D.A. Hassler-Forest, MA
Overview
Dan Hassler-Forest was born in New York, but was moved to the Netherlands at an early age. He grew up in a bilingual family, addicted to film and literature. After obtaining Master's degrees in English Literature (cum laude) and Film Studies at the University of Amsterdam, he spent a few years working odd jobs as a copywriter, translator, and film reviewer. He has also worked for the Rotterdam Film Festival and the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam, and frequently gives lectures, public talks, and interviews on film, contemporary literature, comics, and popular culture. He returned to his alma mater in 2003 as a teacher in the Media Studies department, where he has taught numerous courses, including 'Perspectives on Games', 'Genres in Film, TV and New Media', and BA Thesis tutorials. He has also taught many BA-level courses in the English department andComprarative Literature from 2005 onwards, his regular curriculum including 'Introduction to Literature & Film', 'Narratives in Literature and Film' and various courses on postmodernist literature. While working as a lecturer, he completed and successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, which deals with the politics and rhetoric of 21st-century superhero figures in (graphic) literature and film. He regularly presents papers based on his ongoing research at international conferences. He was nominated for the University of Amsterdam's Lecturer of the Year award for 2008, and has received a special prize for Inspirational Teaching Methods. He teaches BA and MA courses in English Literature and Media Studies, and supervises undergraduate student theses in both departments. As a supervisor of PhD candidates, he works on projects related to postmodern literature, adaptation studies, popular culture, genre fiction, and critical theory.
Teaching
Courses I am teaching this academic year (2011-2012):
Philosophy of Science
Early Modernity and the Age of Satire
MA Research Seminar: Superheroes in American Pop Culture
British and American Culture II
Narrative and Globalization
Digital Humanities
Lectures/events
May 29, 2008: "Truth, Justice, All That Stuff...": Superheroes After 9/11
Lecture at the Jewish Historical Museum as part of the event 'Nachtsalon' on superheroes in contemporaryculture.
February 17, 2009: "The Power of the Media"
Public student lecture/debate with Dutch celebrities Jort Kelders and Froukje Jansen on the power of the media in the 21st century as partof the event 'De Nacht van de Macht,' organized by students from four departments of the UvA.
Nachtsalon
Nacht van de Macht