Pötzsch, Holger

Holger Pötzsch was born in Munich, Germany. He lives in Tromsø, Norway.

Pötzsch (PhD) is a researcher at the Department of Culture and Literature at Tromsø University (UiT) where he is associated with the Border Culture/Border Poetics and War and Peace Dynamics research groups. Pötzsch holds an MA in peace and conflict studies from Tromsø university (2003-2005) and a PhD in Media- and Documentation studies from the same university.

Pötzsch’s field of research includes audio-visual representations of war (in particular the war film), film and cultural memory, and the discursive construction of borders and boundaries through popular culture. In his dissertation he focused on the productive and disruptive potentials of shared locations and border-crossing characters in war films, and applied a combination of cognitive film theory with a post-foundational discourse theoretical approach to reception (2007-2011).

Pötzsch has been involved as a researcher in the Border Aesthetics project funded by the Norwegian Research Council (2012) and has coordinated the development of a BA programme in Media- and Documentation Studies at UiT. He is currently working as a researcher within the FP7 project EUBORDERSCAPES (2013-15).

Pötzsch has published in academic journals such as Media, War & Conflict, Memory Studies, Nordicom Review, and Norsk Medietidsskrift, and has contributed to anthologies with publishers such as Routledge, Wallflower Press, University Press of Kentucky, and Francke Verlag.

Languages: German, English, Norwegian (fluent), Russian (basic), French (rudimentary)

Appointments:

Member of executive board Norwegian Peace Film Award (2011 - )

Representative for temporary employees at the executive board Dept. of Culture and Literature, UiT (2009-)

Member of the executive board Centre for Peace Studies, UiT (2007-09)

Member of the research committee Centre for Peace Studies, UiT (2008-09)

Student representative at the executive board Centre for Peace Studies, UiT (2004-05)

Research interests

War and Conflict, Borders and Processes of Bordering, Audio-Visual Media, Film and Film Theory, Computer Games, New Media, Popular Culture, Social & Cultural Memory, Discourse Theory, Post-Foundational Theory, Liminality, Security and Securitization

Courses developed

HIF-3201: Image/Culture/War (10 credits). Online teaching resources available here.

DOK-6301: Informasjonskompetanse i en digital tid (10 credits). Online teaching resources available here.

FP7 Research Project EUBORDERSCAPES (2012-2016)

Research project 'Border Aesthetics' (Norwegian Research Council KULVER) (2010-2012)

Research Groups & Networks

Research group 'Border Culture/Border Poetics' (UiT)

Research group 'War and Peace Dynamics' (UiT)

'War and Media Network' (WAM)

Research group DOMINO 'Dokumentasjons- og Medievitenskap i Nord'

PhD-schools

PhD school 'Citizenship, Encounters, and Place Enactment in the North' (CEPIN) (2009-12)

PhD school 'Tekst - Bilde - Lyd - Rom' (TBLR) (2009-2011)

Works published:

Under development:

- "Mapping the Colonial Present: Focalisation in 'Shooting Dogs' and 'Hotel Rwanda'", article, targetted journal Memory Studies, 1. draft due August 31, 2014.

- "Fantasy Women and Real Power: On Visual and Narrative Discourse in 'Game of Thrones'", invited contribution to edited volume Women of Ice and Fire: Gender, 'Game of Thrones', and Multiple Media Engagements (eds. Anne Gjelsvik & Rikke Schubart) 1. draft due spring 2014.

- "Seeing and Thinking Borders", article, targeted journal Environment & Planning D, 1. draft due September 15, 2013.

- Divided Loyalties: Creating Heroes and Villains in the Contemporary War Film, monograph contracted by McFarland, 1. draft due December 31, 2013.

Under review:

- "The Emergence of iWar: Changing Practices and Perceptions of Military Engagement in a Post-Broadcast Era", currently under review in the journal New Media & Society

- "Framing Player Engagement: The Rhetoric of First-Person Computer Games", article, currently under review in the journal Games & Culture.

