V. (Vera) Alexander, Dr

Please note:

Fridays are my research days. I will not reply to any teaching or student-related emails on those days. I still like teaching and students, but you'll have to wait a day or so!

Currently Teaching:

In 2022/2023, I coordinate and teach the new lecture course Culture and Literature B: Texts and Contexts. I also currently coordinate and/or teach the new 1st year lecture course Academic Skills ELC the 2nd year language specific course Writing Modern Lives, the 3rd year language specific course Place and Belonging, and the interdisciplinary MA courses Mapping the Present and Literature and Conflict in the 20th Century. 

Teaching Innovation:

In my courses I implement blended learning and interactive teaching tools such as Perusall and Peerceptiv. Watch an introduction to Perusall. 

TEP Basic Training https://openbadgepassport.com/app/badge/info/169855

Letters of recommendation for students:

If you need a letter of recommendation for your applications (MA, Honours College etc), I am happy to help.

Email me 1) your cv, 2) cover letter, 3) the exact addressee and their deadline, and 4) please remind me of the title(s) and dates of the courses, assignments, essays etc you did with me, and let me know in time. I usually need at least 5 working days.

Courses Taught

Lecture Courses

1. Culture and Literature B: Text and Context (2023)
2. Academic SKills for ELC (2023)
3. Texts and Contexts (RUG, Spring 2019 to the present).
4. Sociology of Literature (RUG, Spring 2016 & 2017)
5. Thinking Culture (RUG, Spring 2016)
6. British Literatures after 1800 (Copenhagen University, Autumn 2012, 2013, 2014, 120-130 students)
7. Postcolonial Literature and Culture (Copenhagen University, Spring 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 120-150 students)
8. British Literatures before 1800 (Copenhagen University, Autumn 2012, 120 students)
9. American History and Literature (Copenhagen University, Spring 2012, 130 students)
10. Postcolonial Studies (Copenhagen University, Autumn 2010-2012, 120 students)
11. Literatures in English, 1800-1950 (Aarhus University, Spring 2008, 150 students)
12. Contemporary Literatures in English (Aarhus University, Autumn 2007, 150 students)
13. Studium Generale (Theories of Knowledge, Aarhus University, Autumn 2007, 150 students)
14. Literatures in English 1550-1800 (Aarhus University, Autumn 2007, 150 students)

Postgraduate Seminars

1. Mapping the Present (co-taught MA Module, Spring 2018-current)
2. Modernist Geographies (co-taught MA Module, Spring 2017, 10 students)
3. Literature and Conflict (co-taught MA Module, since Autumn 2016)
4. Culture and Identity (Compulsory MA Module in Advanced Migration Studies, Copenhagen University, Spring 2015, 25 students)
5. Exploring Green Postcolonialism (MA Elective, Spring 2014, 21 students)
6. Haunted by Intertextuality: Rewriting and Writing Back (MA Elective, Autumn 2013, 26 students)
7. Migration and Transculturality/Migration og Transkulturalitet (MA Elective, European Studies Profile, Copenhagen University, Spring semester 2013, taught in Danish, 8 students)
8. Empires of Villainy: (Post)Colonial Crime Fiction (MA Elective, Copenhagen University, Spring 2012, 20 students)
9. Postcolonialism and Life Writing (MA Elective, Copenhagen University, Spring 2011, 18 students)
10. Migration and Exile in European Contemporary Literature/Migration og eksilerfaring i europæisk samtidslitteratur (Interdisciplinary MA Elective, European Studies Profile, Copenhagen University, Autumn 2010, 9 students and current semester, 14 enrolled. Team-taught with colleagues from French, German and Italian)
11. Reading Paradise (MA Elective, Copenhagen University, Autumn 2010, 30 students)
12. Beyond Belief: Literature and Fundamentalism (MA-Elective, Aarhus University, Autumn 2008, 15 students)
13. Writing about Music, Musing about Writing (MA-Elective, Aarhus University, Autumn 2008, 10 students)
14. Rewriting (MA-Elective, Aarhus University, Spring 2008, 28 students)
15. Comparing Modernisms (MA-Elective, Aarhus University, Autumn 2007, 30 students)

