Selina Bernarding

Selina Bernarding is a Research Fellow at the Seminar for General Rhetoric within the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Tübingen. She has been employed at the Seminar since March 2023, following her four-year fellowship (2019-2023) in the interdisciplinary DFG Research Training Group 1808 "Ambiguity: Production and Reception."

Selina completed her studies in Rhetoric and Political Science at the University of Tübingen, including an international semester at Portland, Oregon, USA. During her academic training, she gained research experience working under Prof. Dr. Joachim Knape and Prof. Dr. Olaf Kramer. After graduation, she supervised the intensive module "Rhetoric and Communication" through the Career Service and Seminar for General Rhetoric.

Her scholarly work centers on Political Rhetoric, Conversational Rhetoric, Diplomatic Rhetoric, Communication Methods of Cooperation Refusal, and the Strategic Use of Ambiguity. She has presented her research at university venues including the "Diplomatische Rhetorikstrategien" lecture (July 2021) and the "Metaphor and Ambiguity Analysis (MAmbA)" workshop (March 2021), demonstrating her expertise in metaphor analysis within diplomatic contexts.

Selina's publications reveal a consistent scholarly trajectory examining rhetoric in both contemporary political discourse and historical contexts. Her work spans contemporary political analysis of figures like Marine Le Pen to historical examinations of rhetorical traditions following major European conflicts. A notable pattern in her research involves investigating how ambiguity and metaphor function as strategic tools in political and diplomatic communication.

• Bernarding, Selina (2019): A New Marianne for France? - Right-Wing Nationalist Iconization of Marine Le Pen
• Bernarding, Selina; J. Rink (2015): The 17th Century: A New Beginning Following the Thirty Years' War

Her teaching portfolio includes courses such as "Theory and Practice of Rhetoric in Diplomacy" (2022), "Rhetoric in Conversation" (2019), and tutor training seminars. Currently, she is advancing her academic career through her dissertation project focused on the intersection of diplomacy and rhetoric, building upon her established research interests in rhetorical strategies within diplomatic contexts.