Ecampus Senior Instructor I, World Languages & Cultures
benita.blessing@oregonstate.edu

Office: 541-737-2147

Kidder Hall

Kidder Hall 216

2000 SW Campus Way

2000 SW Campus Way
Corvallis, OR 97331
Credentials: 
PhD, University of Wisconsin Madison (dual degree, departments of History and Educational Policy Studies), Phi Beta Kappa
MA, Monterey Institute of International Studies (dual degree, departments of International Policy Studies and German)
BA, Trinity University, San Antonio, TX, German and French Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude
Curriculum Vitae: 

Profile Field Tabs

Biography

I am an interdisciplinary scholar - I have long suggested post-disciplinary would be the best description. I teach and write about gender, sexuality, history, film, vampires, and childhood, primarily in European, especially German, contexts. You can find my c.v. and read more about my work and check out my occasional film blogging here. My current research project focuses on East German film and children’s education. My book The Anti-Fascist Classroom: Denazification in Soviet-Occupied Germany, 1945-1949 is available in the Valley Library. I'm a self-proclaimed language and history geek and also speak and have taught French and Italian. Ask me about must-see communist films, and my favorite cafes in Berlin and Vienna! And consider presenting at the German Studies Association's annual conference, where I'm the Operations Director.

At OSU
Affiliated with: 
Sch Lang, Culture & Soc
Courses Taught: 

German language classes

German socio-cultural history (German Dictatorships, German Obsession with Native Americans, Environment and Culture)

German film

Vampires, Race, and Gender (Honors College Seminar)

Research/Career Interests: 

Read more here. My research interests focus on the nexus of social policy and cultural practices, with particular emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches to understanding how societies construct and disseminate shared knowledge. Key areas of analysis include the history of education, film studies, gender and sexuality, memory and consciousness, children's studies, folk tales, and the history of science. My research methodologies center on qualitative and quantitative analysis of written and visual texts, oral history, game theory, behavior of organizations, cultural and linguistic studies, feminist theory, and taxonomies and technologies of knowledge. I'm also the Operations Director the German Studies Association. Email with questions about the conference at operations@thegsa.org.

Proceedings and Conference Presentations: 

Check out my lecture for the Benton County History Museum in March 2019, "Our Vampires, Ourselves," here

Beyond OSU
Personal Interests: 

Languages, running, writing, traveling, teaching, research, film, reading (especially mysteries!), cooking (especially Italian!).