Lea Laura Heim

Profile

Lea Laura Heim is a PhD candidate at the European University Viadrina's Chiellino Research Unit for Literature and Migration in Frankfurt (Oder) and is currently a Sylvia Naish Visiting Scholar at the ILCS at the University of London. She completed her studies in German Literature and European Ethnology at the Humboldt University in Berlin and at Marmara University in Istanbul. She pursued her Master’s degree in Literary Studies at the European University Viadrina and during this period spent a year at Lancaster University. Addressing contemporary themes in the German literary field, such as experiences of social and structural marginalisation due to attributed origin, gender, and class, her research investigates the literary strategies writers use to counter these exclusions on an artistic-aesthetic level. Her PhD project investigates the aesthetic practices in novels by Fatma Aydemir, Deniz Ohde, Sasha Marianna Salzmann, and Olivia Wenzel, focusing on how they express social criticism, challenge common reception habits, and oppose the burden of representation while demanding discursive participation.