Seth Howes

Seth Howes is an Associate Professor of German and Associate Chair of the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Missouri. He holds a PhD from the University of Michigan and a BA from the University of Texas. His research focuses on 20th-century German literature and culture, with a particular emphasis on Cold War contexts, East German experimental film, punk subcultures, and the works of Peter Weiss.

Education:

• PhD in German, University of Michigan
• BA in German, University of Texas

Research interests include Cold War cultural studies, East German experimental film, punk subcultures in the GDR, and the political aesthetics of Peter Weiss. His articles and edited volumes analyze topics like sound in cinema, underground publishing practices, and Weiss’s transnational collaborations. Recent work explores Cold War geopolitics in Weiss’s Swedish period.

Publications reflect a focus on interdisciplinary approaches to German cultural history, with attention to intermediality, sound studies, and transnational networks. His edited collections and monographs engage with experimental film, punk theory, and Weiss’s legacy in Cold War intellectual history.

Teaching spans undergraduate and graduate courses on German literature, culture, and political thought. Courses include advanced seminars on violence in literature, totalitarianism, and Jewish/German cultural intersections.