Kristina Chmelar

Kristina Chmelar © MIDEM

Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin

Name

Dr. Kristina Chmelar

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Organization Name

Chair of Political Theory and History of Political Thought

Chair of Political Theory and History of Political Thought

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Visiting address:

Würzburger Straße 46

01187 Dresden

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work Tel.

Short biography

Since 2017 - today

Research Associate at the Chair of Political Theory and History of Ideas and at the Mercator Forum Migration and Democracy, TU Dresden
2017 - 2023 DFG-funded scientific network "Handbook of Social Memories"
2014 - 2019

DFG-funded scientific network "Trans|Knowledge"
2012 - 2021 PhD at the Institute for Political Science, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg (funded by the German National Academic Foundation)
2014 and 2017 - 2018 Research assistant at the Chair of Comparative Political Science, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
2011 - 2014 Research Associate at the Chair of Education I, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg
2006 - 2011 Promotion of young journalists by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (training equivalent to a traineeship)
2006 - 2011 Diploma studies in political science, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg and Andrássy University Budapest
2005 Abitur at grammar school in Herzogenaurach

CORE RESEARCH AREAS

  • Political culture research
  • Migration
  • Media
  • Multimodality
  • Qualitative research methods 

PUBLICATIONS

Some publications can be found at: academia.edu.

Monographs

  • Chmelar, K. (2025): Plakatives Gedenken. Zur staatlichen Inszenierung des Kommunismus in Deutschland. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
  • Chmelar, K. (2012): Nothing but the truth. A discourse-analytical study of the history policy of the Czech Civic Democratic Party (ODS). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Editorships

  • Heinlein, M./Berek, M./Chmelar, K. (in Vorbereitung): Social Memories in Transformation: New Perspectives on Media, Politics and Cultures of Collective Memory. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Sebald, G./Berek, M./Chmelar, K./Dimbath, O./Haag, H./Heinlein, M./Leonhard, N./Rauer, V. (eds.) (2023b): Handbook of memory research in the social sciences. Volume 2: M-Z. Wiesbaden: Springer VS
  • Sebald, G./Berek, M./Chmelar, K./Dimbath, O./Haag, H./Heinlein, M./Leonhard, N./Rauer, V. (eds.) (2023a): Handbook of social science memory research. Volume 1: A-L. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
  • Trans|Knowledge (ed.) (2020): Knowledge in transnationalization. On the ubiquity and crisis of translation. Bielefeld: transcript (together with J. Bretting, A. Duscha, N. Engel, S. Köngeter, K. Klein-Zimmer, M. Klemm, A. Spiegel and K. Struve).

Scientific contributions

  • Chmelar, K./Hormig, F./Otteni, C. (2025): Reizthema Zuwanderung: Wie polarisiert ist die tschechische Gesellschaft? Online unter: https://forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/TUD_MIDEM_PolicyPaper_2025-4_Reizthema-Zuwanderung.pdf

  • Sebald, G./Dimbath, O./Leonhard, N./Haag, H./Chmelar, K. (2023): References to the past and temporal processes in social science research. Methodological considerations from a memory-sociological perspective. In: Sebald, G./Dimbath, O./Haag, H./Heinlein, M. (eds.): Social science methods and methodologies: Temporality - process orientation - memory. Wiesbaden: Springer, pp. 9-25.

  • Sebald, G./Dimbath, O./Leonhard, N./Rauer, V./Chmelar, K./Berek, M./Haag, H./Heinlein, M. (2023): The concept of "social memories". In: this. (ed.): Handbook of Social Science Memory Research. Volume 1: A-L. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 1-17.

  • Chmelar, K./Joachim, J. (2023): Migration in the Czech Republic. Attitudes and potential for polarization. Online at: https://forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/TUD_MIDEM_PolicyPaper_2023-2_Migration-in-Tschechien_aktuell.pdf

  • Chmelar, K./Leonhard, N. (2023): Politics. In: Sebald, G./Berek, M./Chmelar, K./Dimbath, O./Haag, H./Heinlein, M./Leonhard, N./Rauer, V. (eds.): Handbuch Sozialwissenschaftliche Gedächtnisforschung. Volume 2: M-Z. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 203-216. online first(editorial review)

  • Chmelar, K. (2023): Staging. In: Sebald, G./Berek, M./Chmelar, K./Dimbath, O./Haag, H./Heinlein, M./Leonhard, N./Rauer, V. (eds.) (2023): Handbook of memory research in the social sciences. Volume 1: A-L. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 431-446. online first(editorial review)

  • Chmelar, K. (2022c): Czech Republic. Online at: https: //forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_Jahresstudie2022_Europa_und_die_Fluchtmigration_aus_der_Ukraine.pdf (pp. 121-140).

    Chmelar, K. (2022b): Slovakia. Online at: https: //forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_Jahresstudie2022_Europa_und_die_Fluchtmigration_aus_der_Ukraine.pdf (pp. 99-118).

