HOLLY YANACEK PHD

I am an Associate Professor of German at James Madison University. Before coming to JMU, I taught at the University of Pittsburgh, where I completed my Ph.D. in German studies and a doctoral-level certificate in cultural studies. At JMU I teach German literature, history, and translation courses, as well as comparative literature courses for JMU’s General Education program.

 

My scholarly training and research and teaching interests span German literary and cultural history from the Enlightenment to the present. Currently, my research focuses on emotion, narration, care ethics, gender, animal studies, and human / non-human relationships in 19th- to 21st-century German literature and culture. My publications include the monograph Rethinking Feeling: On the Renegotiation of Emotions in German Novels at the Fin de Siècle (Bloomsbury, 2026) and the co-edited volumes Animals, Machines, and AI: On Human and Non-Human Emotions in Modern German Cultural History (DeGruyter, 2021) and Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary (Oxford UP, 2018). 

 

Grants from Fulbright, the German Historical Institute (GHI), and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) supported my previous research abroad. I spent two year-long research/study trips in Germany at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB) and Freie Universität Berlin. My research has also been generously supported by internal funding from the JMU College of Arts & Letters.

 

I have contributed to the profession through service to the German Studies Association (GSA), Modern Language Association (MLA), and academic journals. These roles include GSA Program Committee Member (2025-present), GSA Emotion Studies Network Coordinator (2018-2022), and Editorial Board Member for The German Quarterly (2025-present). Over the past few years, I have received internal and external grants and awards for my contributions to research, teaching, and service.

​