Seth Peabody

Education & Professional History

Harvard University, PhD

I joined the Carleton German Program in fall 2020; before that, I taught at St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota. My teaching at Carleton spans from beginning German to advanced seminars on literature, film, and cultural theory. I am particularly interested in how courses focused on language skills, cultural competency, and interpretation of creative texts can contribute to efforts for environmental sustainability and social justice that extend beyond the classroom.

My research interests lie at the intersection of German literature, film, and environmental studies. Beyond the schools where I’ve earned degrees, I’ve spent a year at the Universität Hamburg and am a member of the Society of Fellows at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich. I also taught English with the Fulbright TA program in Austria, had a job milking cows on an Alpine dairy farm near Salzburg, and worked for a wilderness program in southwest Utah.

I look forward to seeing you in class, at Mittagstisch (the German language table), and in office hours—please stop by! You can click on the calendar link to the left to make an appointment.

Education

• PhD, Harvard University, 2015
• BA and BMus, Northwestern University, 2004

Professional History

• Assistant Professor, Carleton College (current)
• Visiting Assistant Professor, Saint Olaf College, 2017–2020
• Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 2016–2017
• Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota Duluth, 2015–2016
• Instructor, Harvard Summer School, Summer 2015

Highlights & Recent Activity

German Minor Coordinator at Carleton College

Co-Chair, Climate Emergency and Technology Committee, German Studies Association

Vice President, Minnesota Chapter of American Association of Teachers of German (AATG)

Selected Recent Publications:

• Film History for the Anthropocene: The Ecological Archive of German Cinema. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2023. Part of Camden House book series, “Screen Cultures: German Film and the Visual.” https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781640141612/film-history-for-the-anthropocene/
• “Liberating the Captured Image: Bergfilm Legacies and Digital Technologies in Free Solo (2018) and The Alpinist (2021).” In Global Mountain Cinema, ed. Christian Quendler, Caroline Schaumann, and Kamaal Haque, 261–275. Edinburgh University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781399519991-019.
• “Heimat for One? Spaces of Community and Disability in Arbeit und Struktur and Tschick.” In Heimat and Migration: Reimagining the Regional and the Global in the Twenty-First Century, ed. Len Cagle, Thomas Herold, and Gabriele Maier, 203–226. Berlin: DeGruyter, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733150-010.
• “Assessments and Accessibility: Building a Critical German Program at Carleton College.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost and Juliane Schicker. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German 55, no. 2 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12235.

Selected Awards:

• DAAD Re-Invitation Grant for sabbatical research on project “Beyond Green Germany: Conflict and Change in German and Austrian Environmental Culture,” fall 2024
• Laird Memorial, NEH-Smith/Kinney, Class of ’54, and Class of ’49 Fellowship, from Carleton College, for full year of sabbatical  research on “Beyond Green Germany” book project, 2024–2025
• Mellon Periclean Faculty Leader in the Humanities, 2022-23.
• DAAD funding to lead environmental humanities seminar in Minneapolis and Munich, 2023.
• Student Research Partnership (Carleton College), 2020, 2021, 2022.
• Best Article in Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German, 2020, with co-author Amanda Randall, for article “Unpacking Heimat: A Spiraled Approach to Identity and Belonging for Global German Studies” (2019).
• Curriculum Development Grant (Carleton College), 2020.
• ACTFL Small Undergraduate German Program Special Interest Group Award for Outstanding German Program Development and Advocacy, with Prof. Amanda Randall, 2019.
• Rachel Carson Fellowship for work at Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich, Germany, summer 2019.
• Fulbright IIE Grant, full-year research grant for study in Germany, 2013-2014.

Organizations & Scholarly Affiliations

• American Association of Teachers of German (AATG)
• American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
• German Studies Association (GSA)
• Society of Fellows, Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society (RCC)

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the fantastic students and colleagues at Carleton since arriving here in 2020.  Some of my thoughts on teaching can be found in the following:

Critical German Studies Blog contributions:

•  “We Can Do This: Reflections on Applying to Be an AATG Center of Excellence.” Critical German Studies Blog. March 8, 2026.
•  “Off Campus: Conversations and Collaboration.” May 9, 2023.
•  “Let’s Talk about Burnout.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost and Juliane Schicker. April 16, 2022.
•  “Revising German 204: Toward Content-Based, Critically-Engaged, Text-Driven Instruction.” January 7, 2022.
•  “More Than Is Already Familiar: Reflections on Diversifying a Syllabus.” May 8, 2021.