- “In/Visibilities and Borderscapes”, chapter for the Border Aesthetics-project’s final publication (co-authored with Chiara Brambilla, Univ. of Bergamo). 2. draft currently under review.

- “The Ubiquitous Absence of the Enemy in Contemporary Israeli War Films”, invited contribution to edited volume The Philosophy of War Films (ed. David LaRocca), Univ Press of Kentucky. 2. draft currently under review.

Forthcoming:

"Ubiquitously Absent Enemies: Character Engagement in the Contemporary War Film", Nordicom Review (forthcoming 2013).

2013:

“Beyond Mimesis: War, Memory, and History in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Flags of our Fathers’, in: Anne Gjelsvik and Rikke Schubart (eds.): Eastwood’s Iwo Jima: A Critical Engagement With ‘Flags of our Fathers’ and ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’, London: Wallflower Press, 22 pages.

2012:

"Media, Culture, and Society", special issue of journal Nordlit (Vol. 30), co-editor with Hilde Brox and Roswitha Skare.

“Rearticulating the Experience of War in ‘Anonyma: Eine Frau in Berlin”, Nordlit Vol. 30, 15-33.

“Film som uløst gåte: en samtale med Knut Erik Jensen”, interview, in: Ingeborg Breines, Viggo Rossvær and Audun Øfsti (eds.): Virkeligheten sett gjennom kunstnerøyne. Stamsund: Orkana Akademisk, 144-161.

“Renegotiating Difficult Pasts: Two Documentary Dramas on Bloody Sunday, Derry 1972”, Memory Studies, 5(2), 206-222.

“Framing Narratives: Opening Sequences in Contemporary American and British War Films”, Media, War, and Conflict Vol. 5(2), 155-173.

"Imag(in)ing Painful Pasts: Mimetic and Poetic Style in War Films", in: Asbjørn Grønstad and Henrik Gustafsson (eds.) Ethics and Images of Pain, London: Routledge, 251-278.

“Aspects of Liminality in Knut Erik Jensen’s ‘Stella Polaris’”, Folklore Vol. 52 (special issue on 'Writing Cultures and Traditions at Borders'), 118-123.

"War's New Clothes? Diffusing Norway's Military Engagement in Afghanistan", in: Ned Rossiter and Anna Reading: Digital Media Research #1: Data, Memory, Territory . Sydney: School of Humanities and Communication Arts, University of Western Sydney, 21-24. (conference proceedings)

Between Constitutive Absence and Subversive Presence: Self and Other in the Contemporary War Film, Dissertation for the Degree of Philosophiae Doctor, 188 pages.

2011:

“Krigens nye klær: Perspektiver på nye medier, medievitenskap og politikk", Norsk Medietidsskrift,2/2011, 164-174.

“Borders, Barriers, and Grievable Lives: The Discursive Production of Self and Other in Film and Other Audio-Visual Media”, Nordicom Review 32(2), 75-94.

“Liminale Räume in Dragojevics ‘Lepa Sela, Lepo Gore’ und Tanovics ‘Nicija Zemlja’”, in: Bobinac, Luthar, Müller-Funk, Stern, Lauggas, Finzi (eds.): Kulturanalyse im zentraleuropäischen Kontext. Tübingen: Francke Verlag, 89-104.

2010:

“Challenging the Border as Barrier: Liminality in Terrence Malick’s ‘The Thin Red Line’”, Journal for Borderlands Studies, 25(1), 67-80.

“Articulating Threats/Threatening Articulations: The Discursive Impact of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) on Local Systems of Meaning” in: Trine Fossland and Kjersti Fjørtoft (eds.) Approaching Citizenship, Encounters, and Place Enactment. CEPIN Working Papers II, Univ. i Tromsø.

2009:

“’Black Hawk Down’: Film zwischen Reflektion und Konstruktion gesellschaftlicher Wirklichkeit”, International Review of Education 55, 269-284.

