1226 Park Street
91´óÉñ, IA 50112
United States
Chris Burwick
William Christopher Burwick is visiting assistant professor of German at 91´óÉñ. His teaching and research explore the intersections of German literature, history, visual culture, and material culture from the eighteenth century to the present. He is particularly interested in the ways objects, landscapes, and media shape cultural memory, identity, and the transmission of knowledge across generations.
His current book project, Material Culture and Memory in the Works of Josef Winkler, examines the role of material objects in Austrian literature and their relationship to memory, trauma, and visual perception. More broadly, his research spans Austrian and German literature, folklore and mythology, museum studies, environmental humanities, East German science fiction, and the history of science and technology. He enjoys working across disciplinary boundaries and frequently incorporates history, film, philosophy, and visual culture into his teaching.
Before joining 91´óÉñ, Professor Burwick taught at Colby College, Clark University, Boston College, Hamilton College, Transylvania University, Middlebury College, and several other institutions. He has taught German language at every undergraduate level as well as courses on fairy tales and folklore, German cinema, ecology and literature, museum studies, comparative mythology, holocaust studies, and the relationship between science, ethics, and culture. In the classroom, he emphasizes curiosity, discussion, and authentic engagement with language and culture, encouraging students to connect literary texts with broader historical and contemporary questions.
Outside of his academic work, Professor Burwick enjoys collecting and researching historical die-cast model aircraft, hiking, photography, and traveling. His interests in archives and collecting extend beyond the classroom and into personal projects, including preserving family historical documents and exploring the histories embedded in everyday objects. He is delighted to be joining the 91´óÉñ community and looks forward to working with students both inside and outside the classroom.
Education and Degrees
Professor Burwick received his Ph.D. in German from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where his dissertation explored narrative structures in the works of the Austrian author Josef Winkler. He also holds an M.A. in History from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where he researched the history of science and the Arbeitskreis Utopische Literatur, and an M.A. in German from the University of Washington, focusing on material culture in contemporary Austrian literature. He earned his B.A. in German Studies and History from Pitzer College in Claremont, California. His interdisciplinary academic background in German Studies and History continues to inform both his teaching and research.
Selected Publications
Book Manuscript
Burwick, William Christopher. Materiality and Memory in the Works of Josef Winkler. Rochester, NY: Camden House. Forthcoming (January 2027).
Articles and Chapters
Peter Altenberg’s Ashantee in the Context of Spatial Theming and Aesthetics of Ethnography. Journal of Austrian Studies no. 57, 2024, pp. 145-170.
Post-Memory and Oral History in Josef Winkler's Die Verschleppung or Die Ukrainerin. Njetotschka Iljaschenko erzählt ihre Geschichte. German Studies Review 46, no. 3, October 2023, pp. 469-488.
Cultural Interactions: The Construct of the ‘Noble Savage’ in the Poetry of Goethe, Seume, and Chamisso. Romantic Dialogues and Afterlives, edited by Monika Coghen and Anna Paluchowska-Messing, Jagiellonian University Press 2021, pp. 303-326.
Prothesis and Ekphora. Aestheticization of the Dead and Social Death in Josef Winkler’s Graveyard of Bitter Oranges (Friedhof der bitteren Orangen). Pacific Coast Philology 55, no. 1, 2020, pp. 23-43.
Rechtsbruch und Rechtsspruch: E.T.A. Hoffmanns Das Fräulein von Scuderi. Romantik und Recht: Irdische, Himmlische und Poetische Gerechtigkeit. Schriften der Internationalen Arnim-Gesellschaft, edited by Walter Pape and Antje Arnold, De Gruyter, 2018, pp. 115-131.