Journal articles on pedagogy:

“Die Alpen und Minnesota: Ein akademischer Austausch.” Co-authored with students from GERM 225. Co-authored with Anna Blaich ‘29, Natalia Craig-Ruegg ‘27, Harrison Redfern ‘26, and Carson Rotter ‘29. Der Alm- und Bergbauer, April 2026. (This text is behind a paywall for the first two years, but if you are interested, please email me and I would be happy to share more details.)

“Fostering Sustainability Literacy and Action through Language Education: Perspectives and Practices across Regions.” Co-authored with Maria-José de la Fuente, Odette Gabaudan, Kiley Kost, Owain Llewellyn, and Pilar Molina. Language Learning in Higher Education 15, no. 2 (2025): 485–93. https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2024-0099.

“Assessments and Accessibility: Building a Critical German Program at Carleton College.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost and Juliane Schicker. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German 55, no. 2 (2023): 89–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12235.

“Environmental Fantasies” (podcast). With student research partner Esme Krohn. Humanities Centered podcast, February 2022.  https://humanitiescentered.podbean.com/e/environmental-fantasies/.

“Environment and Engagement in German Studies: Projects and Resources for Critical Environmental Thinking.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost. Die Unterrichtspraxis 54, no. 2 (2021): 245–256. https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12174.

“Introduction: Sustainability and Community Engagement in German Studies.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost and Dan Nolan. Die Unterrichtspraxis 54, no. 2 (2021): 239–244. https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12173.

“Decolonizing Folklore? Diversifying the Fairy Tale Curriculum.” Die Unterrichtspraxis 54, no. 1 (2021): 88–102. https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12156.

Scholarly Monograph

Film History for the Anthropocene: The Ecological Archive of German Cinema. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2023. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.4032523.

Peer-Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters

“Bicycle Greenwishing: Images of Sustainability and Infrastructures of Solidarity in Munich and Berlin.” Co-authored with Jennifer Hosek. Forthcoming in German Politics & Society (2026).

“Mountain Movies.” Forthcoming in Routledge Handbook on the History of the Alps, edited by Jon Mathieu and Luigi Lorenzetti.

“Liberating the Captured Image: Bergfilm Legacies and Digital Technologies in Free Solo (2018) and The Alpinist (2021).” In Global Mountain Cinema, ed. Christian Quendler, Caroline Schaumann, and Kamaal Haque, 261–275. Edinburgh University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781399519991-019.

“Heimat for One? Spaces of Community and Disability in Arbeit und Struktur and Tschick.” In Heimat and Migration: Reimagining the Regional and the Global in the Twenty-First Century, ed. Len Cagle, Thomas Herold, and Gabriele Maier, 203–226. Berlin: DeGruyter, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733150-010.

“Environment and Engagement in German Studies: Projects and Resources for Critical Environmental Thinking.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost. Die Unterrichtspraxis 54, no. 2 (2021): 245–256.  https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12174.

“Decolonizing Folklore? Diversifying the Fairy Tale Curriculum.” Die Unterrichtspraxis 54, no. 1 (2021): 88–102. https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12156.

“Image, Environment, Infrastructure: The Social Ecologies of the Bergfilm.” Humanities 10, no. 1 (2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/h10010038.

“Infrastructure, Water, Ecology: Fritz Lang’s Metropolis as Ecological Archive.” Colloquia Germanica 53, no. 2–3 (2021): 249–267. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27089550.

“Leni Riefenstahl, Struggle in Snow and Ice (1933)—Excerpts.” Critical introduction and annotated translation. In Mountains and the German Mind: Translations from Gessner to Messner, 1541-2009, edited by Sean Ireton and Caroline Schaumann, 219–246. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2020. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvxhrk3d.

“Unpacking Heimat: A Spiraled Approach to Identity and Belonging for Global German Studies.” Co-authored with Amanda Randall. Die Unterrichtspraxis 52, no. 2 (2019): 178–186. https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12102.

“Goethe and (Um)Weltliteratur: Environment and Power in Goethe’s Literary Worlds.” Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies 54, no. 2 (2018): 215–230. https://doi.org/10.3138/seminar.54.2_006.

 Special Issues of Journals

“Cultures of Climate Action in Germany.” Special issue. Forthcoming in German Politics and Society 44, no. 2–3 (2026). Co-edited with Sabine von Mering, Kiley Kost, and Daniel Nolan.

“Sustainability and Community Engagement in German Studies.” Special section (introduction and six peer-reviewed articles). Co-edited with Kiley Kost and Daniel Nolan. Die Unterrichtspraxis 54, no. 2 (2021).

Other Scholarly Publications

“Introduction: Cultures of Climate Action in Germany.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost, Daniel Nolan, and Sabine von Mering. Forthcoming in German Politics & Society (2026).

“The Future of German Studies on a Warming Planet: The GSA and Climate Action.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost and Daniel Nolan. Forthcoming in German Studies Review (2026).

