{"id":5,"date":"2012-10-25T22:04:15","date_gmt":"2012-10-25T22:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/template-faculty01\/?page_id=5"},"modified":"2025-08-13T19:41:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T19:41:34","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>About me<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: inherit\">I am an Associate Professor of German and Affiliate Faculty of Film Studies at UNC Charlotte. I also serve as the Associate Chair of the Department of Languages, Cultures and Translation. My research interests include German postwar film and literature, film theory, and cultural studies. I have published on Heinrich B\u00f6ll, Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, Rainald Goetz, German horror film, and German old-school rap. Currently<\/span><span style=\"font-size: inherit\">, I am preparing a monograph on German horror cinema after 1945 for publication with a university press.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Education<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ph.D. in German Literature, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2012<\/li>\n<li>M.A. in German Literature, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008<\/li>\n<li>DAF-Certificate (Teaching German as a Foreign Language), Ruhr-University Bochum, 2006<\/li>\n<li>M.A. in Cultural Studies, Ruhr-University Bochum, 2005<\/li>\n<li>B.A. (Zwischenprufung) in Cultural Studies, Ruhr-University Bochum, 2002<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Teaching Areas<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>German Language and Culture<\/li>\n<li>Horror Cinema<\/li>\n<li>German Postwar Literature and Film<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Current Research Interests<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Holocaust in Film<\/li>\n<li>Horror Cinema<\/li>\n<li>German Rap<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Book Project<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Tales from the Dark Side: German Postwar Horror Cinema<\/em>. In progress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Recent Publications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Peer Reviewed Journal Article: \u201cThe Massacre Will be Televised: Splatter Aesthetics, Media Politics, and the Horrors of Reunification in <em>Das deutsche Kettens\u00e4genmassaker<\/em>,\u201d <em>Colloquia Germanica<\/em>. Forthcoming 2025.<\/li>\n<li>Peer Reviewed Essay in Edited Volume: \u201cOf Brown Phantoms and Crypto-Fascist Monsters: The Gothic in German Postwar Horror Cinema,\u201d <em>The German Gothic<\/em>, Eds. Jeffrey High, Curtis Maughan. Bath: Anthem. Forthcoming 2025.<\/li>\n<li>Peer Reviewed Journal Article: \u201c<em>The Thing<\/em> that Eludes Us: John Carpenter, Abject Horror, and the Shapeshifting of Cold War Cinema,\u201d <em>Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts<\/em>. Vol. 35, No. 1, 2024. 31-58.<\/li>\n<li>Peer Reviewed Essay in Edited Volume: &#8220;Searching for (A) Home in the Rubble: The <em>Heimkehrer<\/em>-Flaneur in Wolfgang Staudte&#8217;s\u00a0<em>Die M\u00f6rder sind unter uns<\/em>,&#8221; <em>Domesticity under Siege: Threatened Spaces of the Modern Home<\/em>. Eds. Mark Taylor, Georgina Downey, and Terry Meade. London et. al. Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2023. 125-147.<\/li>\n<li>Translation, with Susanne Gomoluch: Alexander Kluge. &#8220;The Indestructability of the Political,&#8221; \u201cThe Chronicle of Pangaea.\u201d <em>Kong\u2019s Finest Hour: A Chronicle of Connections<\/em>. (Revised and Expanded Edition) London, New York, Calcutta: Seagull Books, 2021, pp. 133-164, 207-300.<\/li>\n<li>Peer Reviewed Essay in Edited Volume: \u201cPoetry of an Alien: <em>Black Tape<\/em>, Silo Nation, and the Historiography of German Hip-Hop\u2019s <em>Alte Schule<\/em>,\u201d Sounds German: Popular Music in Postwar Germany at the Crossroads of the National and Transnational. Ed. Kirkland A. Fulk. New York: Berghahn, 2020. 84-105. Word count: approx. 10,500.<\/li>\n<li>Book Review: Bryan Turnock. <em>Studying Horror Cinema <\/em>in: <em>The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts<\/em>, Vol. 21, No.1. 2020, 158-160.<\/li>\n<li>Peer Reviewed Essay in Edited Volume: \u201cNosferatu\u2019s Daughters: Radical Feminism, Lesbo-Vampirism, and Fluid Identities in Dennis Gansel\u2019s <em>Wir sind die Nacht<\/em>,\u201d <em>Vampire Films Around the World: Essays on the Cinematic Undead of Sixteen Cultures<\/em>, Ed. James Aubrey. Jefferson, McFarland, 2020. 64-77. Word count approx. 