Newspaper essays:

- "Mind the Gap", essay, Chto Delat Newspaper, February 2013, 5.

- "Ny sesong med Filmgrenser", interview by Sigrun Høgetveit Berg on uit.no (August 28, 2012).

- "Eindimensjonale Krigsfilmar", interview by Sigrun Høgetveit Berg on Forskning.no (April 20, 2012).

- “Skytespill og Samfunn”, Newspaper essay in Nordlys (October 20, 2011), p. 3.

- “Påviste effekter”, letter to the editor in Klassekampen (September 14, 2011), p. 22.

- “Dataspill og vold”, Newspaper essay in Klassekampen (August 15, 2011), p. 16.

- "Fra hjernevask til forskerkrig", Newspaper essay in Nordlys (March 22, 2010), p. 59.

- “Kunstige konflikter”, Newspaper essay in Klassekampen (March 8, 2010), p. 16.

- “Hjernevask blir mageplask”, Newspaper essay in Nordlys (March 6, 2010), p. 62.

- “Film, krig og liminalitet: Grenseforskning i et dokvit-perspektiv”, Essay in Bibliotekaren No. 2/2009, 26-27.

Conference presentations & guest lectures:

2013:

"The Emergence of iWar: Changing Perceptions of Military Engagement in a Post-Broadcast Era", CMCR Research Seminar, London South Bank University, April 15, 2013.

"Character Engagement in the Contemporary War Film", Media, War & Conflict 5th Anniversary Conference, University of London, April 11-12, 2013.

"Rearticulating the Experience of War in Anonyma: 'Eine Frau in Berlin'", Memory of Conflicts/Conflicts of Memory conference, University of London, February 12-13, 2013.

2012:

"War's New Clothes? Diffusing Norway's Military Engagament in Afghanistan"; Data, Memory, Territory conference, University of Western Sydney, Nov. 26-28, 2012

"Memory-Making Rheotric in the War Film: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations"; Data, Memory, Territory conference, University of Western Sydney, Nov. 26-28, 2012 

"InVisible/InVisual Subjects: Notes Towards the Politics and Aesthetics of (Medial) Borderscapes"; paper presented at Border Aesthetics final conference, UiT, Sept. 5-7, 2012 (with Chiara Brambilla, Univ. of Bergamo) 

"Disorienting Liminality in Anonyma: 'Eine Frau in Berlin'; paper presented at the Disorientations seminar at the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam, June 14, 2012

"The War Film Genre, and the Differences and Similarities between American and European War Movies" Test Lecture for Degree of Philosophiae Doctor at Univ. of Tromsø (UiT), April 19, 2012

2011:

“Liminality in Knut Erik Jensen’s Feature Films”, panel presentation at int. symposium Beyond Boundaries: Exploring the Concepts of Liminality and Alterity, (November 9-11, 2011) at UiT.

“Between Constitutive Absence and Subversive Presence: Self and Other in the War and Action Film”, ‘Mock-viva’ (test defence of dissertation) arranged by CEPIN-research school, UiT (June 7, 2011). Opponent Prof. Anna Reading, Centre for Media and Cultural Research London South Bank Univ. and Univ. of Western Sydney.

2010:

“Negotiating Difficult Pasts: Two Documentary Dramas on Bloody Sunday, Derry 1972”, The Island and the Arts (7th Biennial International Conference of the Nordic Irish Studies Network), Univ. of Tromsø Dec. 2-3, 2010.

“Borders, Barriers, and Grievable Lives: The Discursive Construction of Self and Other in Audio-Visual Media”, Global Media and the War on Terror conference, Westminster Univ. London Sept. 13-14, 2010.

2009:

“Borders, Barriers, and Bare Life: The Discursive Construction of Self and Other in Hollywood War and Action Movies”, keynote at Framing War in the Cultural Field-workshop, Oslo Univ. College, Oslo Nov. 19, 2009.

