Georg Walter Wink

Associate Professor of Cultural Studies/Latin America. Cultural expressions and transfers, history of traveling ideas, (trans)national identity constructions, discourses and media representations in sociopolitical contexts have been at the center of my education, teaching and research on Latin America and the Global South. As Latin Americanist trained in an inherently interdisciplinary area studies approach, in my work I integrate cultural, literary and sociopolitical studies, as well as history, anthropology and communication. Specific subjects I have examined in depth are the Brazilian media landscape during the civil-military governments (master’s thesis) and a comparison of Brazil/Hispano-America regarding nation-building processes and discursive constructions of collective identity and places of remembrance (doctoral dissertation). During my postdoctoral research I looked at cultural and political south-south relations, especially the transfers of ideas between Latin America and South Asia and the creation of a southern epistemology through these intellectual relations. My Danish habilitation (doktordisputats) has been on the ideological roots of far-right extremism in Brazil in a global context. Since 2016, I am coordinating ILAS - Iberian and Latin American Studies Forum (previous Center for Latin American Studies). In 2024, I was appointed head of the Centre for the Study of Nationalism.

Current project:

"New Approaches and Synergies in Nordic Latin-American Studies: Applying Area Studies in a Multipolar World" (2022-2024, project leader). In this new network, funded by the Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS), researchers from five Nordic universities (Copenhagen, Oslo, Gothenburg, Stockholm Helsinki) collaborate with the common goal to enhance Nordic research on Latin America.

Recently concluded projects:

Research on the ideological roots of the so called "New Right" in Brazil as collaborator of the research group "Periféricas - Study Group on Social Theories, Modernities and Colonialities" at the Federal University of Bahia in Salvador da Bahia (funded by CNPq) and the Thematic Project "Crises of Democracy" at CEBRAP - Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning in São Paulo (funded by FAPESP). As first outcome, the monograph Brazil, Land of the Past explains in detail how the diverse political actors of the “New Right” – which include tendencies from the authoritarian Bolsonaro wing to economic liberals to the military to both Catholic and evangelical religious conservatives – refer to a common tradition of ideas.

Earlier projects:

Postdoctoral research on Migrant Literature as an Expression of Transculturality; Postdoctoral research "Sur/South – América Latina – India” on intellectual relations and the transferral of ideas between Latin America and South Asia South-South cultural relations (intellectual relations and transfers of ideas between Latin America and South Asia)

Joint research project in collaboration with the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (coordinator) "When Inclusion Masks Exclusion: Disempowerment and Depoliticization of Minority Issues through 'Harmonizing' Discourses" (external funding by the International Network Programme 2014 of the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science) published as special issue in Brasiliana – Journal for Brazilian Studies.

Research project on cultural relations Brazil-Africa "Pioneers of a South-South Dialogue: The Cultural Periodical Sul (1948–57) in Florianópolis, Brazil".

Joint research in collaboration with the University of Brasília (co-coordinator) about literature, genre and its relations to other arts like film and music, with a special focus on popular literature or so called “sub”-literature, concluded by organizing in Copenhagen the International Conference Contrabandos literários, resistências epistêmicas.

Current professional appointments and administrative positions

Since 2024 Head of the Centre for the Study of Nationalism

Since 2023 Coordinator of the Iberian and Latin American Studies Forum (ILAS).

2016–22 Director of the Centre for Latin American Studies (CLAS).

2015–20 Course director of the undergraduate and graduate programs in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies.

Previous employment

2010–13 Assistant Professor of Latin American Literatures and Cultures at the Institute for Latin American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin.

2010 Lecturer in Latin American Area Studies, Technical University Dresden.

2008–09 Visiting professor / DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Lecturer at Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

2006–08 Research and Teaching Assistant in Latin American Cultural Studies, Techni­cal University Dresden.

2004–05 PhD fellow at Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil (scholarship from Brazilian Federal Funding Agency CAPES).

2002–03 DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Assistant Lecturer at Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Education and degrees

2022 Dr. Phil. (Danish advanced doctoral degree) awarded by the Faculty of Huma­ni­ties, University of Copenhagen. Dissertation title: ‘Brazil, Land of the Past: The Ideological Roots of the New Right’.

2008 PhD in Spanish and Portuguese Language and Culture awarded by the Institute for Applied Cultural Studies at Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz; re­cognized equivalent as PhD in Cultural Studies by the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Title of PhD thesis: ‘The Idea of Brazil. A Cultural Analysis of the Brazilian Narrative as an Imagined Community in Contrast to Hispano-American Nations’.

2003 MA in Teaching German as a Foreign Language awarded by Humboldt University Berlin. Thesis title: ‘The Transculturality Paradigm in Language Teaching’.

