معرفی
Prof. Dr. Angela Schwarz serves as Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Siegen, Germany, where she has held a chair position since 2006. She currently acts as Subproject Manager for multiple research initiatives including B05 'Popular History in Digital Games Between Mainstreaming and Diversification,' AG5 'Somatics of the Popular: Transformations of the Physical,' and AG8 'Global Dimension of Popularity' (since 2025), as well as previously leading subprojects 1 'Imagery' (2021-2024) and 5 'case analyses.' Her academic work examines the intersection of history, media, and popular culture with particular expertise in digital games as historical sources and pedagogical tools.
Professor Schwarz pioneered scholarly investigation of historical representation in computer games, having organized one of the first academic conferences on the topic shortly after her appointment at Siegen. Her research interests focus on popular history, especially as it manifests in digital media, transnational cultural history, and the popularization of historical knowledge across different media platforms. She completed her habilitation thesis on popular scientific non-fiction books in 1998, establishing popularization as one of her central research interests, and has since expanded this work to examine how historical narratives are constructed and consumed in interactive digital spaces.
Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on historical representation in digital games, with increasing attention to diversity, authenticity, and spatial dimensions of historical experience. Her work demonstrates how video games function as both historical sources and pedagogical tools, exploring concepts like historical tourism in virtual environments (as seen in her work on Assassin's Creed). She examines how games construct historical narratives, shape player understanding of the past, and negotiate complex historical concepts through interactive media, with particular interest in how these representations influence public historical consciousness.
- Subproject Manager, B05 Popular History in Digital Games (Current)
- Subproject Manager, AG5 Somatics of the Popular (Current)
- Subproject Manager, AG8 Global Dimension of Popularity (since 2025)
- Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary History (2006-Present)
Professor Schwarz leads a research team including Dr. Daniela Mysliwietz-Fleiß, Tom Pinsker, Milan Weber, and Jan Pasternak, with student assistants supporting her work. She has been actively teaching courses on modern and contemporary history since 2006, with lecture topics spanning from historical representation in media to specific historical periods and events. Her research extends beyond digital games to examine historical representation across various media forms, including world exhibitions, advertising imagery, and scientific popularization, demonstrating how historical narratives are constructed and consumed in the public sphere through diverse media channels.
