Christine Achinger studied Philosophy, Literature and Physics in Paris and Hamburg, where she was also involved in the non-commercial radio station FSK and in running the independent political library 'Hamburger Studienbibliothek', and worked at the concentration camp memorial site Hamburg-Neuengamme and in the 'Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden'. After completing an MA in 'Gender and Ethnic Studies' in London and a PhD in German Studies at the University of Nottingham, she joined the Department of German Studies at Warwick University in 2006. Her research interests and publications are in the areas of Critical Social Theory, literary theory, and histories and theories of antisemitism, racialisation and gender.

Achinger held Visiting Fellowships at the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, the History Department at the University of Chicago and the Institut für Sozialforschung in Frankfurt. Achinger currently also chairs the Moishe Postone Legacy Project, which seeks to make Postone's work available to all, and to promote engagement with his ideas.

Research Project at EXC 2020:

Constellations of Alterity: Constructions of Race, Femininity and Jewishness in Germany's long 19th Century (October 2025)