Stijd de Cauwer is a university lecturer at the Centre for the Arts in Society.

More information about Stijn De Cauwer

Research

In my research I have explored the connection between various forms of cultural expression (literature, film, photography, art, protest movements) and societal challenges (inequality, environmental challenges, biopolitics…). I have published scholarly work on cultural and theoretical responses to situations of crisis, on the use of images to understand dynamics of oppression and resistance (especially in the work of Georges Didi-Huberman), on the continuing relevance of theories of biopolitics (such as in Italian political theory) and on literary responses to changes in society in the early 20^th century (with a focus on the work of Robert Musil and Alfred Döblin).

Teaching

I teach courses on cultural studies, theory of film, visual studies and literary theory. At Leiden University, I specifically teach courses on contemporary theories of film, adaptations, culture and contemporary societal challenges, critical reflections on digital media and introductory courses in cultural theory and literary theory.

Curriculum Vitae

Stijn De Cauwer is Assistant Professor (UD) at the Film and Literary Studies Department of Leiden University (LUCAS, Leiden Centre for the Arts in Society).
He received his Ph.D. from Utrecht University (A Diagnosis of Modern Life: Robert Musil’s Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften as a Critical-Utopian Project, 2012). From 2012 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral researcher in cultural studies and literary studies at KU Leuven, with funding from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), and from 2018 to 2022, he was postdoctoral assistant in cultural studies at KU Leuven. In 2014, he was a visiting scholar at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Stijn’s main fields of expertise are visual studies, cultural studies, film and photography theory, cultural theory, critical theory and literary studies. He is the editor of Critical Theory at a Crossroads: Conversations on Resistance in Times of Crisis (Columbia UP, 2018), co-editor of Critical Image Operations: The Work of Georges Didi-Huberman (Routledge, 2019), co-editor of 50 Key Terms in Contemporary Cultural Theory (Pelckmans, 2017) and the author of A Diagnosis of Modern Life: Robert Musil’s Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften as a Critical-Utopian Project (P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2014). He has also co-edited special issues of the journals Angelaki, Configurations and Orbis Litterarum.

Activities