Maxi Albrecht

Maxi Albrecht is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of English Studies at the University of Siegen, Faculty I. They hold a PhD in North American Studies from the Free University of Berlin (2021) and have previously held academic positions at the John F. Kennedy Institute and Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg.

Their research centers on speculative, dystopian, and post-apocalyptic narratives, with a focus on cultural politics, neoliberalism, and intelligence discourses in 21st-century American popular culture. Their current project, 'Serial Circulation: The German-American Mystery Novel and the Beginnings of Transatlantic Modernity (1850–1855)', is funded by the German Research Foundation (2022–2025). Earlier work explored survival narratives in media such as The Walking Dead and The Hunger Games.

Their publications reflect a strong engagement with seriality, cultural theory, and the politics of identity in speculative fiction. Themes across their work include cognitive exhaustion, humanness, frontier aesthetics, and the ideological functions of genre.

Maxi Albrecht has been actively involved in academic service, including serving as co-speaker of the Diversity Roundtable of the German Association for American Studies since 2023 and as a reviewer for journals such as Utopian Studies and eludamos. They have taught a wide range of courses on US cultural history, rhetorical strategies, gender and race in speculative fiction, and cultural theory at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Freiburg.

They have presented their research at numerous international conferences and guest lectures across Europe, including at the Universities of Osnabrück, Cologne, Augsburg, Copenhagen, London, and Lublin.