarly Book Covers." On_Culture: The Open Journal for the Study of Culture (2021).
URL: http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2021/16235/
BibTeX: Download - Kalous, Isabel. "Navigating Hostile Terrain with the Green Book: How a Travel Guide Mobilized African Americans During Segretation." Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies 3.1 (2021): 11-31.
BibTeX: Download
Book Contributions
- Basseler, Michael, and Isabel Kalous. "The Post-Civil-Rights Novel: Re-negotiating African American Identities, Racism, and Cultural Memory in Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad (2016) and Paul Beatty’s The Sellout (2015)." The American Novel in the Twenty-first Century: Cultural Contexts – Literary Developments – Critical Analyses. Ed. Michael Basseler & Ansgar Nünning, 2019.
BibTeX: Download
Miscellaneous
- Kalous, Isabel. Memory as Superpower in Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Water Dancer. U.S. Studies Online, 2020.
URL: https://usso.uk/2020/12/09/memory-as-superpower-in-ta-nehisi-coatess-the-water-dancer/
BibTeX: Download - Kalous, Isabel. "Mapping New Paths in the Field of Travel Writing Studies." Rev. of The Routledge Research Companion to Travel Writing, by Alasdair Pettinger and Tim Youngs (eds.). 2020.
BibTeX: Download - Kalous, Isabel. "African American (Im)Mobilities in the Antebellum United States and Today." Rev. of Colored Travelers: Mobility and the Fight for Citizenship before the Civil War;
The Post-Racial Negro Green Book, by Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor;
an Miles. 2018.
BibTeX: Download - Kalous, Isabel. "Writing Travel, Writing Resistance: African American Narratives of Travel in the Age of Segregation." Rev. of African American Travel Narratives from Abroad: Mobility and Cultural Work in the Age of Jim Crow, by Gary Totten. 2016.
BibTeX: Download