Walder, Aylin Dilek, M.A.

PhD Project

“The Fantastic Dawn of Affinities: From Alterity to Affinity in Contemporary Fantasy.”
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Heinze, TU Braunschweig, Germany; JProf.’ Dr.’ Judith Rauscher, University of Cologne, Germany.

In exploring the negotiation of alterity and identity within speculative fiction, I do not only argue for affinity as a concept of identity and aesthetics in contemporary speculative fiction, but also for an affinitive turn within the Humanities. Considering speculative fiction as an affective archive, I propose that studying affinity in speculative fiction provides valuable insights for developing new modes of living that prioritize solidarity over division as affinity becomes an ethics of being-with.

Project Speculative Cultures

External Funding. TU Braunschweig.

Conceptualization and organization of a workshop as well as the publication of a special issue.

Research Areas

• Ecocriticism and New Materialism
• Gender and Queer Studies
• Postcolonial Studies
• Speculative Fiction
• Adaptation and Film Studies

Edited Volumes

• with Kristin Aubel, Marion Gymnich and Carsten Kullmann. Phantastik für Kinder – Kinder in der Phantastik / Fantasy for Children – Children in Fantasy: Symposium 2024 in Malberg. Inklings-Jahrbuch für Literatur und Ästhetik / Inklings: Yearbook of Literature and Aesthetics 42. Göttingen: Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, forthcoming 2026.

• with Melisa Köroğlu and Johanna Pitetti-Heil. "Early Career Researchers Issues XI" gender forum 24.1 (forthcoming).
• with Kristin Aubel, Maria Fleischhack, Marion Gymnich and Carsten Kullmann. Dem Tode zum Trotz: Unsterblichkeit und Wiedergeburt in der Phantastik / Defying Death: Immortality and Rebirth in the Fantastic: Symposium 2023 in Magdeburg. Inklings-Jahrbuch für Literatur und Ästhetik / Inklings: Yearbook of Literature and Aesthetics 41. Göttingen: Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, 2025.

Articles

• "Reimagining Human-Nature Relations Through Asymmetrical Ecological (Inter)dependencies in N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Series." Ecological Inter/Dependencies: Strong Asymmetrical Relations and More-then-Human Worlds. Eds. Jennifer Leetsch and Zeynep Y. Gökce. DeGruyter, forthcoming.
• "Depressed Immortals: Immortality and Ecocriticism in Brandon Sanderson's Elantris (2005)." Dem Tode zum Trotz: Unsterblichkeit und Wiedergeburt in der Phantastik / Defying Death: Immortality and Rebirth in the Fantastic: Symposium 2023 in Magdeburg. Eds. Kristin Aubel, Maria Fleischhack, Marion Gymnich, Carsten Kullmann and Aylin Dilek Walder. Inklings-Jahrbuch für Literatur und Ästhetik / Inklings: Yearbook of Literature and Aesthetics 41. Göttingen: Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, 2025. 95-111.
• "Gothic Nature in Fantasy Fiction: The White Walkers as Dreadful Agents of Nature in Game of Thrones." Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 89, Special Edition "Ecogothic, Monstrosity, and Climate Emergency," eds. Imelda Martín Junquera and Cristina Casado Presa (2024): 69-87. DOI: 10.25145/j.recaesin.2024.89.04.
• "Cultural Appropriation of Poland's Fantasy: The Cold War Saga o Wiedźminie Moving into American Mainstream Culture." The Palgrave Handbook of Global Fantasy. Eds. Elana Gomel and Danielle Gurevitch. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023. 289-305.

Reviews

• of Jerry Rafiki Jenkins. Anti-Blackness and Human Monstrosity in Black American Horror Fiction. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2024. 166 pp + x. Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies 36.2 (2025): 224-228.
• of Gero Bauer. Hope and Kinship in Contemporary Fiction: Moods and Modes of Temporality and Belonging. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2024. 272 pp. In Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies 36.1 (2025): 149-151.
• of Natalie Dederichs. Atmosfears: The Uncanny Climate of Contemporary Ecoficition. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2023. 286 pp. In Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies 35.3 (2024): 205-207.
• of Martin Kuester. More or Less Educational: Literary Godgames in Anglophone Literature from Chaucer to Atwood. Trier: WVT Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 2022. 143 pp. In Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies 35.1 (2024): 233-35.