Cynthia D. Porter (she/her) is a German and Comparative Media scholar. Reflecting the interdisciplinarity of her training and research, her work engages the fields of Body Studies, Comparative Media Studies, German Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Film Studies. Engaging in phenomenology, Cynthia’s work includes an inspection and interpretation of the body-mind connection in relation to body modification and depictions of German history and heritage in popular American media.

 

Her work also examines the intersections of Black Diaspora Studies and German Studies, with a focus on how bodies are interpreted, valued, and imbued with meaning across cultural contexts. Cynthia is sunsetting as co-chair of the Black Diaspora Studies Interdisciplinary Network within the German Studies Association and supports the German Studies Area Chair for the Northeastern Modern Languages Association (NeMLA), contributing to the organization and facilitation of scholarly discourse in the field.

 

Her current book manuscript examines tattoos found in cultural objects produced in the wake of great cultural rupture and transition in German 20th-century history. She views tattooing as a practice with socially defined transformative power related to body politics. Her book explores themes of belonging, sexuality, fantasy, gender, eugenics, and identity curation, folding them into an analysis of the body as a site and interface used to determine meaning- and value assignment. Supporting this work, from June–December 2025, Cynthia was a Career Enhancement Fellow, funded by the Mellon Foundation.

 

During the fall 2026 semester, Cynthia is one of OSU’s “Arts and Humanities AI Explorers” as a part of the Arts and Humanities AI Institute (AHAII), where she will apply her body studies research and expertise to questions and anxieties tied to media and the rapidly evolving AI technological landscape as it influences our everyday lives.

 

More recent publications reflect her growing engagement with Black German Studies, feminist inquiry, and pedagogy. These include the article “Black American Feminist Struggle in Contemporary Berlin: An Example of Nkwaethnography in German Studies” (Feminist German Studies, 2025), which develops the methodological framework of Nkwaethnography; “Connecting Curriculum with Cultural Context: The 2020 #ScholarStrike and Teaching Responsibility in the German Language Classroom” (The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, 2025/2026), which examines the relationship between social justice activism and language pedagogy; and the public-facing essay “‘Lonely Only’ Voices: Modeling Perseverance, Power Despite Pain, and Possibility” (Dear Higher Education: Letters from the Social Justice Mountain, 2026).

 

Other recent academic-facing, peer-reviewed publications include a conversation on the significance of cross-racial collaboration in academic pursuits with Amy Lynne Hill, titled “The Necessary Vulnerability of Cross-Racial Collaboration: A Conversation,“ published in Feminist German Studies. Other publications credited to Cynthia include “Genetics in the X-Men Film Franchise: Mutants as Allegories of Difference,” in the journal Frontiers in Genetics, a solo article “Germans and Genes on Screen: Marvel’s X-Men Films,” and an edited volume chapter entitled ”The Promise of Agency: Photographs and Value in Tattoo (2002)“ in Moving Frames: Photographs in German Media. Her inaugural article was published in 2020, entitled “Lang’s Fury Continues to Resonate in the #BlackLivesMatter Movement.” Current research projects include autoethnographic explorations, investigations into the complex intersections and anxieties surrounding the physical body and generative artificial intelligence (genAI), and critical analyses of the #Tradwife trend.

 

On the front of public scholarship, in summer 2025 Cynthia provided introductory remarks to a public screening of Fritz Lang’s Fury (1936) at Filmhaus Nürnberg while visiting the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. She also had a cameo on the ARD television series PlusMinus.

 

In addition to her research, Cynthia is increasingly engaged in fostering cross-cultural literary dialogue, particularly through her work with contemporary authors based in Germany whose writings are being translated into English for American audiences. Notably, she participated in a conversation with author Sharon Dodua Otoo hosted at Harvard University in celebration of the American English translation of Ada’s Room (2023), further deepening her commitment to transnational literary exchange. Further, with fellow German scholar Dr. Anjeana Hans, Cynthia recently engaged in a conversation with German author Thomas Blubacher, who had his translated book Weimar Under the Palms: Pacific Palisades, German Exiles, and the Invention of Hollywood published by Brandeis University Press in fall 2025.

 

When it comes to her teaching, some of Cynthia's favorite course offerings include “Afro-German History & Culture,” “Body Modification in German History,” and “Women in German Media.” In addition to her advanced German courses, she greatly enjoys teaching introductory courses to the German language. However, due to invaluable support provided by OSU, Cynthia will be on teaching leave for the 2026-2027 AY.