Verena Wurth, M.A.
Doctoral Researcher, Lecturer of American Literature and Culture, Managing Editor at gender forum, and Collegiate of the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne
Englisches Seminar I
Universität zu Köln
Albertus Magnus Platz 1, 50923 Köln
Room 1.113
E-Mail: verena.wurth[at]uni-koeln.de
Office Hours: Thursday, 12-1 pm, registration via Terminplaner
Research Interests
- Ecocriticism and Critical Environmental Education
- Television and Film Studies
- Gender Studies and Feminist Criticism
- African American Studies
- Modernist Fiction
PhD Project
Crimecene: Ecocrime in New Golden Age TV
In this study, I investigate American crime TV series of the Anthropocene, ecocritically, with regards to their conscious and unconscious depictions of ecocrime, which I define as criminalized and uncriminalized, material and communicative acts that cause multiscalar and multitemporal harm to ecosystems, such as the pollution of waste and hazardous materials, or the extraction and burning of climate-change enhancing fossil fuels. In conceptualizing the interdependences of seriality and Anthropocene ecology, I discuss ecological metaphors and comparisons in popular seriality discourse and econarratological conceptions in relation to popular seriality, with special attention to the non-linear temporalities in the narratives of New Golden Age Crime TV from 2000 to present. In bringing together Anthropocene Studies, Green Criminology, and Environmental Justice scholarship, I conceptualize the Anthropocene as a Crimecene. Framing the analytical perspective of an eco-detective, this project investigates serial motifs and character tropes allegorically to sharpen the understanding of the ambiguities and simultaneities of victimhood and perpetratorship in the Crimecene. The investigation of the narrative and its non-fictional interrelations looks at Waste Pollution, Water Toxicity, and Petroleum Extraction in TV series such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, True Detective, Too Old to Die Young, and Outer Range. As these series do not necessarily deal with environmental issues on their narrative surface, I argue that the depicted crimes in the TV series entail various ecocrimes, ranging from unpresented, unnarrated instances of ecosystem harm to narrativized, audio-visualized, forms of long-term and large-scale environmental destruction. In doing so, I trace a development from unconscious to increasingly overt embeddings of environmental destruction within the stories of the crime series in the course of the 21st century, framing the genre of ecocrime TV.
Supervisors: JProf. Dr. Judith Rauscher, Prof. Dr. Roman Bartosch, Prof. Dr. Julia Leyda
Submitted: December 18, 2025
Teaching
| Summer Semester 2026 | “Realism and Naturalism", Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Summer Semester 2026 | “Los Angeles Literature and Culture”, Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Winter Semester 2025/26 | “American Cultural Studies”, Mid-level seminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Winter Semester 2025/26 | “Tutorial North American Literature and Culture”, for Master students, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Summer Semester 2025 | “Television Culture in the Anthropocene”, Mid-level seminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Summer Semester 2025 | “African-American Women's Writing”, Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Winter Semester 2024/25 | "Toni Morrison", Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne* ** |
| Winter Semester 2024/25 | "American Crime Cultures", Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne** |
| Summer Semester 2024 | "Food and Body Politics", Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne* ** |
| Summer Semester 2024 | "American Cultural Studies", Mid-level seminar,Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Winter Semester 2023/24 | "Black Theater USA", Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne** |
| Winter Semester 2023/24 | "Modernist Literature", Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Winter Semester 2022/23 | "New Golden Age TV: Crimes and Other Disasters", Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Summer Semester 2021 | “Black Feminist Texts”, Proseminar, Department of English I, University of Cologne** |
| Winter Semester 2020/21 | “American Popular Culture and the Environment”, Tutorial for North American Literature and Culture, North American Studies M.A. program, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Summer Semester 2020 | “Celluloid America”, Tutorial for North American Literature and Culture, North American Studies M.A. program, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Winter Semester 2019/20 | “American Modernism: 'Around' Nathanael West and F. Scott Fitzgerald”, Tutorial for North American Literature and Culture, North American Studies M.A. program, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Summer Term 2019 | German as a Foreign Language, Department for Modern Languages and Cultures der University of Rochester, NY, USA |
| Winter Term 2018 | German as a Foreign Language, Department for Modern Languages and Cultures der University of Rochester, NY, USA |
| Summer Semester 2018 | “America. Fact and Fiction”, Tutorial for North American Literature and Culture, North American Studies M.A. program, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Winter Semester 2017/18 | “American Ecologies”, Tutorial for North American Literature and Culture, North American Studies M.A. program, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Summer Semester 2017 | “’Real Estate’ in American Literature, Film and Music”, Tutorial for North American Literature and Culture, North American Studies M.A. program, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
| Winter Semester 2016/17 | “American Objects: An ‘Objective’ History of American Literature”, Tutorial for North American Literature and Culture, North American Studies M.A. program, Department of English I, University of Cologne |
* Part of the list of classes of Post/Decoloniality:
