Lauren Brooks

Bio

Dr. Brooks’ research focuses on Kafka’s absurdist treatment of authority across his corpus by analyzing his humor through the U.S. situation comedy Seinfeld, a topic she enjoys incorporating into her teaching. She also does extensive work in foreign language pedagogy, with a focus on project-based learning. In the last decade and before coming to NC State, she taught a range of German language curriculum from novice to advanced, including writing-intensive, conversation, and literature and cultural studies courses. Dr. Brooks also spent close to seven years living and working in the city of Bremen, Germany and goes back every chance she gets.

Research Publications

“Kafka’s Seinfeldian Humor” 

Presentations

“No Disrespect: Kafka and the Soup Nazis,” No Respect: Jewish Humor around the World, UNC, February 29-March 2 2020, Wilmington, NC.

“Barrierefrei: Teaching STEM and Accessibility in the German Foreign Language Course,” Poster Session: WiG Conference October 17-21, 2019, Sewanee, TN.

“Project-based Learning and Assessment in a Foreign Language Writing Course,” PSMLA, October 24-25, 2019, State College, PA.

“Adapting Story Content: Intermedia Projects across Platforms in the Language Classroom,” NECTFL, February 7-9, 2019, New York, NY.

“Project-Based Curriculum Design and Learning-Centered Feedback in the L2 Classroom,” ACTFL November 16-18, 2018, New Orleans, LA.

“Yiddish Roots, Prague, and New York Branches: Kafka’s Humor and the Undoing of Hierarchical Masculine Authority,” Poster Session: WiG Conference October 22-25, 2017, Banff, Canada.

“Cultivating Environmental Literacy in the German as a Foreign Language Classroom,” ACTFL November 21-23, 2014, San Antonio, TX.

“Kafkaesque and Seinfeldian: Approaching Gravity through Levity,” GSA September 18-21, 2014, Kansas City, MO.

“The Impact of Language in School on Identity among the Old Order Amish in Pennsylvania,” Co-Presenter with Ines Martin: NeMLA April 3-6, 2014, Harrisburg, PA.