Roland Borgards



Professor of modern German literature at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main

Resident at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften:
2018‒2022 (Goethe Fellow)

Research topic at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften:
»Cultural and Literary Animal Studies«

Project outline:
The animal world is currently enjoying remarkable attention in society and academia. This acute relevance of animals clearly corresponds to a new sensitivity towards issues of the responsible and sustainable stewardship of nature. Traditionally, these fields have been the responsibility of the natural sciences. However now, in the Anthropocene epoch, these areas of authority are losing their plausibility - animals (like the climate or the level of the seas) have become a valid object of cultural research. This project on cultural and literary animal studies aims to establish animal research in the humanities and social sciences on three levels. The first goal is to pluralize those beings that have been described as animals in various eras and cultures. Second, we will investigate the arts (literature, film, theater, visual arts and music) in particular in order to discover the formative powers they possess in shaping the relationship between humans and animals. Third, the project will examine the intersections of a new cultural animal theory on the one hand and, on the other hand, the new ethology that is currently unfolding in the natural sciences. (Roland Borgards)

FKH video
Roland Borgards presents his research project »Cultural and Literary Animal Studies« in a FKH video. The video was created during the lockdown to contain the corona pandemic in spring 2020.
Please watch the video here.

Scholarly profile of Roland Borgards


Roland Borgards received his doctoral degree from Giessen University in 2001 with a dissertation on Peter Handke and completed his habilitation in 2006 with an examination of the Poetik des Schmerzes (Poetry of Pain). He was professor of modern German literary history at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg from 2008 to 2018 and since 2018 he has been professor of modern German literature at Goethe University Frankfurt.

Main areas of research:
Cultural animal studies, Georg Büchner and romanticism

Selected publications:
  1. Tiere. Ein kulturwissenschaftliches Handbuch, Metzler: Stuttgart 2016.
  2. Journal for Literary Theory 9/2 (2015). Guest-Editor: Cultural and Literary Animal Studies, De Gruyter: Berlin 2015.
  3. Poetik des Schmerzes. Physiologie und Literatur von Brockes bis Büchner, Fink: München 2007.

Новости Новости Беларусь Любовь и семья Общество Люди и события Красота и здоровье Дети Диета Кулинария Полезные советы Шоу-бизнес Огород Гороскопы Авто Интерьер Домашние животные Технологии Идеи для творчества на каждый день