  • Chmelar, K. (2022a): The Czech Republic and refugee migration from Ukraine. Online at: https: //forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_PolicyBrief_2022-1_Tschechien_und_die_Fluchtmigration_aus_der_Ukraine.pdf
  • Chmelar, K./Meißelbach, Ch. (2021): Literature review: State, democracy and the corona pandemic: diagnoses, critiques, visions. In: Yearbook Extremism & Democracy, pp. 271-288(editorial review).
  • Chmelar, K. (2021b): Czech Republic. Online at: https://forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_Jahresstudie2021_RZ_online.pdf (pp. 183-197).
  • Chmelar, K. (2021a): Slovakia. Online at: https: //forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_Jahresstudie2021_RZ_online.pdf (pp. 153-167).
  • Trans|Knowledge (2020): Knowledge in Transnationalization: On the Ubiquity and Crisis of Translation. Introductory reflections. In: this. (ed.): Knowledge in transnationalization. On the Ubiquity and Crisis of Translation. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 9-26 (together with J. Bretting, A. Duscha, N. Engel, S. Köngeter, K. Klein-Zimmer, M. Klemm, A. Spiegel and K. Struve).

  • Klemm, M./Struve, K./Bretting, J./Chmelar, K. (2020): Power|Knowledge. In: Trans|Knowledge (ed.) (2020): Knowledge in transnationalization. On the ubiquity and crisis of translation. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 171-181.

  • Chmelar, K. (2020e): Czech Republic. Online at: https: //forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_Jahresbericht2020_FINAL_01.pdf (pp. 157-171).

  • Chmelar, K. (2020d): Firstly, things turn out differently, secondly, than you think (reviewed publication: Ther, Ph. (2019): The other end of the story. On the Great Transformation. Berlin: Suhrkamp). In: Research Journal Social Movements 33 (2), pp. 703-708(editorial review).

  • Chmelar, K. (2020c): MIDEM country report Czech Republic. Online at: https: //forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_Laenderbericht_Tschechien_2020-2_DINA4_RZ_web_final.pdf

  • Chmelar, K. (2020b): Parliamentary election campaign in Slovakia 2020. Online at: https: //forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_PolicyBrief_2020-Parlamentswahlkampf_Slowakei_web-1.pdf

  • Chmelar, K. (2020a): Shy of conflict? For a stronger politicization of social science memory research. In: Journal for Theoretical Sociology 9 (1), pp. 70-86(peer review).

  • Chmelar, K. (2019c): Yes, is everything getting better? The election to the Czech Chamber of Deputies on October 20/21, 2017. in: Journal of Parliamentary Studies 50 (3), pp. 557-578.(editorial review)

  • Chmelar, K. (2019b): Defense at all costs? On hostility to immigration in the Czech migration discourse. In: Journal of Politics 66 (3), pp. 270-292.(editorial review)
  • Chmelar, K. (2019a): The 2019 presidential election in Slovakia. Online at: https: //forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_PolicyBrief_2019-2.pdf
  • Chmelar, K. (2018b): Czech Republic. Online at: https://forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TUD_MIDEM_Jahresbericht2018_WEB_RZ_2.pdf (pp. 173-195).
  • Chmelar, K. (2018a): Look! How a state organization exhibits the 20th century and how we can deconstruct corresponding myths. In: IMAGE. Journal for Interdisciplinary Image Studies, issue 27, pp. 24-52(editorial review).
  • Chmelar, K. (2017e): The 2017 election to the Czech Chamber of Deputies. online at: https: //forum-midem.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/MIDEM_Bericht_2017-2.pdf
  • Chmelar, K. (2017d): Exhibition as a medium of memory. On the visually organized construction of history within the framework of a state memory offer. In: Sebald, G./Döbler, M.-K. (eds.): (Digital) media and social memories. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 299-329.
  • Chmelar, K. (2017c): Some ground underfoot. On the way to a post-constructivist analysis of memory. In: Haag, H./Heß, P./Leonhard, N. (eds.): Volkseigenes Erinnern. The GDR in social memory. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 13-35.
  • Chmelar, K. (2017b): Thinking remembrance in the terrain vague. A post-constructivist path for memory research. In: Journal for Discourse Research 5 (2), pp. 136-158(peer review).
  • Chmelar, K. (2017a): On the visual representation of austerity in new media. In: Sturm, R./Griebel, T./Winkelmann, Th. (eds.): Austerity as a social project. Between theory and practice. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 15-43.
  • Chmelar, K./Schrage, S. (2014): Order and (organizational) pedagogy. Reflections on a persistently borderline relationship. In: Engel, N./Sausele-Bayer, I. (eds.): Organization. A basic pedagogical concept. Münster: Waxmann, pp. 21-34.
  • Chmelar, K. (2012): Controversially documented: Medicine or disease? Germany discusses the role of rating agencies. In: GWP 61 (1), pp. 91-98.
  • Chmelar, K./Griebel, T. (2009): Controversially documented: State or market? In times of crisis, the world discusses the sense and legality of state aid for companies. In: GWP 58 (1), pp. 127-136.

Media appearances

Lectures

  • Czechs and Poles vis-à-vis Ukrainian Refugees: New Attitudes on Immigration? (together with Marta Kozłowska). 11.05.2023 - International Workshop on Migration after the Invasion of Ukraine: Attitudes and Policies in Europe, EUI Florence.

