معرفی
Maria Karlsson is a Senior Lecturer in Rhetoric at the Department of Literature, Uppsala University. She holds a Ph.D. in Literary Studies and has built her academic career around Scandinavian literature, rhetoric, and audience studies. Her work bridges literary scholarship with contemporary media analysis, particularly focusing on vulnerability as a productive resource in cultural expression.
Her research primarily centers on vulnerability in Scandinavian art and culture, with particular attention to how audiences interact with literary and media works. She has conducted extensive studies on Selma Lagerlöf's reception, analyzing over 40,000 letters sent to the author between 1891-1940. Her work explores how 'ordinary' people, particularly from working-class backgrounds, used vulnerability as a rhetorical strategy when corresponding with the famous writer. She also investigates true crime media, art scandals, and the intersection of affect theory with cultural production.
Karlsson's recent publications reveal a consistent focus on vulnerability as a framework for understanding cultural production and reception. Her work spans historical literary analysis (particularly on Selma Lagerlöf), contemporary media studies (especially true crime radio documentaries), and interdisciplinary cultural theory. She frequently examines how vulnerability functions both as a rhetorical strategy employed by audiences and as a productive element in artistic creation, particularly within the context of Scandinavian welfare states.
Karlsson currently leads two major research projects funded by The Swedish Research Council: 'True crime on the air' (2021-2023), examining crime representation in Swedish radio documentaries, and 'The scandal syndrome' (2023-2025), analyzing the aesthetics and politics of art scandals. Previously, she worked as a researcher at The Centre for Gender Studies at Uppsala University and co-edited the significant volume 'Vulnerability in Scandinavian Art and Culture' (2020).
Her teaching focuses on graduate-level courses where theories of vulnerability play a central role, including ecocriticism, narratives from precarious suburbs, gender/queer theory, and autofiction. Her academic journey began with her 2002 dissertation on melodrama in Selma Lagerlöf's novels, establishing her long-standing engagement with this important Scandinavian author.
