Sandra Engels
- About Me
-
Sandra Engels is a doctoral researcher and research assistant at the International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC) at Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. In her research project she investigates the dynamics of heritage-making processes from a networked understanding of heritage practices and discourses, focussing on how narratives on democracy are negotiated at and through heritage sites. Considering not only diverse forms and functions of heritage agendas, but emotional attachments and affective sensations of the heritage pluriverse, her work aims for a more nuanced understanding of heritage making practices and processes.
Prior to her doctoral studies, Sandra studied History and Special Journalism of History at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. She then completed her Masters in History of Society and International Relations at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and in Heritage and Memory Studies at the Universiteit van Amsterdam.
As research assistant at the GCSC, she is now responsible for coordinating the centre's public relations, Social Media strategy, marketing concepts, and large-scale events.
- Contact
-
International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture (GCSC)
Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen
Otto-Behaghel-Straße 12
D-35394 GiessenRoom 217
Phone: +49.641.99 30 025
- Publications
-
- "Whose Heritage—Whose Narrative? Disrupting Place-Based Narratives to (Re)Claim Heritage Sites in Political Agendas". On_Culture, no. 19 (October 2025). <https://doi.org/10.22029/oc.2025.1503>.
Book Reviews and Conference Reports- With Morteza Azimi, Erzhena Dugarova, Farouk El Maarouf, Anastasiia Marsheva. 2024. “Conference Report on ‘Disrupted Identities in the Light of Post-Everything’”. KULT_online, no. 70 (November).
- “Fall of Giants?: Why the Memory World Champion Must Reinvent Itself”. 2024. KULT_online, no. 69 (April).
- “Sweet Emotions: Why Feelings Matter at Heritage Sites”. 2023. KULT_online, no. 67 (May).
- "Whose Heritage—Whose Narrative? Disrupting Place-Based Narratives to (Re)Claim Heritage Sites in Political Agendas". On_Culture, no. 19 (October 2025). <https://doi.org/10.22029/oc.2025.1503>.
- Presentations and Conferences
-
- "Bewegtes Erbe. Zur Aushandlung von Demokratienarrativen in der deutschen Erinnerungspolitik", Giessen, June 10, 2026, Oberseminar Neuere und Neuste Geschichte, JLU.
- "Thinking Affect in Heritage Agendas: The Emotive Power of Narrating Histories of Democracy at Heritage Sites", A Polyphony of Emotions. Thinking Affect in Heritage, Memory and Material Culture, International Conference, Amsterdam, July 2–4, 2025, Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM), the Netherlands.
- "Beyond the Master-Narrative: Shifting Identities and a Post-Heritage Framework in Spaces of Memory", Disrupted Identities in the Light of Post-Everything, International Conference, Giessen, May 14–16, 2024, GCSC, co-organiser in Research Area 6.
- Kulturerbe im Transit. Herausforderungen der Begriffsbestimmungen und der normativen Umsetzung, International Summer School, Bibracte, September 4–9, 2023, Université Paris-Saclay/LMU München, France.
- Heritage, Identity and Inclusivity, Summer School on Cultural and Linguistic Diversity, Leeuwarden, July 4–7, 2023, University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
- Dissertation Project
-
Heritage in (E)Motion. Negotiating Narratives on Democracy at Heritage Sites (working title)
This projects investigates the dynamics of heritage-making processes from a networked understanding of heritage practices and discourses. It questions how heritage sites are instrumentalized for narratives on democracy, when, by whom, and why. The analysis takes into account the emotional attachments and affective sensations that delineate not only the forms and functions of heritage agendas by different political actors, but also the different positionalities they navigate in the broader social and political arena.
Supervision: Prof. Dr. Bettina Brockmeyer (JLU, Giessen)
Co-Supervision: Dr. Hester Dibbits (Reinwardt Academie, Amsterdam)
- Research Interests
-
- Heritage Studies
- Memory and Identity Politics
- Museum Studies
- Visual and Material Culture Studies
- Historical Consciousness (Geschichtsbewusstsein)
- Cultural Mediation (Kulturvermittlung)
- Projects
-
- Memberships
-
- International Graduate Center for the Study of Culture (GCSC)
- Research Group Cultural Heritage, Reinwardt Academy, Amsterdam University of the Arts
- European Students' Association for Cultural Heritage (ESACH)
- Europa Nostra, the European Voice of Civil Society committed to Cultural Heritage
- International Council of Museums (ICOM)
- Miscellaneous
-
Teaching
- Workshop: Short Forms for Distracted Minds? Social Media, the Attention Economy, and Science Communication. GCSC, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen. Summer Semester 2023. With Robin Schmieder.
Research Projects
- MA Thesis: "Heritage and Corona. Heritage Processes as Effective and Affective Emergency Response to a Global Crisis." Universiteit van Amsterdam. 2021.
- MA Thesis: "Visualizing the Claim for the Women's Right to Vote: Representing Femininity in the First Wave German Women's Movement 1900-1919." Thesis. Erasmus University Rotterdam. 2019.
- BA Thesis: "Wahre 48er Internationalisten? Der magyarische Freiheitskampf in der deutschsprachigen Presse." Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen. 2018.