Literature and Politics, Sociology of Literature/Field Theory, Institutional Autonomy of Literature, Literary Adaptations in Comics, Digital Reception of Literature, Gender Constructions, Literature and Visual Culture

"Searching for and finding references to literature in parliamentary debates" Lecture at: Digital Research? 1st Digital Humanities Research Day at the University of Oldenburg (2026)

Creating a Mentions-Lexicon: Finding References to Literary Authors in Dutch, German and British Parliamentary Debates. [Code]. DARE. doi.org/10.57782/DYEFBU Blank, L. & Specht, T. (2026)

Mentions Lexicon: References to Literary Authors in Dutch, German and British Parliamentary Debates from (1994–2018) [Dataset]. DARE. doi.org/10.57782/HI0XPX (2026)

Literature in the Dutch Parliament: Concepts of Literature among Political Elites in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Oldenburg: University of Oldenburg Press. (2026, in print)

‘Goethe, Shakespeare, Reve: How politicians speak about literature in parliament’ In: Goethe-Institut Amsterdam: Sprache magazine. (2025)

‘The Resonance of Literary-Related Court Cases in Dutch Parliamentary Debates. Key Moments and Strategic Referencing’. In *Law and Literature in Europe and Beyond*, edited by Klaus Stierstorfer, *Literatur und Recht* 15. 91–105. Berlin: J.B. Metzler. (2025)

Digital Research in Oldenburg: Potential – Tools – Methods – Workshop Organisation, University of Oldenburg, Germany (2025)

“Literature in Parliament: A Python-based search for literary references in the Dutch, German and British parliaments” – presentation at Digital Research in Oldenburg, Germany (2025)

Literature and the Field of Power from an International Comparative Perspective – Conference organisation, University of Oldenburg, Germany (2024).

‘From Autonomy to Heteronomy? Intersections of Literature and Politics at the Turn of the 21st Century in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium’ – paper presented at the ‘Literature and the Field of Power’ conference, University of Oldenburg, Germany (2024)

'Mentions technique, future re-invented? A quantitative analysis of literary references in the Dutch, German and British parliaments.' - Poster and abstract at the Digital Humanities Conference in the German-speaking world: QuovadisDH, University of Passau, Germany (2024), https://zenodo.org/records/10698374.

‘ “If you’re pretty long enough, you’ll suffocate. You can take my word for it,” Tobi Lakmaker: The Story of My Sexuality.’ Essay in: Anything but Flat: Contemporary Literature from the Netherlands and Flanders in German Translation. (2024)

‘“I marketed subversive drag to 100 million mother**ers in the world” – The deconstructive potential and stabilising function of drag reality shows, from RuPaul’s Drag Race to Queen of Drags’ – Lecture at the 12th Gender Research Day organised by the ZFG, University of Oldenburg, Germany (2022).

‘Institutional and Poetological Concepts of Literature as Reflected in Dutch Parliamentary Debates’ – Lecture at the workshop organised by the Bourdieu in the Humanities Network: Fields, Language and Power in Transition: (Re) Thinking Bourdieu in the 21st Century, University of Vienna, Austria (2022).

‘Legal Autonomy of Literature as Reflected in Dutch Parliamentary Debates’ – presentation at the SFB 1385 conference: Recht und Literatur in Europa / Law and Literature in Europe, University of Münster (WWU), Germany (2022).

‘Appropriating the Pretext: A Modular Analysis of the Interpretational Component in Literary Comic Adaptations’ – presentation at the annual conference of the Comic Studies Society, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada (2019).

‘Literature in parliamentary debates: Research design’ – presentation at the Congress for doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers in German-speaking and Central European Dutch Studies. Online (2021).

‘#GIRLBOSS.’ – Glossary entry in FKW// Journal of Gender Studies and Visual Culture. 70 (2022). 105–111.

“Introduction to the History of Dutch Literature”, tutorial, Winter Semester 2017–2018 – Student assistant

“Theory and History of Visual Media”, tutorial, Winter Semester 2019–2020, 2020–2021 – Student assistant

“Dutch Language Practice”, tutorial, Winter semester 2019–2020 – Student assistant

“Recent Dutch-Language Literature: Marente de Moor’s Foon”, seminar, Summer Semester 2022 – Research Assistant.

‘Recent Dutch-Language Literature: Astrid Roemer’s *Over de gekte van een vrouw*’, seminar, winter semester 2023/24 – Research assistant.

tutorial: 3.03.031a Introduction to Dutch Literary Studies(Summer Semester 2025)

Seminar: 3.03.132 Literature in Parliament – Learning Digital Humanities Methods through Research(Summer Semester 2026)

“DFG Project: New Objectivity” 2016–2018 – Student assistant to compile a specialist bibliography independently (https://neuesachlichkeit.uni-oldenburg.de/de/ueber-uns/)

Dutch Literary Studies 2017–2021 – Student assistant

DFG project: “A Land of Mediocre Literature”. Concepts of literature among the legal and political elites in the Netherlands in the 20th century (2021–2025) – Research Assistant