Selected Undergraduate Seminars

1. Reading, Watching, Looking (RUG, Spring 2019)
2. Place and Belonging (RUG, Spring 2016-current)
3. The Multicultural Scene (RUG, Spring 2018)
4. Imagining Europe’s Tomorrow (RUG, Spring 2018, 2020)
5. Writing Modern Lives (RUG, Spring 2016-current)
6. Reading Modern Europe (RUG, Autumn 2016-current)
7. Thinking Culture (RUG, Spring 2016-2018)
8. Living and Reading (RUG, Autumn 2015)
9. Reading Childhood: Englishness and Otherness (Copenhagen University, Autumn 2014)
10. Exploring Travel Writing (Copenhagen University, Spring 2013)
11. Empires of Childhood (Copenhagen University, Spring 2012)
12. Beauty in the Beast? Literature and Terrorism (Copenhagen University, Spring 2011)
13. Imperial Childhoods (Aarhus University, Autumn 2008)
14. Postcolonial Crime Fiction (Aarhus University, Spring 2008)
15. Postcolonialism and Jane Austen (Aarhus University, Autumn 2007)
16. Exploring South Asian Literature (Aarhus University, Autumn 2007)
17. Canadian Narratives of Exploration ( Saarland University, Summer 2007)
18. North American War Writing ( Saarland University, Summer 2006)
19. The Black British Bildungsroman ( Saarland University, Summer 2005)
20. South African Drama: Exploring the Art in Apartheid ( Saarland University, Summer 2004)
21. Pan-Pacific Anglophone Literature ( Saarland University, Winter 2003/04)
22. Contemporary Immigrant Writing in Britain ( Saarland University, Summer 2003)  
23. Short Stories by Indian Migrant Writers ( Saarland University, Winter 2002/03) 

Language Proficiency and Other Courses

1. Advanced Proficiency in English (RUG, Autumn 2015 to current)
2. English Proficiency I (RUG, Autumn 2015, 2 groups)
3. Living and Reading (RUG, Autumn 2015, 2 groups)
4. Textual Analysis (Core course, Copenhagen University, Autumn 2012, 2013 and 2014, up to 3 parallel groups of 35 students)
5. Foundations: British Literatures before 1800  (Core course, Copenhagen University, Spring 2013, 2014, three parallel groups of 30 students)
6. Creative Writing (Language Proficiency Course, Saarland University, 4 courses, Summer 2005-Winter 2006)
7. Oral Expression (Language Proficiency Course,  Saarland University, Summer 2005)
8. Written Expression and Academic Writing (Language Proficiency Course,  Saarland University, Summer 2005)
9. Survey of English Literature (Tutorial, Freiburg University, Winter 1999/2000) 

Extracurricular Teaching

2018: 

• Other Music Academy Workshop (03-11 September 2018)
• Graduate School for the Humanities Workshop for PhD Students (20 April 2018)

2017 

• Alumni Akademie Universität des Saarlandes (13-15 October 2017)
• 2017: OSL Ravenstein Seminar (Winter School) on “Ecocriticism: Literature and Environment” (26-28 January 2017) 

2016 

• Sommerakademie der Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (Summer Academy at the German Academic Scholarship Foundation), Work Group 10: ‘A Thing of Beauty and a Job Forever’: Anglophone Garden Writing.”  (21 August- 3 September, 2016)
• ‘Formations of European Modernity.’ Panel Debate, MOOC Euroculture (RUG, Spring 2016)
• ‘Modernity and Nature in European Literature.’ Lecture, MOOC Euroculture (RUG, Spring 2016). 

Please note: During the summer vacation, from July 15 till August 15 I am totally and ruthlessly offline. Carrier pigeons will be poisoned.