** Part of the Gender Studies certificate program.
Publications
Wurth, Verena. “Pains, Planes, and Automobiles: Extractivist Nostalgia in Mad Men.” To the Last Drop: Affective Economies of Extraction and Sentimentality, edited by Axelle Germanaz et al., transcript, 2023, pp. 111–36.
Rust, Stephen, and Verena Wurth. “Blue Media Ecologies Swimming Through the Mediascape with Sir David Attenborough.” The Routledge Handbook of Ecomedia Studies, edited by Antonio Lopez et al., Routledge, 2023, pp. 51–58. Routledge Environment and Sustainability Handbooks.
Academic Career
| Since 2024/07 | Managing Editor at gender forum |
| Since 2023/09 | Doctoral Researcher and Lecturer of American Literature and Culture at the Chair for American Literature and Culture, University of Cologne, and Collegiate at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne |
| 2021/04-2023/08 | PhD Student and Scholarship Holder at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne, serving as elected graduate student representative in the academic year of 2021/22 |
| 2020/11-2021/03 | Research Assistant and Lecturer at the Chair for American Literature and Culture, University of Cologne |
| 2019/11-2020/11 | Student Assistant at the a.r.t.e.s. Research Lab, Centre for Early Career Researchers, University of Cologne |
| 2019/09-2020/11 | Student Assistant and Tutor at the Chair for American Literature and Culture, University of Cologne |
| 2018/08-2019/05 | Language Instructor for German at the University of Rochester, NY, USA |
| 2016/09-2018/07 | Student Assistant and Tutor at the Chair for American Literature and Culture, University of Cologne |
| 2016/03-2018/02 | Student Assistant at the Vice-rectorate for International Affairs, University of Cologne |
| 2015/10-2016/08 | Student Assistant at the Chair for Early Modern History, Historical Institute, University of Cologne |
| 2014/10-2015/05 | Foreign Language Assistant for German at Colfe's School, London (PAD) |
Education
| 2018-2020 | Graduate Studies in English and History, Teacher Training Program, University of Cologne, Degree: M.Ed. (1,2) |
| 2018-2019 | Graduate Studies in Comparative Literature, University of Rochester, Degree: M.A. (1,0) |
| 2016-2018 | Graduate Studies in English and History, University of Cologne |
| 2011-2016 | Undergraduate Studies in English and History, Teacher Training Program, University Passau and University of Cologne, Degree: B.A. (1,4) |
| 2011 | Abitur (university entrance diploma, 1,9) Gymnasium zum Altenforst, Troisdorf |
| 2006-2007 | Study abroad, Earl Marriott Secondary School, White Rock, Canada |
Memberships
| Since 2021 | Member of the Anti-Discrimination and Equal Opportunities Working Group at the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne |
| Since 2021 | Interdisciplinary a.r.t.e.s. reading group for the Environmental Humanities |
| Since 2020 | DGfA/GAAS: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien/ German Association for American Studies |
| Since 2020 | EASLCE: European Association for the Study of Literature, Culture, and Environment |
Scholarships and Grants
| 2022 | Grant from the "Funding Line Cooperation", Competence Area IV: Cultures and Societies in Transition, Global South Studies Center (GSSC), University of Cologne, to finance a visit and guest lecture with Prof. Dr. Julia Leyda, NTNU Trondheim, at the University of Cologne (December 2022) |
