Nisha Kommattam, Associate Instructional Professor in Comparative Literature and a COSAS member, was recently awarded a fellowship at the Erich Auerbach Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Cologne, Germany for Autumn 2022. 

Kommattam is hosted by Judith Rauscher, Assistant Professor of American Culture and Literature at the University of Cologne. The pair will work on research entitled: (Im)possible forms of society/(un)real gender norms: sexological and utopian discourses in German and American literature (1880-1930). 

“Our project focuses in particular on texts whose depictions of purely female or purely male societies and communities (single-sex societies/single-sex communities) explore the possibilities and limits of single-sex/same-sex social and political organization, just like they do the contemporary sexual sciences and the homophile movements of the late 19th century closely associated with them. The selected American and German-language works are analyzed with regard to their handling of gender difference and diversity, their interweaving of (anti-)feminist and racist or nationalist discourses, as well as their examination of sexological conceptualizations of the long fin-de-siècle,” they said.

Congratulations to Professor Kommattam on this achievement.