Markus Hallensleben

Markus Hallensleben is an Associate Professor in the Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies at the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Arts. He also holds affiliations as Associate Faculty Member at UBC Centre for Migration Studies and Affiliated Faculty at the Center for European Studies and Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality & Social Justice. Currently on leave from January 1 - December 31, 2025, Hallensleben maintains an active research and publication profile with numerous recent works.

His educational background includes an M.A. from Free University Berlin (1994) and a Dr. phil. from the same institution (1998). Prior to his position at UBC, he served as DAAD Lecturer at the University of Tokyo (1999-2003), Visiting Scholar at Nagoya City University (1998-1999), and Adjunct Lecturer at Free University Berlin (1995/96).

Professor Hallensleben's research centers on decolonial approaches to literature and academia, with particular focus on postmigration aesthetics, transcultural body representations, and 20th century European avant-garde movements. His work critically engages with narratives of belonging, migration, exile, and radical diversity within Germanophone literature from Germany and Austria (19th-21st century). A significant aspect of his scholarship involves the application of Indigenous Storywork to decolonize European and Migration Studies, reflecting his commitment to acknowledging his position as an uninvited visitor on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

His recent publications demonstrate a clear trend toward decolonial and postmigrant frameworks, with numerous 2023 articles exploring radical diversity, Indigenous Storywork, and postmigration aesthetics. These works span migration studies, cultural studies, and literary theory, with specific attention to transcultural narratives, body politics, and the deconstruction of territorial belonging. His scholarship consistently bridges historical avant-garde movements with contemporary postmigration concerns.

• SSHRC Insight Development Grant (Principal Investigator)
• SSHRC Connection Grant
• SSHRC Partnership Development Grant
• UBC Hampton Research Fund
• UBC HSS Grant (2004)
• UBC SoTL Seed Grant
• Hampton Catalyst Grant 2018-19
• DAAD Lecturer position

Hallensleben has supervised numerous graduate students including PhD candidates Sabine Zimmermann (2023), Karin Lornsen (2008), and MA theses by Sonja Bichsel (2006) and Shuo Liu (2013). He founded the UBC Narratives Group at the Centre for Migration Studies and served as UBC Resident Director for the Canadian Year in Freiburg, Germany (2009/10). His current research projects include 'Decolonizing and Indigenizing European and Migration Studies through Indigenous Storywork' and 'Migration as Core Narrative of Plural Societies: Towards an Aesthetics of Postmigrant Literature.'

As founder and co-organizer of the UBC Narratives Group at the Centre for Migration Studies, Hallensleben has created an interdisciplinary space for exploring migration narratives. His research group has fostered collaborations across departments and with Indigenous scholars, particularly through projects applying Indigenous Storywork to European Studies. He has also organized significant academic events, including the 2008 interdisciplinary workshop 'Body Spaces – Corporeal Topographies in Literature, Theatre, Dance, and the Visual Arts' at the UBC Liu Institute.