Erasure
Poetry
Project
by Mahshid Mayar, PhD
Mayar, Mahshid. W( )oles and ( )holes: Politically Engaged Erasure Poetry in Twenty-First-Century United States. Monograph
Mayar, Mahshid. “Sorry for the Genocide: Reading Race and Erasure in Layli Long Soldier’s Whereas." Book chapter
Mayar, Mahshid, and Gulsin Ciftci, eds. Texts and Traces of American Pasts: On Forms of Knowing In the Folds of the Archive. European Journal of American Studies 21(4). Journal Special Issue
Mayar, Mahshid, and Mischa Honeck, eds. De Gruyter Companion to U.S. Empire. Berlin: de Gruyter. Edited Volume
Mayar, Mahshid, and Philipp Leonhardt, orgs. Making Sense of America: Conversations on Matters and Methods. University of Innsbruck, July 2-3, 2026. International Conference
Mayar, Mahshid, and Judith Rauscher, eds. Anthropocene Necropolitics: Environmental Ruin and Ruination in US-American Poetry. Journal Special Issue
Mayar, Mahshid, Stefan Benz, and Sabine N. Meyer, eds. Noise in/as Critical American Studies. Edited Volume
Rauscher, Judith, and Mahshid Mayar, orgs. Anthropocene Necropolitics: Empire, Violence, and Ecological Ruin in US Poetry. Conference. University of Cologne, January 2026. International Conference
Mayar, Mahshid. Archiving America/American Archives (71st Annual Meeting of the German Association for American Studies). University of Siegen. June 12-14. Member of Conference Advisory Board
Mayar, Mahshid. “Erasure as Seriality: A Study of the ‘Serial Attitude’ in A Humument and Tree of Codes.” Serial Circulation: Print Cultures and Periodical Modernities, edited by Daniel Stein and Maxi Albrecht. Special issue of Anglia 143(1): 184-198. Open access.
Mayar, Mahshid. “‘I asked why ’: Erasure Poetry, De-Formance, and Re-Formance in Nick Flynn’s ‘Seven Testimonies (redacted)’.” Talk at Ruptures, Fractures, Discontinuities: Troubling American Studies (52nd Conference of the Austrian Association for American Studies). University of Vienna. October 4. Conference Talk
Mayar, Mahshid. “Splintered Archives: Versions and Versioning through Erasure Arts and Poetry.” JAAAS: Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies 6(2): 208- 217. Open access.
Mayar, Mahshid. “Whereas: On Limits of Reconciliation through Layli Long Soldier’s Poetry.” Workshop Land, Reciprocity, and Reconciliation. University of Alberta. May 27. Guest Talk
Mayar, Mahshid, and Gulsin Ciftci, orgs. “A Meeting by the Archive: American Studies, History, and Literature.” Panel at Archiving America/American Archives (71st Annual Meeting of the German Association for American Studies). University of Siegen. June 13. Conference Panel
Mayar, Mahshid. “Documents-Poems: A Study in Erasure Poetry.” University of Paderborn. January 24. Guest Talk
Mayar, Mahshid. “Breath-Taking! The Prosodics of Erasure in the Poetry of M. NourbeSe Philip, Solmaz Sharif, and Philip Metres.” American Soundscapes (70th Annual Meeting of the German Association for American Studies). University of Oldenburg. May 24.
Mayar, Mahshid. “‘My hands always laughing’: Poetry-Testimony in Nick Flynn’s ‘Seven Testimonies’.” University of Münster. October 31. Guest Talk
Mayar, Mahshid. “Restore Like an Erasure Poet: Archival Access, Law, and Erasure Poetry.” Workshop Law and Humanities. University of Bonn. July 3. Guest Talk
Honek, Mischa, and Mahshid Mayar, orgs. U.S. Empire: An Authors’ Workshop. University of Kassel. June 30-July 1. Workshop
Mayar, Mahshid. “American Studies and Critical Sound Studies: Conversations in History, Literature, and Culture.” Seminar at University of Mannheim. Fall/Winter Semester.
