Prof. Dr. Katya Diefenbach

Only by appointment! Registration at diefenbach@europa-uni.de.

• Present-day French philosophy and epistemology, especially post-structuralism, deconstruction and post-Marxism
• Reception of French philosophy in cultural, postcolonial and gender studies
• Concepts of culture, time and practice in aesthetic and political philosophy
• Theories of transmodernity and transculturality with particular reference to the history of violence, (post)colonial and capitalist modes of socialisation
• Interrelationships between European philosophical and colonial history
• Theories of the event and the insurrection
• Spinoza research

Here you will find a selection of publications and a complete list of publications as a PDF.

Here you can download the entire curriculum vitae as a PDF!

A. Research and teaching activities

2020 – Professor of Philosophy of Culture/ Philosophy of Cultures, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)

2015 – 2020 Professor of Aesthetic Theory, Department of Theory, Merz Akademie, Hochschule für Gestaltung, Kunst und Medien, Stuttgart

2013 – 2015 Lecturer in Gender Studies, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna and in Theory and History, Academy of Fine Arts, Hamburg

2007 – 2012 Head of the international research project »After 1968. On the Notion of the Political in Post-Marxist Theory«, Department of Theory, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht

2001 – 2006 Research assistant in the Department of Fine Arts, Visual Studies Programme, University of the Arts, Berlin

2001 – 2006 Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy III, Humboldt University, Berlin

1997 – 2001 Lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts, Visual Studies Programme, University of the Arts, Berlin and at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich



B. Journalistic activities

Since 1999 co-editor of the Berlin publishing collective b_books

1993 – 2003 freelancer at Bayerischer Rundfunk, editorial offices Kulturzeit and Zündfunk, as well as author for various magazines, including spex and Texte zur Kunst

C. Scientific education

2016 PhD, title of thesis: »Politik der Potentialität. Die Spinozarezeption im Postmarxismus«, Institut für Kulturwissenschaften, Humboldt Universität, Berlin

1987 – 1993 Diploma, Communication Sciences, Political Sciences, Social Psychology and Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München


D. Journalism training

1987 – 1993 German School of Journalism München

E. Prizes

2021 Awarded the Humanities International Prize for the monograph »Speculative Materialism. Spinoza in post-Marxist philosophy«

F. Membership in science centres

Sive Natura. International Centre for Spinozan Studies, University of Bologna

G. Membership in scientific societies

Association for Critical Social Research


German Society for French-Speaking Philosophy

German Society for Philosophy

Spinoza Society

Overview of current courses on ViaCampus

A complete list of organised lectures and conferences is available here!

12.11.23 Museum and Wealth: The Politics of Contemporary Art Collections, lecture by Nizan Shaked (California State University, Long Beach), organised with Stephan Geene and Susanne Leeb (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg), b_books, Berlin

26.07.23 Workshop of the Kulturphilosophisches Forschungskolloquium »Ereignis und Kritik« in cooperation with the Kolloquium Westliche Literaturen with lectures by Esterina Celami (EUV), Eckardt Lindner (Universität Wien), Philipp Linstädter (EUV), Frank Müller (EUV), Europa-Universität (Viadrina)

27.06.23 The dept is owed to us. Feminist Perspectives on Debt, Austerity and Authoritarian Neoliberalism, lecture by Verónica Gago and Lucie Cavallero, organised with Jule Govrin and Pablo Valdivia as part of the research project »Rechtsprechen, Verwerten und Wahrnehmen in der kolonialen Moderne. On the Nexus of Accumulation, Race and Ästhetics«, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder)

08.02.23 (Un)disciplined labour. Kapitalismus als differenzielle Körperökonomie, guest lecture by Francesca Raimondi (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf), lecture series »Szenen der Kritik. Between postcolonial, media and political philosophy«, Europa-Universität Viadrina, organised with Andrea Allerkamp 

01.02.23 Politics of perception. Maurice Merleau-Ponty über den Zufall und die Revolution, guest lecture by Oliver Precht (Leibniz Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung), lecture series »Szenen der Kritik«, Europa-Universität Viadrina, organised with Andrea Allerkamp

