Gulsin Ciftci, M.A.

Englisches Seminar
Research Associate
Chair of American Studies
Room ES 318
Johannisstr. 12-20 | 48143 Münster
Ciftci Photo
© Ciftci

From June 2024 through May 2025, Gulsin Ciftci is a visiting scholar at the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University. During this time, she is unable to offer regular office hours.

In urgent cases, please contact her here: gciftci@wesleyan.edu. 
 

Gulsin Ciftci teaches American Studies at the University of Münster. Her current project, “Reading Reading: Affect and American Literature in Twenty-first Century,” is concerned with the relationship between reading, affects, and forms. In her readings and academic research, she is most interested in the reasons that draw the reader/viewer towards and away from specific cultural and literary texts, as well as motivations behind our literary and artistic engagements and their relational formations. In addition, she is interested in the body—affective, entangled, phenomenal, and vulnerable—and how literary critique, aesthetics, and philosophy treat the body in various literary and cultural texts, ranging from fiction to TV series and the arts.

She holds an M.A. from the University of Göttingen, where she has previously taught literary and cultural studies. By bringing together media theory, sociological theories of culture, and theories of the public sphere in her M.A. thesis, “The Unbearable Lightness of #instapoetry: Reading and Writing Poetry in the Twenty-First Century Social Media Environment,” she offered a study of #instapoetry as a self-marketing strategy and poetic form.

  • Information for Students

    From June 2024 through May 2025, I am a visiting scholar at the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University. During this time, I am unable to offer regular office hours.


    If you are interested in writing your thesis with me, I am happy to offer you the necessary supervision. Before you reach out, please make sure that…

    1. your thesis topic corresponds to my research interests, and
    2. you have a one-page exposè outlining your topic, research questions, preliminary thesis statement, and possibly a short list of literature you plan to work with.

    If you would like to have a letter of recommendation/reference letter, I would be happy to support you in your applications.

    However, please make note that, for this, you should have attended (at least) one of my classes and have participated actively enough for me to be able to assess “who you are.” Please reach out 4-6 weeks before you need to have the letter, and include your CV, your letter of motivation, and information on the agency you apply to (website links, call for applications, etc.).

  • Research Interests

    • Theories of Reading
    • Literary Theory and Critique
    • Affect and Public Feeling
    • 21st Century American Novel
    • Contemporary Poetry
    • Social Media Literacy and Book Industry
    • Gender and Sexuality Studies

  • CV

    Employment  
    05/2021–present Research Fellow, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Englisches Seminar, Prof. Dr. Silvia Schultermandl
    (Chair of American Studies)
    04/2018–03/2021 Adjunct Lecturer (Lehrbeauftragte), Georg August Universität Göttingen, English Department & ZESS - Zentrale Einrichtung für Sprachen und Schlüsselqualifikationen
    04/2018–08/2020 Research and Teaching Assistant, Georg August Universität Göttingen, English Department, Prof. Dr. Barbara Schaff
    (Chair of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures)
    09/2018–05/2020 Research Assistant (Projektmitarbeiterin), Georg August Universität Göttingen, Centre for Gender Studies, The interdisciplinary research project “Verwandtschaft neu Denken” (Contested Kinship)
    09/2018–06/2019 Conference Coordinator, “Contested Kinship: Towards a Redefinition of Human Relations,” Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; Organizers: I. Kroppenberg, N. Linder and B. Schaff)

    Education

    2020–present
    since May 2021    		 American Studies, Georg-August Universität Göttingen and WWU Münster (PhD candidate); Dissertation: “Piecing Together the Fragmented: Towards a Poetics of Literary Sexual Trauma”
    2017–2020 American Studies/English Philology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (M.A.)
    Thesis: “The Unbearable Lightness of #instapoetry: Reading and Writing Poetry in the Twenty-First Century Social Media Environment”
    2019/2020 Institute for World Literature, Harvard University
    2015–2016 English/American Studies, Osnabrück Universität (B.A.)
    2013–2017 English Language and Literature, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi, Turkey (B.A.)

