Nina Ernst

Teaching

I teach literature mainly at the Department of Film and Literature, but also on the Teacher Education Programme. Also, I supervise teacher students' exam papers and advanced theses in Comparative Literature. 

Research

I hold a PhD in Comparative Literature from Lund University and most recently I have been working as a Swedish professor at Columbia University, New York (2018-2020). My position as a senior lecturer at Linnæus University also includes teaching and research with a pedagogical approach.

My dissertation Depicting One’s Self: Graphic Memoirs in Sweden (2017) examines the emergence of graphic autobiography internationally and in Sweden. The study focuses on a corpus of twenty-two Swedish works published from 1998 to 2016, exploring the specific narrative strategies that comic creators employ in the portrayal of the self. Additionally, autobiographical comics creation is analysed from three different perspectives in works by Mats Jonsson, Malin Biller, and Simon Gärdenfors.

In my research, I have continued to explore the potential of the comic medium, particularly the autobiographical genre, in addressing societal issues. After the dissertation, three research directions have become apparent: medical humanities and "graphic medicine," intermediality in relation to comics in education, and memory in media. Graphic medicine is a field within medical humanities. In 2021, I partially shifted focus by studying another significant theme within a couple of graphic novels. I explored themes related to gender identity and the use of visual elements to tell the stories of transgender individuals. Mental health was also a prominent theme here.

Since 2020, my primary research focus has been within IMS (Department of Intermedial and Multimodal Studies). IMS is Linnaeus University's interdisciplinary and dynamic research environment exploring the interplay and interaction between different media forms. Within IMS, I am part of two research clusters: IMS Literacy and IMS Memory. These clusters form the basis for my two other research directions. The first one deals with intermediality and multimodality in teaching and learning, investigating how intermedial and multimodal knowledge can be used for creative, inclusive, and flexible education and for information and creation. How can we help students understand the complex media landscape of today? We also discuss how intermediality can contribute to creating more inclusive learning environments.

In the second research group, IMS Memory, I have been interested in how authors and comic creators use various media and material to explore memory. Currently I am working on a new research project on migrating materials – how embroidery and textiles are used in comics and poetry to grasp memories – how text and thread are connected. Embroidery serves as a tool to uncover memories and establish a connection to cultural heritage.

Other areas of interest include:

• Metafiction and autofiction
• Narratology
• British prose and poetry from the 20th and 21st centuries
• World Literature