Dr Janien Linde

Dr. Janien Linde is a senior lecturer in Afrikaans and Dutch Literature at the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University. She was appointed in January of 2015. She held a similar position at the University of Johannesburg during 2012 and 2013. She completed BA and BA Honours degrees Masters in Afrikaans and Dutch literature. She obtained a Master’s Degree (Cum Laude) in Afrikaans and Dutch Literature form the North-West University with a dissertation on cognitive narratology, friendship and eudaimonia in Die sneeuslaper (The snowsleeper) by Marlene van Niekerk. For this she received the Marius Jooste-medal for best MA-dissertation completed in the Subject Group Afrikaans and Dutch during 2014. Her PhD thesis (2018) in Linguistics and Literary Theory focussed on metamodernism, performativity and relationality in the oeuvre of Marlene van Niekerk. Her research interests include Afrikaans and Dutch poetry and prose, literary theory, comparative literature, post-postmodernism, posthumanism and postcritical reading strategies. In 2019 Linde spent 3 months in Antwerp, Belgium lecturing a Master-level course on Afrikaans literature. Linde has served on the review committee for the UJ Literary Prize, as well as on the executive committees of LASA (the Literary Association of South Africa) and of the ALV (the Afrikaans Literary Association) of which she is currently the secretary. She is actively involved in the Afrikaans literary community, presenting lectures at reading groups and book clubs, and reviewing academic papers and literary texts.

Her interest in narrative identity and performance springs from the research done for her PhD.