Mayar, Mahshid. “Empire is Trans-National: Erasure, Archive, Poetry.” Young Researchers in Transnational American Studies Series. University of Mainz. December 8. Invited Talk
Mayar, Mahshid. “Erase Till You Arrive: Versioning the Scripts of Empire in Erasure Poetry.” Versions of America: Speculative Pasts, Presents, Futures (50th Conference of the Austrian Association for American Studies). University of Klagenfurt. October 22. Keynote Lecture
Mayar, Mahshid. “Erasure as Seriality: A Study of Contemporary Print Culture in A Humument and Tree of Codes.” Conference Serial Circulation: Print Cultures and Periodical Modernities. University of Siegen. June 17. Invited Talk
Mayar, Mahshid. “‘A HISTORY OF THE HOW’: Protest and/in 21st-Century Documentary Poetry.” Lecture Series Contemporary Contexts and Debates: 21st-Century Literatures and Cultures in English. National University Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic. November 8. Invited Talk
Mayar, Mahshid. “Introduction to 21st-Century American Poetry.” Seminar at University of Cologne. Spring Semester.
Mayar, Mahshid. “Sand Opera: Imperial Scripts of Crisis and Intergeneric Fields of Erasure in Philip Metres’ Poetry of Erasure.” Capitalist Crisis Poetry: Neoliberalism and the 21st Century Lyric, edited by Stefan Benz, Marcel Hartwig, and Hannah Schoch. Special issue of Amerikastudien/American Studies 68(2): 231-241. Open access.
Mayar, Mahshid. “Sound,Silence, and Noise in US Literature and Culture.” Advanced Seminar at University of Cologne. Spring Semester.
Mayar, Mahshid. This Is NOT An Apology: A Critical Erasure Project. Exhibition Curator of Student Art Project. University of Cologne. Art/Science Installation
Mayar, Mahshid. “Document, Poetry, Art: Solmaz Sharif and Jenny Holzer on War Documents.” American Studies Research Colloquium. University of Düsseldorf. January 27. Invited Talk
Mayar, Mahshid. “Poetry of Erasure: Theory and Practice.” Advanced Seminar at University of Cologne. Fall/Winter Semester.
Mayar, Mahshid. “Silence and Silencing: Conversations in American Cultural Studies.” Advanced Seminar at University of Paderborn. Spring Semester.
Mayar, Mahshid. “Silence as Masquerade: Punctuation, Prosody, and Performance in ‘A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart Disease’.” In Silence and Its Derivatives: Conversations Across Disciplines, edited by Mahshid Mayar and Marion Schulte. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 179-197. Book Chapter
Mayar, Mahshid, and Sabine Meyer, orgs. “Sound (and) Political Education? Sonic Dissent as Aesthetic and Political Praxis.” Political Education & American Studies (68th Annual Meeting of the German Association for American Studies). June 11. Conference Panel
Mayar, Mahshid, and Marion Schulte, eds. Silence and Its Derivatives: Conversations Across Disciplines. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Edited Volume
Mayar, Mahshid, and Marion Schulte. “Silences in History, Linguistics, and Literature: An Introduction.” In Silence and Its Derivatives: Conversations Across Disciplines, edited by Mahshid Mayar and Marion Schulte. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 1-18. Book Chapter
Mayar, Mahshid. “‘Do they you?’: Erasure in Solmaz Sharif’s ‘Dear Salim’ Poems.” Lecture Series Current Issues in North American and Cultural Studies. University of Bonn. November 23. Invited Talk
Mayar, Mahshid, org. “Silence in/of Archives: Absence, Erasure, Censorship, and Archival Politics.” Minorities, Cultures of Integration and Patterns of Exclusion (6th European Congress on Universal and Global History). Turku. June 17. Conference Panel
Mayar, Mahshid. “That which doesn’t rhyme with itself! Introduction to 21st-Century American Poetry.” Advanced Seminar at University of Bielefeld. Fall/Winter Semester.
Mayar, Mahshid. “Shhhhhh! Construction of Silence in U.S. History and Culture.” Advanced Seminar at University of Bielefeld. Spring Semester.
Mayar, Mahshid. “Silent Protest in Erasure Literature: The Poetic and The Political.” Conference The Anechoic Chamber: Construction and Reception of Silence in Language, Literature, Music, Politics, and History. University of Bielefeld. October 2. Conference Talk
Mayar, Mahshid. “Verbs of Empire: U.S. Empire in Literature, Culture, and History.” MA Seminar at University of Bielefeld. Fall/Winter Semester.
Mayar, Mahshid, and Marion Schulte, orgs. The Anechoic Chamber: Construction and Reception of Silence in Language, Literature, Music, Politics, and History. Workshop. University of Bielefeld. October 1-2. Conference