Cara Tovey

Cara Tovey is a Lecturer in German at the Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She previously served as Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of German and Russian Studies at the College of Charleston. Tovey holds a Ph.D. in German Studies from UC Berkeley, with a Designated Emphasis in Film and Media Studies. Her research explores intersections of early cinema, German literature, performance studies, critical disability studies, environmentalism, and social movements, particularly in 20th-century Austria and Red Vienna.

Her work has been recognized with the American Library Association’s “Best Historical Materials” Award (2021) for her chapter “Nature” in The Red Vienna Sourcebook. She co-edited Karl-Marx-Hof: Schlüsselbau der Moderne (2024) and contributed to Babylon Berlin, German Visual Spectacle, and Global Media Culture. Tovey also received a 2024-25 Community-Engaged Course Development Grant to integrate Los Angeles communities into European language and culture education.

As faculty advisor for UCLA’s German Club and Delta Phi Alpha, she actively promotes German language and cultural engagement. Her research spans transnational cinema, disability aesthetics, and environmental history, with a focus on modernity’s cultural expressions.