     

     

  • Publications

    Articles

    Articles in Scientific Journals, Newspapers or Magazines
    Research Articles (Journals)
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. . ‘The Affects of Reading.’ Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies 2, № 23: 10–29. doi: 10.5283/copas.366.
    • Schultermandl, Silvia; Ciftci, Gulsin; Reimer, Jennifer. . ‘American Studies as Vulnerability Studies: Introduction.’ Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies 4, № 1: 1–16. doi: 10.47060/jaaas.v4i1.195.
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. . ‘"'Vulnerable as a small pink mouse': Vulnerability, Affect, and Trauma in Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life".’ Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies 4, № 1: 19–39. doi: 10.47060/jaaas.v4i1.153.
    Non-Scientific Contributions (Journals)
    • Ciftci, Gulsin; Mouton, Deborah D.E.E.P.; Schultermandl, Silvia. . ‘Writing Black Women’s Mythology: A Conversation with Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton.’ New American Studies Journal: A Forum 74 (2023). doi: 10.18422/74-1400.
    Research Article (Book Contributions)
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. . ‘Öbekleşme [Assemblage].’ In Beşerî Bilimlerin Elli Rengi: Çevreci, Dijital, Tıbbi ve Posthüman Sesler, edited by Ağın, Başak; Yılmaz, Gizem Z., 355–362. 0th Ed. Türkiye: Kapadokya Üniversitesi Yayınları.

    Special Issues of Journals

    • ‘American Studies as Vulnerability Studies’, edited by Schultermandl, Silvia; Ciftci, Gulsin; Reimer, Jennifer A. . Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies 4.

    Other Non-Scientific Publications

    • Ciftci, Gulsin. . Uncovering Female Desire. Litlog. 0th Ed. .

  • Scientific Talks

    • Ciftci, Gulsin : “Fissures. Breaks. Ruptures. Interstices. Or, How to Read a Patchwork?” ASAP/14: The Arts of Fugitivity, Seattle, WA, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin; Celik, Nursan : “Ostranenie in Digital Poetry: Revisiting Viktor Šklovskij’s notion of defamiliarization”. Poetry. Experience. Attention., University of Oslo, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin : “Haunting Forms: Reading Grief in Diana Khoi Nguyen’s Ghost Of”. Poetry. Experience. Attention., University of Oslo, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “Reading Forms as Reading Affects”. International Conference on Narrative, Texas Woman's University, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “Reading (through) Affects in Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation”. The Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture, Louisville University, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “Unpack Your Feelings: Or, How Close is Too Close Reading?” Lecture series "Hotspots in Literary/Cultural Studies and Linguistics", WWU Muenster, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin : “Narratives, Affects, and Forms or Affective Formalism”. The Uses of Form: Theory – Methodology – Pedagogy, Virtual, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “"'I'm here to learn how to not be raped': Gender, Sexual Violence, and Trauma in I May Destroy You"”. Representations of Violence in Literature, Culture and Arts, Osmaniye Korkut Ata University, Turkey, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “"Affective Turn in Sexual Trauma Narratives"”. Following the Affective Turn, Postgraduate Symposium, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “"'Vulnerable as a small pink mouse': Trauma, Vulnerability, and Intimacies"”. Research Colloquium, University of Göttingen, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “Towards a Poetics of Sexual Trauma Narratives”. Harvard Institute for World Literature, Harvard University, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “Pop-Feminist Literature and Social Media Rhetorics in Instapoetics”. IMLR Graduate Forum, University of London, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “Translocal Poetics of Identity in #instapoetry”. 51st Northeast Modern Language Association Convention (NeMLA), Boston, MA, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “Cosmopolis: Exploring Global Hegemonic Masculinity in North-American Literature”. 2nd International Men and Masculinities Symposium, Istanbul, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “Feminist Rhetoric and Poetry in the Digital Age”. Genderlabor Lecture Series, University of Göttingen, .
    • Ciftci, Gulsin. : “Reading and Writing Poetry in the Digital Age”. Harvard Institute for World Literature, Harvard University, .