“Liminale Räume in Dragojevics ‘Lepa Sela, Lepo Gore’ und Tanovics ‘Nicija Zemlja’”, Kulturanalyse im zentraleuropäischen Kontext, Int. conference, Univ. of Vienna, Sept. 24-26, 2009.

“Representing Painful Pasts: Trauma, Memory, and History in ‘Black Hawk Down’ and ‘Waltz with Bashir’”, Int.  Nomadikon workshop, Univ. of Bergen, June 19-21, 2009.

“Challenging the Border as Barrier: Liminality in Terrence Mallick’s ‘The Thin Red Line’”, Int. Nomadikon workshop, Univ. of Bergen, Feb. 21-23, 2009.

2008:

"Challenging the Border as a Barrier: Liminality in Terrence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line'". Cultural Production and Negotiation of Borders (annual conference of the Association for Borderlands Studies), Kirkenes (Norway), Sept. 10-13, 2008.

"Constructing Unknown-Knowns: Alien Aesthetics, Document Complex, and a Culture of War", Sensitive Peace Research conference, Univ. of Tampere (Finland), April 16-18.

"Articulating Threats/Threatening Articulations: The Discursive Impact of Persistent Organic Pollutants on Local Systems of Meaning", Arctic Discourses conference, Univ. of Tromsø, Feb. 21-23, 2008.

Public lectures:

"The Emergence of iWar: Changing Perceptions of War in a Post-Broadcast Era", guest lecture at Konflikt, Sikkerhet og Flerkulturell Forståelse (KOSIFF), UiT, Feb. 28, 2013.

"The Changing Ontology and Epistemology of War", guest lecture at Centre for Peace Studies, UiT, Feb. 1, 2013 (with Tor-Ivar Hanstad, UiT)

"Krigsfilmens retorikk: En sammenligning av 'Black Hawk Down' og 'Battle for Haditha'", guest lecture at Breivika VGS, Dec. 12, 2012

"Krigsspill, påvirkning og retorikk", guest lecture at Breivika VGS, Dec. 12, 2012.

"Liminal Characters in Knut Erik Jensen's Burnt by Frost", introduction at Filmborders 3 series, Nov. 19, 2012

"Bilder, Spill og Mediemakt: Tilnærminger til Påvirkning", lecture at Senioruniversitetet Tromsø, Feb. 1, 2012

“Janus Metz’ ’Armadillo’ – Documentary or Drama or Both?”, Filmkrig/Krigsfilm-seminar at Verdensteatret Cinematek and UN Association, Tromsø Nov. 23, 2011.

“Liminality in Knut Erik Jensen’s ‘Stella Polaris’”, presentation at Filmborders 2-series arranged by Border Aesthetics project (KULVER) and Verdensteatret Cinematek Tromsø, November 7, 2011.

“Genre Conventions and Liminality in Generic War and Action Films” with screening of Terrence Malick’s ‘The Thin Red Line’ (USA 1998), Filmkrig/Krigsfilm-seminar at Verdensteatret Cinematek & UN Association, Tromsø May 2011.

“Borders in Max Färberböck’s ‘Anonyma: Eine Frau in Berlin’ (Germany 2006), presentation at Filmborders-series arranged by Border Aesthetics project (KULVER)  and Verdensteatret Cinematek Tromsø Dec. 2010.

“Om sjangerkonvensjoner i krigsfilm”, seminar Breivika VGS, Tromsø Nov. 2010.

“The ‘Black Hawk Down’ document complex and the representation of war” with screening of Nick Broomfield’s The Battle for Haditha (UK 2006), Filmkrig/Krigsfilm-seminar at Verdensteatret Cinematek & UN Association, Tromsø October 2010.

“Fra et militært industrielt kompleks til MIME-net: Medier, underholdning og krig”, seminar Breivika VGS, Tromsø November 2008.

“Konstruksjon av venn og fiende i Ridley Scotts 'Black Hawk Down'”, Internasjonalt Seminar, Tromsø, Sept. 2007.