Karl Emil Rosenbæk Reetz

Karl Emil Rosenbæk Reetz is a Research Fellow at the University of Southern Denmark's Faculty of Humanities, Department of Culture and Language. He is actively affiliated with the SDU Climate Cluster and serves as a Postdoc at the SDU SCC Elite Center CUHRE, focusing on interdisciplinary environmental humanities research.

Education:

• PhD in Literature and the Oil Impasse: Contemporary Petrofiction from Denmark and Norway (University of Southern Denmark, 2023)
• Cand.mag in Modern Culture (University of Copenhagen, 2017)
• BA in Contemporary Literature (University of Copenhagen, 2015)
• Gender Certificate (Koordinationen for Kønsforskning, 2017)

His research centers on the Petroculture/Petrofiction nexus, examining how fossil fuels permeate Nordic literary imagination through frameworks like Energy Humanities and Blue Humanities. His work interrogates coastal literatures, ecological crises, and oil dependency narratives, particularly analyzing Danish and Norwegian fiction's engagement with hydrocarbon capitalism. Recent scholarship develops concepts like 'oceanic irrealism' and 'petromelancholy' to decode submerged cultural anxieties about energy transitions.

Analysis of his 25+ publications reveals consistent focus on fossil fuel cultural critique across genres – from academic journals to newspaper commentaries. His work bridges literary analysis with political ecology, examining how fiction mediates social rights conflicts in offshore industries and critiques tech-industrial metaverse fantasies through ecological lenses.

Rosenbæk Reetz actively contributes to public discourse through media appearances addressing climate literature and energy politics, while his research is anchored in major projects like CUHRE (2023-2027) exploring life-friendly land-sea interactions.

Teaching & Supervision:

• Supervised PhD thesis: 'Nordic Literature and the Oil Impasse'
• Taught courses: 'Europe in Literature: Centre, Periphery, Planet' (2022)
• Developed curriculum: 'Ecological Perspectives in Danish/Norwegian Contemporary Literature'