I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for History, where I am working on the project "Human Development and Its Outliers: A Global Microhistory." In general, my research interests include the history of science, technology, and medicine; modern German history; urban history and other histories of place and space; disability studies and disability history; the history of inclusion and exclusion; and the history of visual and material culture.

More information about Brianne Wesolowski

Fields of interest

• Technology and infrastructure studies
• Visual and Material Culture
• Disability history
• Modern German history
• Urban History
• History of Science and Medicine
• History of Statistics

Research

Before joining Leiden University, I completed my PhD at the Institute of Metropolitan Studies at the Technische Universität Berlin, where my dissertation explored the intersection of aesthetics and knowledge production in early twentieth-century Dresden. In particular, I examine the ways in which knowledge about individual and social bodies was presented in various cultures of display, including museums, exhibitions, trade shows, music and dance schools, and even, the circus.  Prior to that, I received my master's in Modern European History from Vanderbilt University and a master's in Theological Studies from Emory University.

As part of my ongoing research for "Human Development and its Outliers" at Leiden's Institute for History, I am exploring the ways in which the politics of inclusion and exclusion were negotiated through international bodies in the postwar period. In particular, I am currently trying to unravel the relationships between human rights discourse and that of climate governance. I am also working on a new book project tentatively entitled "Statistical Aesthetics" that investigates how statistical ways of thinking have shaped the grammars and designs of our visual and material worlds through statistical infographics, architecture, furniture and clothing design, and even dance and choreography.