Am I in the right place? When searching for a room in the sprawling and winding GW2 building at the University of Bremen, this question can quickly spring to mind. “It's very easy to get lost here,” says Karen Struve with a laugh. She will be talking about paths and detours even more frequently this afternoon, because she knows that “Am I in the right place?” is not just a question of spatial orientation at the university, but can quickly refer to more fundamental issues: whether it's the decision to study, the choice of subjects, or even the question of whether to pursue a doctorate.
Trading country life for university
Karen Struve also often wondered whether she was on the right path during the early years of her academic career: “I come from a family with no university background,” says the 49-year-old, who grew up in a village near Kiel. “I'm a farmer's daughter. My parents are eighth-generation farmers.” She recalls that her decision to study was strongly intrinsically motivated. “I wanted to study something that sought to find out what people are like and how they feel. Something that couldn't be translated into a profit margin.” She chose to study Romance languages and cultural studies at the University of Bremen.
“Grey men in grey suits“ Karen Struve
At first, she had no idea that university could also be a future workplace for her. But a professor encouraged her to pursue a doctorate. Karen Struve successfully applied for a scholarship at a doctoral college and quickly noticed at conferences in the early 2000s how much the field of research was dominated by “older, gray men in gray suits.” That has changed significantly in the meantime. “As a young, tall blonde woman, I was ridiculed a lot at first,” she recalls. Self-doubt gnawed at her – questions like: "As a working-class kid, can I ever train myself to have the habits of an academic's child?” Karen Struve
In the end, she says, a certain stubbornness helped her: “At some point, I decided: I don't want to give up without a fight. If I'm in this position, then I want to help shape the field. And then I can stay the way I want to be to a certain extent – and hopefully open up the field to people who don't submit to certain conventions.”
Karen Struve's academic career clearly demonstrates the success of this approach. Her dissertation on transcultural contemporary French literature was awarded the prestigious Prix Germaine de Sta?l, presented by the Association of French Studies and the French Embassy in Germany, while her postdoctoral thesis received the Elise Richter Prize from the Association of Romance Studies. Since 2021, she has held a W3 professorship in French and Romance literature at the University of Bremen. “I feel very appreciated here,” she says. “The university management keeps a close eye on our department and doesn't just focus on the traditional third-party-funded technical and natural sciences.”
Storytelling as a basic need
She attaches great importance to the exchange between the university and urban society. Together with her students and cooperation partners, she organizes readings, panel discussions, and exhibitions at various locations in Bremen. “For me, literature is not an exclusive salon topic. Telling stories and having stories told to you is simply a basic human need—whether in novels, comics, films, plays, or series.”
Karen Struve placed great importance on balancing work and family life from an early stage: “It was always clear to me that if I couldn't do both, then university wasn't the right place for me,” says the mother of two, whose children are now teenagers. Today, she herself tries to create family-friendly structures—for example, by scheduling meetings in the morning, avoiding weekend seminars, or encouraging students to bring their children to lectures when they have childcare issues. “I've even had babies in the airplane hold in my arms here.”
Challenges at work and in family planning
Family planning poses particular challenges for women. There is still a structural problem in the humanities, where it often only becomes clear in a woman's early or mid-40s whether she has long-term prospects at her university beyond temporary contracts—for example, in the form of a professorship. “However, I find that there is a great deal of sensitivity to this issue at our university – and a common understanding that gender-specific challenges should not lead to poorer opportunities in the appointment process.” The fact that the university management consists of four women and one man is also a strong sign that all doors are open to women at the University of Bremen.
Vor dem Hintergrund ihrer eigenen Erfahrungen macht Karen Struve ihren Studierenden und Mentees heute Mut, der eigenen Leidenschaft für ein Themenfeld nachzugehen. ?Es ist wichtig, sich nicht von dem Eindruck einschüchtern zu lassen, alle anderen wüssten besser Bescheid als man selbst“, sagt sie. Immer wieder erlebt sie, dass sich Studentinnen am Anfang ihres Studiums seltener zu Wort melden, w?hrend viele ihrer m?nnlichen Kommilitonen von vornherein viel selbstverst?ndlicher Redezeit für sich beanspruchen. ?Ich ermutige deshalb alle, sich in den Seminaren aktiv mit den eigenen Gedanken und Fragen einzubringen“, sagt sie. Dahinter stehe eine grundlegende ?berzeugung: ?Gute Forschung und Lehre leben nun einmal von verschiedenen Perspektiven. Deshalb ist es mir so wichtig, dass unsere Studierenden hier echte Zugeh?rigkeit erfahren k?nnen – unabh?ngig von ihrem Geschlecht, ihrem Elternhaus oder ihrer Nationalit?t.“ – ?Come As You Are“ eben.