6000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Academic Employment<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>July 2023 &#8211; present: Associate Chair, Department of Languages and Culture Studies, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte<\/li>\n<li>July 2019 \u2013 present: Associate Professor, Department of Languages and Culture Studies, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte<\/li>\n<li>Summer 2019: Faculty, Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik, Portland State University<\/li>\n<li>July 2013 \u2013 June 2019: Assistant Professor, Department of Languages and Culture Studies, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte<\/li>\n<li>2012 \u2013 2013: Lecturer, Interim Director of the German Undergraduate Language Program, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literature, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<\/li>\n<li>Summer 2012 \u2013 Summer 2013: Faculty, Middlebury Language Schools, German School, Middlebury College<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Recent Presentations and Invited Lectures<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u201cAnti-Semitism on Floppy Disks: Naziware and the Virality of Hate,\u201d Southeastern Association of Cultural Studies Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC, February 15-16, 2024<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<em>Das Schwarze Auge<\/em>,\u201d German Studies Association 47th Conference (part of the GSA Seminar on Game Studies), Montreal, QC, October 5-8, 2023<\/li>\n<li>\u201cGrimm Love: Horror and Heritage in <em>Rohtenburg<\/em>,\u201d Southeastern Association of Cultural Studies Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC, February 17-18, 2023<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;The Massacre Will not be Televised: Splatter Theory, Avant-Garde Horror, and the Cutting up of the <em>Heuchelmaschine<\/em> in <em>Das deutsche Kettens\u00e4genmassaker,&#8221; <\/em>German Studies Association 46th Conference, Houston, TX, September 15th-18th, 2022<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;The Thing that Eludes Us: John Carpenter, Horror&#8217;s Abject, and the Hermeneutics of Cold War Cinema,&#8221; Southeastern Association of Cultural Studies Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC, February 26th-27th, 2021 (online)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Mysterious Caverns, Desolate Mountains, and Haunted Castles: The Gothic in German Postwar Horror Cinema,&#8221; German Studies Association 44th Conference, Washington, DC, October 1st-4th, 2020 (online)<\/li>\n<li>\u201cWest German Gothic Cinema: Repressed Horrors in Harald Reinl\u2019s <em>Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel <\/em>(The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism),&#8221; Southeastern Association of Cultural Studies Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC, February 7th-8th, 2020<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Classes Taught at UNC Charlotte (Selection)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>GERM 1502 The Holocaust in the Arts (Theme Course)<\/li>\n<li>GERM 3202 Advanced Grammar, Conversation, and Composition II (Topic: German Film)<\/li>\n<li>GERM 3050 The Ghosts of Berlin (Study Abroad Program)<\/li>\n<li>GERM 3160\/FILM 3050 Mayhem, Monsters, and Mass-Murderers: German Horror Film<\/li>\n<li>GERM 3650 The Holocaust in German Literature and Film<\/li>\n<li>GERM 3660 Survey of German Film<\/li>\n<li>GERM 4050 Advanced Seminar: Deutschland bei Nacht in Literatur, Film und Musik<\/li>\n<li>LANG 1502 Global Horror Cinema (Theme Course)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Current Professional Affiliations<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association<\/li>\n<li>German Studies Association<\/li>\n<li>Southeastern Association of Cultural Studies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About me I am an Associate Professor of German and Affiliate Faculty of Film Studies at UNC Charlotte. I also serve as the Associate Chair of the Department of Languages, Cultures and Translation. My research interests include German postwar film and literature, film theory, and cultural studies. I have published on Heinrich B\u00f6ll, Rolf Dieter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"coauthors":[4],"class_list":["post-5","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":121,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":368,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5\/revisions\/368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/kai-werbeck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}