Sophie Schmalenberger

Sophie is a PhD Candidate at Aarhus University’s Department of Global Studies. Her research focuses on far-right populism in a memory cultural context, focusing on discursive, performative and affective dimensions of right-wing populist actors’ memory work. In particular, she is interested in how the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) utilizes memory and commemorative symbols, practices and performances to articulate an alternative account of how the German nation relates to itself affectively.

Beyond the focus on memory in her PhD project, she is also interested more broadly in the aesthetic, performative, discursive and affective strategies of New Right parties and other actors such as Generation Identity / Identitäre Bewegung in Germany and Europe.

Sophie holds a B.A. in Media and Communication Studies (Freie Universität Berlin) and a M.A. in European Studies (Aarhus University).