Dr. Olga Mennecke

• Political language: ideology, propaganda, enemy construction and war legitimation in political and diplomatic discourse
• Media discourse: hate speech, fear speech, disinformation, fake news
• Religious language and violence: war sermons and violence legitimation, religious othering and dehumanisation
• Cultural and narrative identity constructions: collective self- and other-images, national myths and stereotyping

Papers in peer-reviewed journals:

• Mennecke, Olga, Khislavski, Grigori, and Beatrix Kress (submitted): Metaphor-based religious othering and pragmatic aggression: A case study of Russian wartime sermons.
• Mennecke, Olga, and Beatrix Kreß. 2026. Spiritual guidance or ideological control? Framing of war in Russian Orthodox sermons during the Ukraine invasion. Critical Discourse Studies, 23(4), 407-428;  https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2025.2466610 or on Kudos Research Showcase
• Mennecke, Olga. 2024. The Groundwork of Putin's War: Mental Models and Ideological References in Vladimir Putin's “Crimean” Speech. Journal of Language and Politics, 23(2), 197-218; https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22110.men or on  Kudos Research Showcase
• Mennecke, Olga. 2024. “Kyiv regime,” “junta,” “neo-Nazis,” “ethnic Jew”: Discursive Derogation of Ukrainian Authorities and Enemy-Other Constructions in Vladimir Putin’s Speeches. Canadian Slavonic Papers, 66(3–4), 323–347;  https://doi.org/10.1080/00085006.2024.2415798
• with Arseniy Kumankov (in prep.): War Myths and Identity Narration in Russian History Textbooks after 2022.
• Mennecke, Olga (in prep.): Hijacking the UN Floor: A corpus-based study of Russia’s UN discourse on the Ukraine war (2022-2025).
• Mennecke, Olga (in prep.): Transitivity Analysis and Ideological Potential of In- and Outgroup Representations in Vladimir Putin's “Crimean” (2014) and “Four Regions” Speeches (2022).
• Mennecke, Olga (in prep.): The People and the People's Will as Empty Signifiers in Russian Political Discourse.

Book:

• Mennecke, Olga (forthcoming): Sprachliche Realisationen des Ideologischen und Bedeutungskonstruktion in Annexionsreden von Wladimir Putin. Reihe “Specimina philologiae Slavicae”. Berlin: Peter Lang.

Chapters in edited volumes and online:

• Mennecke, Olga. 2023. Contentualizing Students' Motivation in Online Language Courses. In: Kress, Beatrix, and Holger Kusse (eds.): Enhancing Teaching Practice in Higher Education. International Perspectives on Academic Teaching and Learning. Berlin: Peter Lang.
• Mennecke, Olga, and Kathrin Schweiger. 2021. “Aligning Competence with Assessment: Forms of Examination in the M.Sc. Program “German as a Second/Foreign Language” at the Hildesheim University Foundation.” In: Wang, Dan, and Xiaoxin Chen (eds.): Framing Challenges in Higher Education. International Research Conference Proceedings (University of Sanya, Hainan 19.-23.11.2019). Dresden: Fontanum.
• Mennecke, Olga. 2021. Intercultural Competence in Practice: Internship Abroad in the B.A. Program “International Information Management” at the Hildesheim University Foundation. On: SHS Web Conf. Vol. 99, Proceedings on the International Scientific Conference “Delivering Impact in Higher Education Learning and Teaching: Enhancing Cross-Border Collaborations” (DIHELT 2021)

