معرفی
Ross Shields serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of German Studies at Macalester College, teaching German language courses and specialized seminars including "Modernism and the Interarts," "The Modernist Fringe," "Early Modern Science," "German Theories of Vegetable Genius," and "Critical Ecologies" (cross-listed with Environmental Studies). His office is located in Humanities Building, Room 208.
Education:
- Ph.D. from Columbia University
Research Profile: Shields specializes in late eighteenth and early twentieth-century interdisciplinary studies, examining literature, music, and visual arts through contemporaneous philosophical and scientific frameworks. His work bridges literary analysis with history of science, environmental humanities, and critical theory, emphasizing conceptual connections across artistic and scientific domains.
Publication Trends: His recent scholarship reveals consistent focus on interdisciplinary nexus points—from automotive disasters in cultural narratives to morphological foundations of music theory and Goethean epistemology. Publications demonstrate methodological fusion of close reading with conceptual history, particularly exploring how scientific paradigms shape artistic expression in German modernism and Romanticism.
Professional Background:
- Joined Macalester College in 2023 after Berlin-based residencies at Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School, Leibniz-Center for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL), and ICI Berlin Institute
- Served as guest faculty and Science and Religion Project leader at Bard College Berlin (2021-2022)
- Currently completing book manuscript "All Is Leaf: From Kant’s Poetics to Goethe’s Science"
