Irene Kacandes

Irene Kacandes is the Dartmouth Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College. She previously chaired the Department of German Studies (2008-2011) and holds leadership roles in academic societies including president of the International Society for the Study of Narrative and the German Studies Association. Educated at Harvard University (Ph.D. 1991) and institutions in Berlin and Thessaloniki, her interdisciplinary work bridges German and Modern Greek literature with narrative theory, cultural studies, and life writing.

• Education: A.B. Harvard-Radcliffe, M.A. and Ph.D. Harvard University

Her research focuses on trauma and memory studies, Holocaust narratives, co-witnessing ethics, and experimental memoir forms. Her works include Talk Fiction (1991), Daddy's War (2009), and On Being Adjacent to Historical Violence (2022). She co-edits the Interdisciplinary German Cultural Studies book series and founded the 'Doing Something' initiative with a former student to address historical violence.

Her current projects explore co-witnessing as a framework for ethical engagement with collective trauma, alongside works on family memory and Holocaust testimony. She has lectured internationally, including a 2022 plenary on paramemoir at Wrocław University and a 2021 talk on Holocaust life narratives at UC Irvine.