Organizing Committee

Nathan Bates is a native of Washington State. He received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in German at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. He wrote his MA thesis on Alfred Döblin’s Berge Meere und Giganten, intertextually analyzing its biblical and mystical themes of apocalypse. His dissertation focuses on how the high modernist German novel (Thomas Mann’s Der Zauberberg, Hermann Broch’s Die Schlafwandler, Irmgard Keun’s Das kunstseidene Mädchen, and Alfred Döblin’s Berlin Alexanderplatz) anticipates the transhumanist concept of whole brain emulation (WBE) or mind-uploading. The project examines the main goals of WBE vis-à-vis the literary representation of consciousness. Nathan is interested in questions that gnaw, bite, or scratch at the fantastic and inexplicable in literature.

Richard Boyechko is a PhD student in Comparative Literature, Cinema & Media Studies. Last year he received his M.A. in Comparative Literature, for which he wrote about the subversion of linear temporality in contemporary Russian and Chinese science fiction. His research continues to focus on speculative fiction in these two languages.

Justin Mohler is a PhD student in the Department of Germanics. After spending several years teaching English in Austria and Hong Kong, he joined the department in 2013 and received his M.A. in Germanics last year. Recently, he has enjoyed teaching an intermediate level language course as well as working on a dissertation proposal that will investigate the formation of the animal/human divide in German literature through an examination of the concept of personhood.

Kristina Pilz is a PhD candidate at the University of Washington, and recipient of the Max Kade Graduate Fellowship. She currently works on her dissertation “BlackWhite Experiences — Writing Practices in Contemporary Afro-German Literature” and enjoys teaching German language classes in the Department of Germanics. Prior to joining UW, Kristina worked as an instructor for German at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. Ms. Pilz holds two M.A. degrees, one in German from Texas Tech University and one in German as a Foreign Language from Dresden University of Technology, Germany.

Preston Albertine is an MA student in French Studies. His academic interests include critical theory and textual studies, and his research deals primarily with contemporary issues and cultural exchanges between France and the rest of the world. In particular, he enjoys writing about music, television, and food cultures. He also runs this website, so if anything is wrong, blame him and not the other organizers.