University of Gothenburg
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  4. Christian Mehrstam

Christian Mehrstam

Senior Lecturer

Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion
Telephone
+46 31-786 25 03
Mail
christian.mehrstam@lir.gu.se
Visiting address
Renströmsgatan 6
41255 Göteborg
Room number
H413
Postal address
Box 200
405 30 Göteborg

About Christian Mehrstam

I am an associate professor of literature at the University of Gothenburg. My research deals with the potential for transformation in different media. It is typically cross-disciplinary, branching into computer science, game studies, comic studies and media history. I wrote my thesis on text theory and second-order cybernetics. My most recent book is Literary Aesthetics in Exploratory Programming: The Act of Coding (2026), published by CRC Press.

I organize the faculty's Tech Thursdays: pop-up workshops where we try out and play around with code, technology, games and early stage ideas. I also participate in the regular DH seminar, and co-edit Imagining the Impossible: International Journal of the Fantastic in Contemporary Media.

My teaching is divided between literary studies, digital humanities, media history and critical studies. I teach on all levels, from undergratue to doctoral, and am responsible for From Code to Critical Thinking: Problems in Digital Research and Design, Fictive Futures, and Cultural Heritage and Digital Methods.

Interests: exploratory programming, cybernetics/systems theory, code history, Lisp, Forth, algorithmic criticism, popular genres, game design, comics, poetry.