Verena Märker

My current research is driven by two main questions: How does art shape discourses on conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and how might it contribute to peacebuilding efforts? I understand art – whether in the form of poetry slam or filmmaking – as a site of struggle over meaning and representation. As such, I aim to explore its potential to support and influence peace efforts.

• African Great Lakes Region
• Critical Border Studies
• Peacebuilding
• Narratives and Discourses
• Multimediality

My teaching is designed to introduce students to African literature and to prepare them to critically engage with a wide range of literary texts from across – and beyond – the continent, including novels, short stories, poetry, and academic writing. It reflects a broad understanding of time and place, aiming to transcend boundaries and connect temporalities and geographies such as the Caribbean, the Indo-Pacific, and the African continent, among others.

Drawing on my research focus on the African Great Lakes region, I teach literature from this area with particular attention to borderlands. Here, language becomes a key lens through which to explore multiple crossings, fluid identities and forms of belonging, and hybridity. I examine these dynamics with students through local and diasporic works.