• June 2027 (accepted) – Panel organizer, "Metaphor-based Othering and Pragmatic Aggression in Public Discourse"; 20th International Pragmatics Conference (IPC20), University of Helsinki
• October 2026 (accepted) – Panel organizer, "The Glory Pipeline: War Myths, Education, and the Politics of Memory in Russia after 2022"; joint presentation with Dr. Arseniy Kumankov "On War Myths and Identity Scripts: How Russian History Textbooks Reuse the ‘Great Patriotic War’ to Frame the ‘Special Military Operation’"; Third Congress of Central and East European Studies (ceecon26), Free University of Berlin
• July 2026 – "Strategies of War-Naming and Moral Mobilization in ROC Sermons since 2022", joint presentation with Prof. Dr. Beatrix Kreß; European Academy of Religion Annual Conference (EuARe 2026), LUISS University, Rome
• April 2026 – "Hijacking the UN Floor: A corpus-based study of Russia’s UN discourse on the Ukraine war (2022-2025)"; The British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies’ Annual Conference 2026 (BASEES 2026), University of Birmingham
• July 2025 – "Disrupting peace and non-violence: Lexical variations of war in Russian Orthodox Church sermons"; The International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES) XI World Congress, University College London
• February 2023 – "Murky ideology in discourse: Putin's addresses since 2014"; International Symposium "Language, Media, Culture, Literature, and the War: Constructions, Representations, and Responses", VolkswagenStiftung, Hannover
• July 2022 – "Krieg als Bestandteil der Russischen Welt"; lecture series “Perspectives on War”, organised by the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Hildesheim
• July 2022 – "Sprachliche Realisationen der Ideologie und ihre mentalen Modelle im russischen politischen Diskurs"; Young DGO/German Association for Eastern European Studies, University of Jena

Peer-Review activities for:

• Social Sciences & Humanities Open
• Russian Linguistics 
• Zeitschrift für Slawistik
• Social Semiotics

Academic Memberships:

• International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)

Project Experience:

• Urban Voices: Linguistic and communicative diversity
• ENTEP

Bachelor’s level:

• Advanced seminar “Language- and Culture-Comparative Analyses of Authentic Communication”/Sprach- und kulturvergleichende Analysen authentischer Kommunikation (Vertiefung)
• Seminar “Language Use in the Media”/Sprachliches Handeln in Medien
• Seminar “Analysis of Foreign-Language Communication”/Analyse fremdsprachiger Kommunikation
• Seminar “Negotiating across Cultures: Russia”/Negotiating across Cultures: Russland
• Seminar “Oral and Written Proficiency in Russian”/Mündliche und schriftliche Kompetenz Russisch
• Seminar “Varieties and Language Contact”/Varietät und Sprachkontakt

Master’s level:

• Seminar “Intercultural Regional and Cultural Studies”/Landeskunde interkulturell
• Seminar “Language Proficiency Assessment in German as a Second and Foreign Language”/Sprachstandsdiagnostik DaZ/DaF
• Language practice course “Additional Foreign Language: Russian I and II”/ Übung “Weitere Fremdsprache: Russisch I und II”

12/2025                    Doctorate (Dr. phil.), University of Hildesheim

since 08/2018           Research Associate, Institute for Intercultural Communication, University of Hildesheim

10/2017 – 06/2022   Visiting Lecturer in German as a Foreign Language (B2–C1), Leibniz University Hannover

01/2017 – 07/2018   Lecturer in German as a Foreign Language (A1–B2; refugee and integration courses), VHS Hannover

07/2014 – 08/2016   Student Research Assistant, Institute for Intercultural Communication, University of Hildesheim

• PhD programme/dissertation project: “Linguistic Manifestations of Ideology and Meaning Construction in Vladimir Putin’s Annexation Speeches”; Supervision and evaluation: Prof. Dr Beatrix Kreß, University of Hildesheim, and Prof. Dr Holger Kuße, TU Dresden
• MA in International Information Management – Linguistics and Intercultural Communication/University of Hildesheim
• BA in International Communication and Translation/University of Hildesheim
• Diploma in Linguistics and Translation Studies/University of Irkutsk
• Additional Qualification in German as a Second/Foreign Language, accredited by the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees/BAMF
• Further Professional Training: “Learning to Write, Teaching to Write,” University of Göttingen