Anke Pinkert

Anke Pinkert is a Professor of German and Media & Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois, serving as Department Head of Germanic Languages & Literatures. She holds additional appointments in the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, Program in Jewish Culture & Society, and European Union Center. Her research focuses on memory studies (post-Holocaust/postcommunist Germany), public humanities, and social justice education. She co-founded the Initiative on Holocaust, Genocide, Memory Studies and leads the Education Justice Project, offering college courses in prisons.

Education: Ph.D. in German from the University of Chicago (2000), with postdoctoral fellowships at the Franke Institute for the Humanities. Her books include Remembering 1989 (2024) and Memory and Film in East Germany (2008), examining public memory through cinema and protest archives. Awards include Conrad Humanities Scholar (2018–2023) and multiple research fellowships.

Her work bridges academia and activism, addressing carceral education, radical democracy, and interdisciplinary humanities. Current projects explore memory ecologies involving seawater archives and forced migration narratives.