Thorsten Leiendecker studied English, German Literature and Philosophy at the Universities of Bonn and Freiburg. After completing his MA Degree in English Literature and Culture, he was coordinator of the research group History in Popular Cultures and of the Freiburg Graduate School Humanities. Thorsten is currently completing his PhD thesis on the relation of popular culture and high arts in an expanded field.
As coordinator of and lecturer in the Core, I am particularly interested in the digital transformations of the 21st century. This includes how the process of digitalization changes the world we live in but also how aspects of responsibility and structural leadership can influence this ongoing development.
As academic program coordinator, Thorsten is involved in the organizational and curricular LAS planning. He also coordinates and teaches in the LAS Core. Thorsten is also responsible for LAS program consultation.
My current research focuses on the relations of popular and ‘high’ culture. In my PhD thesis I analyze the overlaps between the two in an expanded cultural field and their roots in social, economic and technological transitions. The popular cultures I explore are both artifacts and practices and at the same time structures, which leads to a new evaluation of cultural value and hierarchies.