My current research project Consuming Missions explores the role of German Jesuits in the making of the Pacific Rim and the ways in which their experiences in colonial contexts contributed to shaping religious and political identities ‘back home’ in the German Empire. I am especially interested in tracing the importance of missionary activities and accounts as a transmission belt for colonial fantasies. In so doing, I link the early modern period when the decentralized German Empire was excluded from actual colonial power-holding to that of modern colonialism when a newly unified German nation took possession of various Pacific islands. I also examine the complex negotiations among multiple and competing European players that accompanied the early stages of global colonialism before the imposition of more restrictive national structures in the nineteenth century.

My earlier work, which culminated in the monograph State of Virginity: Gender, Religion and Politics in an Early Modern Catholic State, centered on the intersection between gender, sexuality, religious reform, and state formation in early modern Europe. The study won the “Award for Best Book Published in 2004” from the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women, and was honored as a finalist for the German book prize “Das Historische Buch 2004” (The Historical Book 2004).

I have been teaching a range of courses on religion, gender, sexuality, and politics in early modern Europe and, more recently, also in the early modern world. All of these courses, regardless of size, require active participation of students and include hands-on work with primary sources. I also have a sustained interested in Critical Theory, and many of my courses explore the intersections and tensions between history and theory.