| 2022 | Grant from the "Funding Line Workshops", Competence Area IV: Cultures and Societies in Transition, Global South Studies Center (GSSC), University of Cologne, to finance the workshop "Eco-temporalities and Geo-politics", October 13-14, 2022 |
| 2021 | Grant from the “Finanzfonds zur Umsetzung des gesetzlichen Gleichstellungsauftrages der Universität zu Köln”, to finance a guest lecture by Dr. Natasha A. Kelly entitled “Schwarzer Feminismus, Rassismus und Intersektionalität“ (7/7/2021) |
| 2019 | Research Grant, Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, for conducting research at the New York Public Library Archives |
| 2018 | Fulbright Travel Grant, German-American Fulbright Commission, for studying at the University of Rochester |
| 2018 | PROMOS Stipend of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), financed by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), for studying at the University of Rochester |
Organizational Activities
| 2025/07 | Guest lecture: “Anthropogenic Framing and Orange is the New Black” by Prof. Diane Negra |
| 2025/06 | Guest lecture: "Black Feminist Poetics of Place in Natasha Trethewey’s Monument and Claudia Rankine’s Just Us: An American Conversation" by Dr. Nathalie Aghoro |
| 2024/12 | Guest lecture: "Southern Wild and Northern City: An Ecocritical Reading of Toni Morrison's Jazz" by Prof. Dr. Catrin Gersdorf |
| 2024/11 | Guest lecture "Between Crime and Liberation: Alcohol Prohibition and its Unintended Consequences“ by Ted Richthofen |
| 2024/06 | Guest lecture: "Fat Activism and Fat Life Writing" by Judith Schreier, as part of the Diversity Week 2024 |
| 2023/12 | Guest lecture: "Contexts for Literary Analysis: Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun" by Prof. Jeffrey Tucker |
| 2023/03 | Workshop “Energy and Popular Culture” with JProf. Dr. Judith Rauscher (University of Cologne) and Dr. Victoria Herche (University of Cologne), as part of the workshop series "Local Practices - Transatlantic Conversations" between the University of Cologne and the University of Oregon |
| 2022/10 | Workshop "Eco-temporalities and Geo-politics" October 13-14, 2022, with the Environmental Humanities Reading Group, a.r.t.e.s., University of Cologne |
| 2021/12 | "Ecomedia Writing Workshop" with Dr. Stephen Rust (University of Oregon), as part of the workshop series "Local Practices - Transatlantic Conversations" between the University of Cologne and the University of Oregon |
| 2021/07 | Guest lecture „Schwarzer Feminismus, Rassismus und Intersektionalität“ by Dr. Natasha A. Kelly |
Talks and Events
| 2026/03 | Lecture and Reading: Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass (2013) at Langer Donnerstag, Museum Ludwig, part of the exhibition De/Collecting Memories from Turtle Island, February 7 – November 8, 2026, in cooperation with Stadtbibliothek Köln. |
| 2025/06 | "Ecocrime Dramas: Air Pollution in The Sopranos and Breaking Bad,” ASLE 2025 Biennial Conference Collective Atmospheres: Air, Intimacy, and Inequality, University of Maryland, College Park. |
| 2025/06 | “The Anthropocene as a Crimecene", Radical Thought in the Anthropocene. Theories and Concepts of Critical Theory, University of Graz. |
| 2025/04 | „Watering Down Monstrosity: Radiation Toxicity, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice in Stranger Things (2016–2025)” Workshop: Sustainability and Social Justice in Speculative Fiction, part of the workshop series “Local Practices - Transatlantic Conversations”, University of Cologne. |
