Martin Dege
Associate Professor

Biography
Martin Dege, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Narrative Inquiry in the Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies at Pratt Institute. His work is based on historical investigations and theoretical approaches to psychology as a discipline. Martin’s past publications cover topics such as action research, culture and psychology, agency, identity politics, digitalization, and the self. In recent years, Martin explored concepts of crisis as they shape our everyday lives and the narratives we deploy to make meaning of the world and ourselves.
Martin currently works on two distinct projects.
In a book project titled When the Shit Hits the Fan – Narratives of Human Remains, Martin explores narratives of human metabolic waste on both metaphorical and ontological levels. In a journey that takes him from early enlightenment accounts of filth through Hegelian and Marxian applications of shit to psychoanalytical accounts of abjection, colonized humans and the category of waste, and, ultimately, postcolonial resurrections and digital erections, he explores how potty training relates to capitalism in its contemporary techno-feudalist iteration.
Martin also hopes to complete another book project entitled “A Reading of the Interpretation of Dreams” in time for the 125th anniversary of the publication of Sigmund Freud’s Traumbuch. The goal of this manuscript is to offer a somewhat eclecticist reading of the Interpretation of Dreams in an attempt to disentangle some psychoanalytical concepts that may help readers engage with their dreams productively.
Martin is the series editor of Studies in Narrative (SiN) with John Benjamins Publishing.
He is also a co-organizer of the 2026 Conference of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology at Pratt Institute.
Martin serves as the Secretary of The International Society for Theoretical Psychology (ISTP). He is co-editor of Journal für Psychologie, Associate Editor of Trends in Psychology, Scientific Board Member of Human Arenas, and on the Editorial Boards of Theory & Psychology and the International Review of Theoretical Psychologies.
Education
Martin received PhD and MA degrees in Psychology from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and a BA from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. He has been at Pratt since 2020. In the past, he worked at the American University of Paris, the University of Potsdam, the University of Konstanz, the University of Hamburg, and Yale University. Martin is the recipient of various research scholarships, including the Marie Curie Program of the EU, the Fritz-Thyssen Foundation, and the German Academic Scholarship Foundation.
Publications and Projects
Recent and Upcoming Books:
Dege, M. (Ed.) (forthcoming, 2026). More than Small Stories. John Benjamins.
Dege, M. (2023). Action Research and Critical Psychology. Springer.
Recent and Upcoming Book Chapters:
Dege, M. (2026|forthcoming). Betty and Jacques. In M. Dege (Ed.) More than small stories. John Benjamins.
Dege, M. (2025|forthcoming). Ideology. In T. Teo (Ed.) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. Palgrave.
Dege, M. (2025|forthcoming). False Consciousness. In T. Teo (Ed.) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. Palgrave.
Dege, M. (2025|forthcoming). Kurt Lewin. In T. Teo (Ed.) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. Palgrave.
Recent Journal Articles:
Dege, M (2026|in preparation). Self-Narrative as Self-Betrayal: Identity Production in Late Capitalism. Diegesis.
Dege, M. (2026|submitted). The Politics of Kurt Lewin. History of Psychology.
Strasser, I., & Dege, M. (2021). Arenas of Crisis. Human Arenas.