Yasemin Yildiz

Yasemin Yildiz is an Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), affiliated with the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies and the Center for European and Russian Studies. Her work bridges German Studies, migration studies, and multilingualism. Previously, she held a tenured position at the University of Illinois and served as a Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard University.

Education:

• Ph.D. in German Studies, Cornell University
• M.A. in German Literature, Universität Hamburg
• Fulbright Scholarship for Graduate Work in Comparative Literature at CUNY

Research Interests: Prof. Yildiz explores multilingualism, migration narratives, memory studies, gender studies, Turkish-German and German-Jewish literatures, and Holocaust studies. Her book Beyond the Mother Tongue redefined postmonolingual theory and won the MLA Scaglione Prize. Current projects include Memory Citizenship, co-authored with Michael Rothberg, analyzing migrant archives of Holocaust remembrance in Germany.

Publications Trends: Her work emphasizes transnational frameworks, focusing on how migration reshapes cultural memory and literary practices. Recent essays address racialization in Berlin literature, migrant feminism, and translation as a tool for bridging linguistic/cultural divides.

Awards:

• DAAD Prize for Distinguished Scholarship
• ACLS Collaborative Research Fellowship
• Modern Language Association Scaglione Prize

Grants & Collaborations: Funded by ACLS for Memory Citizenship, she collaborates extensively with Bettina Brandt (co-editing Tales That Touch) and Michael Rothberg. Her work intersects academic and activist spheres through memory projects and migrant archives.

Labs/Teams: Leads research initiatives on transnational memory and migrant literatures, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations between literature, history, and cultural studies.