Specialties:

Cultural History; Media Theory; Religious History; History of Antisemitism; Gender History and Theory

Fall 2009

Born in Rome, primary school and high school in West Germany and London. Studies of Political Science and Sociology at New York University, N.Y. and Bonn, West Germany. From 1968 onwards freelance work as film maker and writer (New York 1968-1969; Paris, France 1969-1981; Bonn 1981-1994). 1991-1993 the Institute for Cultural Studies in Essen, an interdisciplinary academic research institution. 1994 Nomination as full Professor at the Institute for Cultural History and Theory at Humboldt University in Berlin. Since 1994: Guest professor at different universities in the USA (Columbia, Dartmouth, University of Virginia), Israel (Hebrew University) and France (Paris VI), as well as in Austria (Vienna, Klagenfurt, Salzburg, Innsbruck). Author of more than fifty films (documentaries, essays and fiction), twenty books and numerous essays on cultural history, religion, and gender. From 1996-2005 founder and head of the department of Gender Studies at Humboldt University. In 2012 co-founder and first director of the Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg. 

Extra academic functions: Since 2008 vice president of the Goethe Institute. Member of the Kuratorium of the Leo Baeck Institute Germany; member of the advisory board of the International Psychoanalytic University Berlin, also of numerous academic journals (among others: Zeitschrift fŸr Sexualwissenschaft, Sexuality & Culture, Journal of the American Psychoanalytical Association (JAPA)). The fields of research pertain to different academic disciplines Ð gender, media (writing, the alphabets, the history of money, techniques of visuality), religion and modernity, history of anti-Semitism. 

A common denominator of these different fields is the focus on the unconscious aspects of history and historical phenomena. Christina von Braun has received book awards and was awarded the Sigmund Freud Kulturpreis 2013 by the German Psychoanalytic Association, and the Hedwig Dohm Medal of the German Journalistinnenbund in 2014.

PROJECTS OF RESEARCH

• History of Money (research and publication)
• The role of Gender in Secular Orientalist Discourses (new research, publications)
• The History of the Veil (research project and publication)
• The role of Gender in the History of Antisemitism (co-applicant of a doctorate program (Graduiertenkolleg) in Jewish Studies (host university: Potsdam, funded by German Research Fund (DFG))
• Co applicant of a PhD program on ‘codification of violence in medial transformation’ (host university: Humboldt University, funded by the German research fund (DFG))
• ‘Gender as a category of knowledge’ (coordinator of a doctorate program on the topic, host university: Humboldt University, funded by the German research fund (DFG)
• Gender and Religion (Processess of Secularization and Sacralization of Nations (funded by the German research fund (DFG))
• Media and Gender Roles (doctorate program, funded from 1999-2003 by the Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst)

NON ACADEMIC WORK

• Author of more than fifty films (documentaries, essays) on cultural history, gender (for a selection see below).
• Curator of Exhibitions, Conferences, Platforms financed by the Volkswagen Stiftung/Sprengel Museum, the Goethe Institute and other institutions

PUBLIC FUNCTIONS

• since 2008, Vice President of the Goethe Institute
• since 2005 Member of the Presidency (Präsidium) of the Goethe Insitute
• 1999-2005 Member of the Presidency of the Evangelischer Kirchentag
• since 1999 Founding member and member of the board of directors of the ‘Green Academy’ linked to the Heinrich Boell-Foundation
• from 1990-2000 founding member and co-editor of the bi-annual scientific magazine ‘Metis. Historical women’s and gender studies’
• 1990-1998 member of the board of the German Association of Film Directors
• member of the advisory board of the Zeitschrift f. Sexualforschung (Sexual Sciences, University of Frankfurt)