Biz Nijdam

Biz Nijdam is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies at the University of British Columbia, part of the Faculty of Arts. She also serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies, German and Equity Chair for German Studies Canada. Her research focuses on comics studies, migration, Indigenous methodologies, and feminist art, blending interdisciplinary approaches to explore history, identity, and social justice.

Education:

• PhD from the University of Michigan (2017)
• Postdoctoral Fellowships at Freie Universität Berlin (2017-2018) and University of Waterloo (2019-2021)

Research interests include:

• Representation of history in comics
• Forced migration and digital media
• Indigenous-European studies intersections
• Feminist methodologies in graphic arts

Publications & Projects:

• Book manuscript Graphic Historiography: Teaching History & Memory through Comics and Graphic Novels (Ohio State UP, 2024)
• Co-leading the Turtle Island Cluster on Residential School survivor stories
• SSHRC-funded project Visual Storytelling and Genocide Education

Awards:

• 2022 Innovate German Award
• Multiple SSHRC grants
• UBC Public Humanities Hub Seed Grant

Outreach: Co-organizer of Arts Multilingual Week at UBC, fostering multilingualism and cultural exchange through events like poetry slams and workshops on Indigenous languages.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Narratives Research Group and co-founded the Comic Studies Research Cluster in UBC’s Public Humanities Hub.