Karin Reichenbach

Dr. Karin Reichenbach is a Research Associate at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig, where she has held various positions since 2012 (with interruptions) and currently works in the "Culture and Imagination" department since 2021. Concurrently, she serves as a regular lecturer at the University of Leipzig since 2023, teaching in the Institutes of Art History, Cultural Studies, and History. Her prior roles include a technical assistant at the Saxon State Office for Archaeology and a research associate in a DFG project at the University of Leipzig.

Educational background:

• Studied prehistory and early history, auxiliary historical sciences/archival studies, and English at Leipzig and Bratislava
• Doctorate from the University of Leipzig (2020) on "History of Castle Wall Research in Lower Silesia from 1900 to 1970"

Her research interests are centered on Public History and Public Archaeology, the history of archaeology and historiography, memory politics, the archaeology of the Early Middle Ages in East Central Europe, castle wall research, and architectural sociology. She critically examines how historical narratives, particularly those involving ethnic and racist ancestor worship, become mainstreamed in public history culture and carry right-wing extremist ideas.

Scientific awards:

• DAAD Scholarship
• German Institute for Archaeology Warsaw Scholarship
• Leibniz Center for Archaeology Scholarship

Dr. Reichenbach has extensive teaching experience, having taught at HTWK Leipzig and the University of Leipzig from 2004 to 2009, and currently at the University of Leipzig. While no formal advisees are listed, her mentorship likely extends through her teaching roles. Her research is supported by the aforementioned scholarships, and she is actively involved in collaborative projects at GWZO.

She is a member of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA) and co-speaker of the working group Political Epistemologies of Central and Eastern Europe (PECEE) under the Society for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. Her current project "Culture and Imagination" at GWZO investigates the mainstreaming of far-right historical concepts through popular practices.