2001 Magister Artium (previous combined German undergraduate and graduate degree) in Latin American Studies (major), Sociology and Economics (minors) awarded by the Institute for Latin American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin. Thesis title: ‘Alternative Press in Brazil (1964–82): Self-perception and Cultural Expression as Revealed by the Satirical Periodical Pasquim’.

University-level teaching experience

Have designed and taught over 20 graduate courses and 50 undergraduate courses within the following program areas: Spanish and Latin American Studies; Portuguese and Brazilian Studies; General Curriculum and Electives; International Business Communication – Intercultural Market Studies.

Co-developed syllabi for the new undergraduate and graduate programs in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, in 2013, and formulated a new, revised curriculum in 2016.

Research outputs and Outreach

Authored four monographs, co-edited four volumes and written over 50 scientific articles and book chapters, besides translation of two literary works and other non-academic publications.

Delivered over 100 papers at international conferences, of which around 20 were invited talks.

Regular presence on Latin American issues in international media (Radio France Internationale, Deutsche Welle, BBC News etc.) and Danish TV, newspapers and magazines (DR, Politiken, Ræson, Information, Globalnyt, Ekstra Bladet etc.).

Regular collaboration with Latin America-related civil society organizations in Denmark (NETLA, Casa Latinoamericana, Interkulturel Akademi, Nunca más, etc.).

Research management and externally funded projects

PI of the research network project ‘New Approaches and Synergies in Nordic Latin-American Studies: Applying Area Studies in a Multipolar World’ (2022–24), with participants from universities in Copenhagen, Oslo, Gothenburg, Stockholm and Helsinki, funded by the Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

PI of the network project ‘Affirmative Action Revisited’ (2015–16), funded by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science.

PI of survey ‘How to attract students from non-language programs to elective instrumental language modules’ (2021), funded by National Center for Foreign Languages.  

Research supervision

Supervision of eight postdoctoral fellows at the University of Copenhagen.

Main supervisor of four PhD theses on the following topics: ‘Migrants in Informalized Homework in Denmark’; ‘Being Muslim, Performing Mexicanness: Religious Identity Negotiations Among Muslim Immigrants in Mexico’; ‘Media Leaks and Corruption in Brazil’; ‘La institucionalización del discurso globalizado de emergencia y sus consecuencias en Mexico’.

Supervisor of 25 MA theses in the following areas: Spanish and Latin American Studies; Portuguese and Brazilian Studies; Advanced Migration Studies; International Business Communication – Intercultural Market Studies.

Supervisor/adviser for around 80 BA theses in Spanish and Latin American Studies, Portu­guese and Brazilian Studies, among other programs.

Co-supervisor of six PhD theses and participation in 15 doctoral dissertation committees.

Conference Organization

Organizer of the XII Conference NOLAN (Nordic Latin American Research Network) / II FIEALC FORUM (Federación Internacional de Estudios sobre América Latina y el Caribe), 240 participants, 21–23 May 2024 at the University of Copenhagen.

Co-organizer of the II International Conference of Brazilianists in Europe (ABRE), 490 participants, Sept 2019 at EHESS/Paris.

Organizer of the VII International Conference on Contemporary Brazilian Literature (GELBC), Dec 2018 at the University of Copenhagen.

Organizer of the III International Conference of the European Network of Brazilianists Working in Cultural Analysis (REBRAC), Oct 2018 at the University of Copenhagen.

Organizer of the International Workshop ‘Affirmative Action Revisited: Race-related Discourses and Policies in Contemporary Brazil’, Dec 2015 at the University of Copenhagen.  

Board appointments, services and networks (selection)

Scientific Advisory Board of the Ibero-American Institute (IAI) Berlin, since 2023.

Steering board of the Nordic Institute for Latin American Studies (NILAS), Stockholm University, since 2020.

Steering board of the Center for Advanced Migration Studies (AMIS) at the University of Copenhagen, since 2020.

Editorial and scientific board of several journals (among them Dialogos latinoamericanos since 2018; Iberoromania since 2016) and book series (Anthem, Peter Lang, several Brazilian publishers); section editor of the journal Estudos de Literatura Brasileira Contemporânea 2016–18; assistant editor of the journal Iberoromania 2011–13.

Co-founder and member of the Executive Committee of the Nordic Association of Brazilian Studies (NORBRAS), since 2018.

Co-founder and member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Brazilianists in Europe (ABRE), 2017–19.

Expert evaluator for staff recruitment for the University of Cologne, Oslo Metropolitan University, University of Bergen, Aarhus University, Högskolan Dalarna.

Peer reviewer of funding applications for the German Research Foundation (DFG), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), EUTOPIA European University Alliance, Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America (Mecila), Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF).

Visiting professorships

University of São Paulo, Federal University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro State University, University Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, Jadavpur University in Kolkata.

Office hours: Thursday 11-12