I am a Research Scientist for law and culture at the University of Luxembourg and Associated Member at the Centre Georg Simmel at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (affiliations and fellowships).
My research focuses on the dialectical dynamics between the symbolic and imaginary foundations of culture and technological-medial progress and the impact of new technologies, specifically blockchains, on traditional concepts of subjectivity, institution, and law.
Having obtained a Master’s degree in German and French Studies at the Sorbonne, I worked as a trilingual translator in a law firm in Paris. During my time at the law firm, I received the offer to translate Le Désir politique de Dieu by Pierre Legendre. Once the translation was finished, I resumed my academic path and wrote a doctoral thesis on the relationship between law and literature. After a teaching assignment at Duke University in the United States, I finished my PhD at the University of Luxembourg and the University Paris-Sorbonne in 2015.

Research interests

In my research, I am particularly guided by the following questions:
  • How does the individual become a subject? To what extent is it entangled in rigid norm structures and to what extent can it break free from them or influence them? What role do language, law and technology play in these dynamics?
  • How are legal and cultural binding paradigms changing due to increasing trans- and international networks, and not least due to decentralisation efforts?
  • What impact does digitisation have on social dynamics and the institutional structure of our society? How does the striving for more autonomous, virtually based and thus disembodied forms of life affect the foundations of our culture and concepts of subjectivity? Does this lead to a dissolution of social contexts or do new forms of community and new social ties emerge?
  • What are the ideological foundations and cultural and legal implications of blockchain technology? To what extent will it change the legal landscape? What does its quest for „decentralised justice“ and „self-sovereign identity“ mean for the traditional functioning and foundations of our legal and cultural system? What are the risks
  • What role does the body, materiality, nature play in all this?
current research projects >>

Publications (selective)

Complete list of publications >>