Lena Ahlin

Since 2004, I have been working at Kristianstad University, where I mainly teach courses in literature and writing, and serve as Head of English. In 2004, I also defended my doctoral dissertation on representations of Europe in the works of three Harlem Renaissance authors, at Lund University.

My research deals with African-American and Asian-American literature, and addresses issues like racialization, belonging, nostalgia and collective memory. For example, I have published articles about the fictional representation of the Japanese-American internment during World War II, and on nostalgia in contemporary life writing by transnational adoptees. At present, I am working on a project in which I focus on narrative kinship, that is, kinship established through and between texts, in a comparison between Korean adoptee memoirs in the U. S. and Scandinavia.
Pedagogical issues connected to writing are also part of my research interests. I am particularly interested in exploring student writing and teacher-written feedback, and writing as a meaning-making activity. Together with my colleague Maria Freij, I have investigated these issues, as well as feedback and (self-)assessment.