Dr Rebecca Wismeg-Kammerlander

Profile

Rebecca Wismeg-Kammerlander has been a Lecturer in German and European Studies at King's College London, where she is currently a Visiting Research Fellow. Her dissertation focuses on contemporary Austrian literature in the light of consumer aesthetics and examines how characteristic elements of consumer culture – from products to brands and advertising – shape the nation’s image and the 'National Brand Austria'. She is particularly interested in contemporary Austrian literature and culture, the narrative role of consumer goods and other objects, and the Health & Medical Humanities. Her current project investigates the role of prostheses and medical devices in contemporary German-language literature, aiming to better understand the discourses on body images which are negotiated when the human body and material culture intersect, focusing on the representation and narrative role of prostheses and medical implants. This project brings her keen interest in material culture and consumer aesthetics into conversation with the fields of Health & Medical Humanities as well as Crip and Disability Studies. Her monograph The Narrative Power of Things. Consumer Culture in Contemporary Austrian Literature has been published by Peter Lang in the Series 'Studies in Modern German in Austrian Literature' in 2023.