“Fostering Sustainability Literacy and Action through Language Education: Perspectives and Practices across Regions.” Co-authored with Maria-José de la Fuente, Odette Gabaudan, Kiley Kost, Owain Llewellyn, and Pilar Molina. Language Learning in Higher Education 15, no. 2 (2025): 485–93. https://doi.org/10.1515/cercles-2024-0099.

“Assessments and Accessibility: Building a Critical German Program at Carleton College.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost and Juliane Schicker. Die Unterrichtspraxis/Teaching German 55, no. 2 (2023): 89–92. https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12235.

“Introduction: Sustainability and Community Engagement in German Studies.” Co-authored with Kiley Kost and Dan Nolan. Introduction to special section of peer-reviewed journal, curated with co-editors Kiley Kost and Dan Nolan. Die Unterrichtspraxis 54, no. 2 (2021): 239–244. https://doi.org/10.1111/tger.12173.

“Sustainability and German Studies: From Ecocriticism to Community Engagement.” Review essay on 2019 GSA seminar on the same topic, co-authored with Kiley Kost and Dan Nolan. German Studies Review 43, no. 2 (2020): 377–384. https://doi.org/10.1353/gsr.2020.0047.

Book Reviews

“Paul Dobryden, The Hygienic Apparatus: Weimar Cinema and Environmental Disorder. Book Review. The German Quarterly 96.4 (2023): 617–620. https://doi.org/10.1111/gequ.12396.

 German Ecocriticism in the Anthropocene, ed. Schaumann and Sullivan; and Readings in the Anthropocene: The Environmental Humanities, German Studies, and Beyond, ed. Wilke and Johnstone. Review essay. German Studies Review 42, no. 2 (May 2019): 418–421. https://doi.org/10.1353/gsr.2019.0072.

“Christopher Schliephake, Urban Ecologies: City Space, Material Agency, and Environmental Politics in Contemporary Culture.” Book Review. Ecozon@ 6, no. 2 (Autumn 2015): 200–203. https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2015.6.2.682.

 Non-Scholarly Publications and Media Coverage

“Die Alpen und Minnesota: Ein akademischer Austausch.” Co-authored with students from GERM 225. Der Alm- und Bergbauer, April 2026.

 “We Can Do This: Reflections on Applying to Be an AATG Center of Excellence.” Critical German Studies Blog. March 8, 2026. https://www.carleton.edu/german/critical-german-studies/news/we-can-do-this-reflections-on-applying-to-be-an-aatg-center-of-excellence/

Grobner, Cornelia. “Vom Kino auf die Piste: Als die Massen Lust auf Skifahren bekamen.” Research profile in Die Presse. February 15, 2025. https://www.diepresse.com/19363815/

“Q&A with Seth Peabody: Exploring German Film History.” Proofed: A Boydell & Brewer Blog. April 17, 2024. https://boydellandbrewer.com/blog/film-and-theatre/qa-with-seth-peabody-exploring-german-film-history/.

“Off Campus: Conversations and Collaboration.” Critical German Studies Blog. May 9, 2023. https://www.carleton.edu/german/critical-german-studies/news/off-campus-conversations-and-collaboration/

“Let’s Talk About Burnout.” Critical German Studies Blog. Co-authored with Kiley Kost and Juliane Schicker. April 16, 2022. https://www.carleton.edu/german/critical-german-studies/news/lets-talk-about-burnout/

“Environmental Fantasies.” With student research partner Esme Krohn and podcast host Clara Hardy. Humanities Centered podcast, February 2022. https://humanitiescentered.podbean.com/e/environmental-fantasies/.

“Revising German 204: Toward Content-Based, Critically-Engaged, Text-Driven Instruction.” Critical German Studies Blog. January 7, 2022. https://www.carleton.edu/german/critical-german-studies/news/revising-german-204/

“More Than Is Already Familiar: Reflections on Diversifying a Syllabus.” Critical German Studies Blog. May 8, 2021. https://www.carleton.edu/german/critical-german-studies/news/more-than-was-already-familiar-reflections-on-diversifying-a-syllabus/

“Photos Not Taken.” In Smith College and the University of Hamburg: Stories from 55 Years of a Transatlantic Friendship, edited by Jocelyne Kolb and Rainer Nicolaysen, 88–91. Hamburg University Press, 2017. https://doi.org/10.15460/HUP.176.

“A Letter to Yvon Chouinard.” In Beyond Doom and Gloom: An Exploration through Letters. Special issue of RCC Perspectives, no. 6 (2014): 27–30. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26241286.

I enjoy playing the tuba, cross-country skiing in the Arb, and playing with my family in the parks around Northfield.