  • Czech Republic and Ukrainian Refugees: the Case of Prague. 02.03.2023 - Cities and Human Mobility Collaborative, IWM Vienna.

  • Czech Republic and refugee migration from Ukraine. 06.12.2022 - Presentation at the MIDEM Annual Conference 2022, Berlin.

  • Slovakia and refugee migration from Ukraine. 06.12.2022 - Presentation at the MIDEM Annual Conference 2022, Berlin.

  • Migration and Radical Right Populist Parties (together with Oliviero Angeli). 15.11.2022 - Communicating migration challenges 2022 & beyond: prepare, expect, act, Berlin.

  • Expert opinion on the motion "Strengthening cross-border cooperation between the Free State of Saxony and the Czech Republic!" by the coalition parties CDU, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and SPD. 30.09.2022 - Hearing in the Committee for Constitution and Law, Democracy, Europe and Equality of the Saxon State Parliament, Dresden.

  • Nationalist responses of a Czech party to the post-communist contingency experience. 29.09.2022 - 41st Congress of the German Sociological Association, University of Bielefeld.

  • Migration and Populism in Czech Republic. 23.06.2022 - Seminar abroad of the US-American College of William and Mary, Charles University Prague.
  • At the limit of stress. Flight from Ukraine to Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. 31.03.2022 - Presentation as part of a Zoom lunch talk by MIDEM, TU Dresden. Online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbmHFxu_gMc
  • Corona and right-wing populism. 01.12.2021 - Presentation of part of the results of the MIDEM Annual Study 2021, TU Dresden. Online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD3AFl-zgfk
  • Emigration in Central and Eastern Europe. 08.12.2020 - Presentation of part of the results of the MIDEM Annual Report 2020, TU Dresden.
  • My! How political elites in the Czech Republic try to assert the national "we" in the migration discourse. 26.09.2018 - 27th Scientific Congress of the DVPW, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.
  • Pictures of Austerity From a Qualitative Perspective. 26.09.2017 - International Workshop on Texts and Images of Austerity in Britain. A Multimodal Multimedia Analysis, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg.
  • Images and Texts of an Exhibition. 14.09.2017 - 15th International Congress of the German Society for Semiotics, University of Passau.
  • Visual construction of austerity. 14.10.2016 - Final event of the research project "Austerity as a social project", Bonn Academy for Research and Teaching of Practical Politics.
  • Zur Mythisierung Lenins im Rahmen einer historischen Ausstellung. 01.10.2016 - Research colloquium of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Berlin.
  • Exhibited East. 28.09.2016 - Congress of the German Sociological Association, University of Bamberg.
  • History in the picture. 18.03.2016 - (Digital) Media and Social Memories, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg.
  • Studying Memory on Exhibition. 28.11.2015 - International Conference on Memory in Southern and Western Slavic Cultures, University of Warsaw.
  • Pictures of an Exhibition, Texts of an Exhibition. 13.09.2015 - 5th Annual Conference Diskurs interdisziplinär, University of Bern. (The accepted contribution unfortunately had to be canceled due to illness).
  • Staging state-organized memory in Germany and the Czech Republic. 31.10.2015 - International Workshop on the 25th Anniversary of German Reunification, Charles University Prague.
  • Deconstructing images of an exhibition. 26.08.2015 - Research colloquium of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, JGU Mainz.
  • Contours of a post-Foucauldian analytics for the study of memory culture. 16.04.2015 - Doctoral Forum Society of the German National Academic Foundation, Bonn.
  • Outline of a post-Foucauldian analytics for the study of memory culture. 20.03.2015 - Research colloquium of the German National Academic Foundation, LMU Munich.
  • Exhibiting socialism. On the staging of state-organized memory in Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 06.03.2015 - Munich Bohemians Meeting, Collegium Carolinum.
  • Memory makes Europe. On the Coherence and Competition of East-Central European Interpretations of the Past after 1989. 16.11.2012 - International Doctoral Conference, Andrássy University Budapest.

LECTURES

Seminars at the Institute of Political Science (TU Dresden)

  • Political Thought: Modern Theories of Democracy
  • Introduction to the study of political theory

Seminars at the Institute for Political Science (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg)

  • Introduction to qualitative research methods (offered several times)
  • Culture of remembrance and politics of history in Central Europe
  • The Czech political system
  • Political education in Germany (offered several times)
  • Political culture in Germany

Seminars at the Institute of Education (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg)

  • Introduction to pedagogical seeing and thinking
  • Research Methods I (Hermeneutics)
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau: between anthropology, pedagogy and political philosophy
  • Pedagogy and power
  • Pedagogical forms of action
  • Political education (offered several times)
  • Reflection on practice
  • Qualitative research methods (offered several times)
  • Qualitative research methods with a focus on discourse analysis
  • Qualitative research methods with a focus on ethnography
  • In-depth seminar on pedagogical anthropology

About this page

Martin Fischer
Last modified: Mar 12, 2026