25.01.23 Mixing/ Mesticisation. Zur biopolitischen Konstruktion (post)kolonialer Identitäten, guest lecture by Tom Waibel (Universität Wien), lecture series »Szenen der Kritik«, Europa-Universität Viadrina, organised with Andrea Allerkamp

20.07.22 Precarisation, Care and Queer Debt, guest lecture by Isabell Lorey (Kunsthochschule für Medien, Köln), lecture series: Scenes of Critique. Zwischen postkolonialer, medienästhetischer und politischer Philosophie, European University Viadrina, organised with Andrea Allerkamp

13.07.22 Capitalism and resentment, guest lecture by Joseph Vogl (Humboldt University, Berlin), lecture series: Scenes of Critique. Zwischen postkolonialer, medienästhetischer und politischer Philosophie, European University Viadrina, organised with Andrea Allerkamp

06.07.22 Fällen, Fallen, Reading. Marx’s article on the Rhineland timber theft law, guest lecture by Judith Kasper, lecture series: Scenes of Critique. Zwischen postkolonialer, medienästhetischer und politischer Philosophie, European University Viadrina, organised with Andrea Allerkamp

16-17.06.22 Politics of Death Drive: Dis/Identification, Transgression, War, International Workshop with Monique David-Ménard (ex. Universität Paris-Diderot), Katja Diefenbach (Europa-Universität, Frankfurt (Oder)), Alexander García Düttmann (Universität der Künste, Berlin), Eckardt Lindner (Universität Vienna), Hannah Proctor (University of Strathclide, Glasgow), Marc Rölli (Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig), Oxana Timofeeva (Chto delat, St. Petersburg), Samo Tomšič (Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg) (organised in cooperation with Till Hahn, Jenny Kellner, Philipp Linstädter and Rebekka Wilkens)

07.05.22 Nights of the Dispossessed. Riots Unbound (Columbia University Press), lecture and book launch with Gal Kirn (Universität Ljubljana) and Niloufar Tajeri (TU Braunschweig), b_books Berlin

02.02.22 Workshop of the Cultural Philosophy Research Colloquium »Event and Critique« with lectures by Iryna Kovalenko (European University Viadrina), Jan Rolletschek (Humboldt-Universität Berlin), Mohamed Lamrabet (European University Viadrina), Rebekka Wilkens (European University Viadrina), Jenny Kellner (University of the Arts, Berlin), Kianush Ruf (European University Viadrina)

09.02.22 Solidarity and the social bond. The problem of systemic affects in Freud, guest lecture by Samo Tomšič (Humboldt-Universität, Berlin), lecture series: Scenes of Critique. Zwischen postkolonialer, medienästhetischer und politischer Philosophie, European University Viadrina, organised with Andrea Allerkamp

04.02.22 Workshop of the Cultural Philosophy Research Colloquium »Event and Critique« with lectures by Iryna Kovalenko (European University Viadrina), Jan Rolletschek (Humboldt-Universität Berlin), Mohamed Lamrabet (European University Viadrina), Rebekka Wilkens (European University Viadrina), Jenny Kellner (University of the Arts, Berlin), Kianush Ruf (European University Viadrina)

02.02.22 »Possession is always unjust« Ästhetische Befragung von Infrastruktur, Gemeinbesitz und Gewalt in Karim Aïnouz’ Dokumentarfilm Zentralflughafen THF, guest lecture by Astrid Deuber-Mankowsky (Ruhr-Universität, Bochum), lecture series: Szenen der Kritik. Between Postcolonial, Media and Political Philosophy, European University Viadrina, organised with Andrea Allerkamp

26.01.22 On the critique of violence. What can profane anger do?, guest lecture by Antonia Birnbaum (Die Angewandte, Vienna), lecture series: Scenes of Critique. Zwischen postkolonialer, medienästhetischer und politischer Philosophie, European University Viadrina, organised with Andrea Allerkamp