Ethan joined the Germanic Languages department at Columbia after receiving a B.A. in History and Comparative Literature (specializing in German as a national literature) at New York University. Their undergraduate Honors thesis in History analyzed how the cultural production and political legacy of Jewish artists and leaders in the German Democratic Republic both contributed to and often challenged the state's post-war anti-fascist narrative.
Ethan's current research interests encompass a wide array of topics from modern German-Jewish and Yiddish literature to critical pedagogy, and the politics of memory and aesthetics. He is affiliated with the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.