Kirsten KRICK-AIGNER
Kirsten A. Krick-Aigner is Professor of German and Coordinator of the German Program in the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Wofford College in South Carolina, US.
She has published widely in the fields of Austrian and German women’s literature, Holocaust Studies, and Exile Studies.
Publications include co-edited volumes on jazz in literature – Jazz in Word: European (Non-) Fiction (K&N, 2018) and Jazz in German-language Literature (K&N, 2013), and the volume Unredeemed Past: Themes of War and Womanhood in the Works of Post-World War II Austrian Women Writers (2011).
A relevant publication, “Polarizations at the Intersections of Jazz, Identity, and Blackness in Ernst Krenek’s 1927 Opera Jonny spielt auf and Bettina Ehrlich-Bauer’s 1928 Still Life Jonny spielt auf” was published in the conference volume Polarization in the North Atlantic Triangle (2024).
May 22, 2026, 10:00–10:30
Jazz as Liberation: Inspirations from South and North Carolina
Krick-Aigner’s talk will examine influences of jazz from its early development in the melting pot of Charleston, South Carolina, with a focus on early jazz and the birth of the “Charleston” dance through performances by the Jenkins Orphanage Band. She will will examine how jazz brought ideals of improvisation and liberation to Europe, especially motivating artists, such as German-speaking women Expressionist writers, to view jazz as a form of liberation from gender norms and traditional expectations related to relationships, sexuality, and professional ambitions. For her second half of the talk, Krick-Aigner will give a short overview of influences the jazz singer and civil right activist known as Nina Simone brought to Europe, in spite of her humble beginnings.