| 2025/03 | Women's History Month: Screening und Diskussion zu "Pleasantville", AmerikaHaus NRW, UFA-Palast Düsseldorf |
| 2024/11 | "TV Crime-cenes: The Sopranos as Petro-crime Fiction", Research Day, TU Dortmund |
| 2024/08 | "Eco-crime and Noisy Springs: The Sopranos as Petro-crime-fiction", European Society for the Study of English (ESSE) Conference, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. |
| 2024/05 | "Extractive Zones" (Panel Chair) with Katie Ritson and Peri Sipahi, DFG-Network Energy and Literature Workshop: Extractive Zones, University of Cologne. |
| 2024/04 | “Crime-cene: Ecocrime in New Golden Age Television” (Poster), Zweites Forum Nachhaltigkeit, University of Cologne. |
| 2024/03 | “Between a Spill and a Leakage - Narrative Complexity and Ecocriminality in Breaking Bad (2008-2013)”, Leakages, TU Dresden. |
| 2023/06 | "Time, Territory, and Eco-TV: Extracting the Pasture in Outer Range”, America and Ownership: Territory, Slavery, Jubilee, DGfA 69th Annual Meeting, University of Rostock. |
| 2022/10 | “True Detectives: Connecting the dots of the Anthropocene”, Narrative, Environment, Social Justice. 49th Annual Conference of the Austrian Association of American Studies, Paris Lodron University Salzburg. |
| 2021/10 | "Missing Persons, Vanishing Places: Crime, Environmental Catastrophe, and Seriality in True Detective", (Narrating) Environmental Displacements: Virtual Workshop, University of Augsburg. |
| 2021/09 | “Pains, Planes, and Automobiles: Disguising Extractivism through Nostalgic Aesthetics in Mad Men (2007-2015)”, Sentimental Extraction: Virtual Workshop on Fossil Fuel Extraction, Gender, and Sentimentality, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Chair of American Studies: Culture and Literature. |
| 2021/03 | “Serial Ecologies of New Golden Age Television: Conceptualizing Seriality, Ecology, and Eco-Pedagogy”, Workshop on Critical Environmental Education and American Popular Culture, University of Cologne, English Seminar I. |
| 2019/06 | “Écriture Meditation: Meditation and Mindfulness in the Works of Virginia Woolf”, The 29th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, Mount St. Joseph University, Cincinnati, Ohio. |
| 2019/03 | “Environmental Abjection: Kristeva and Natural Disasters“, Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference Representations of Disaster, University of Pittsburgh, Department of French and Italian. |
Guest Lecture by Prof. Diane Negra, July 15, 2025, 6 p.m.
Anthropogenic Framing and Orange Is The New Black
Guest Lecture by Dr. Nathalie Aghoro, June 30, 2025, 6 p.m.
Black Feminist Poetics of Place in Natasha Trethewey’s Monument and Claudia Rankine’s Just Us: An American Conversation
Symposium: October 13 & 14, 2022
Eco-temporalities and Geo-politics
This workshop seeks to develop different modes of thinking about and engaging critically with the progressivist and productionist temporalities of our current eco-social crisis. It is co-organized by Verena Wurth.
Guest Lecture: Dec. 21, 2022, 2 p.m.
Recapping Transmedia Storyworlds in Fan Podcasts
For more information on the guest lecture "Recapping Transmedia Storyworlds in Fan Podcasts" by Anne Korfmacher, please click here.
Guest Lecture: Oct. 25, 2022, 2 p.m.
Theorizing Black Anthroposcreens
For more information on the guest lecture "Theorizing Black Anthroposcreens: Queen Sugar and Black Panther" by Prof. Julia Leyda, please click here.