Katrin Horn

Professor Katrin Horn is a Professor of Gender Studies at the Institute of English and American Studies at the University of Greifswald. She received her MA and PhD from Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, with her doctoral work focusing on gender, camp, and popular culture. Since 2023, she has held her current position at Greifswald, where she teaches courses including "America on Film," "Editing Scandal," "Exam Colloquium," and "History of American Literature."

Her educational background includes:

• MA in Theater and Media Studies, American Cultural Studies and English Literature at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (2003-2008)
• PhD at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (2015)

Professor Horn's research spans gender and queer studies, feminist media studies, popular and visual culture, literature and culture of the long nineteenth century, and the history of knowledge with particular emphasis on rumor, gossip, and intimacy. Her work bridges literary studies, gender theory, and digital humanities, examining how knowledge circulates through informal networks. She has established herself as a leading scholar in camp aesthetics and gender performance, with her 2017 monograph "Women, Camp, and Popular Culture: Serious Excess" receiving significant attention in the field.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent scholarly trajectory focused on the intersections of gender, knowledge production, and cultural forms. Her work demonstrates sophisticated engagement with how marginalized voices navigate and transform cultural systems through practices like gossip and camp. The recurring themes across her publications include the epistemology of gossip networks, the politics of intimacy in historical contexts, and the strategic use of camp aesthetics as resistance.

Her scholarly contributions have been recognized through leadership of a major DFG project on "The Economy and Epistemology of Gossip in Late 19th and Early 20th-Century US American Literature and Culture" (2019-2022), during which she conducted research as a visiting scholar at both the Library of Congress and the German Historical Institute in Washington DC.

Professor Horn is actively engaged in several significant projects:

• The Oxford Handbook of Camp and Screen Cultures (Call for Papers)
• ArchivalGossip.com (DFG project and database)
• The Failure of Knowledge – Knowledges of Failure (DFG network)