In this moderated discussion we will talk about narratives on Europeanness and the implication of EU border regimes along the Balkan Refugee Route in the larger context of European integration. How have European integration processes transformed asylum, immigration and overall bordering policies as well as narratives on (European) belonging? How do European policies reinforce racism and Islamophobia and produce whiteness through racialized border regimes? We will also explore how new political networks and social movements for solidarity confront...

„United in diversity“ is the official motto of the European Union. The underlying promise: a pluralistic Europe offering everyone equal opportunities, visibility, acceptance, and participation. But despite much that has been achieved, it has always been and still is more of a vision than a lived reality which is now increasingly under attack by populist and nationalist tendencies. As a matter of fact, not everyone has the same access or right to participation in Europe,...

Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic is currently at the centre of public discourse, addressing climate change and transitioning to renewable energy systems should remain at the top of the agenda. The global pandemic and its disruptive consequences for the world’s economies and societies can be seen as a chance to build back better and move towards more sustainable systems for people and the planet. As the generation standing to be affected the most by climate change,...

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 15. & 16.12.20 (7-9 pm, CET) with Prof. Philomena Essed and Tran Thi Thu Trang In light of countless cases of police violence as well as extremist right-wing attacks, racism, in its everyday, systemic, and institutional forms, was given particular public attention in 2020. Whereas the Black Lives Matter protests in the US by far received the greatest attention, also activists in Europe went to the streets and voiced  their experiences...

European societies are characterized by plurality, but equally so by contemporary forms of racism that have long lasting links to a seemingly far away past. Racisms are as fluid as the contexts in which they come about, but still appear to follow certain recognizable logics and fulfil particular functions. What characterizes contemporary racisms in European societies today? In addition to observing the effects these racisms still have for people affected by racial discrimination in Europe...

On Friday, 13.11.20 (3-5 pm, CET) with Vanessa Vu of the podcast 'Rice and Shine' In this workshop, Vanessa Vu will speak about her experiences and learnings from creating and developing an independent podcast, how to build outreach, find good stories and share general tips & tricks about how to start your own podcast. This is a workshop directed at young media makers (17-26 years old), engaging in anti-racist educational or activist work online, as...

Recent global developments have shed light on racial inequalities on a structural and broader level, questioning structural racism and (white) privileges. In this livetalk, we talked about why critical whiteness is more important than ever, in which sense cultural appropration is dangerous and what can we learn from anti-racist, educational work on social media. No White Saviors (NWS) is an advocacy campaign led by a majority female, majority African team of professionals based in Kampala, Uganda. The campaign was...

On Monday, 26.10.20 (3-4 pm, CET) with the team of the Instagram channel and campaign 'No White Saviors'   In the online workshop 'How to do anti-racist educational work on social media?' the team members of the No White Saviors Instagram channel shared their experiences of online educational work on Instagram. On their wide-reaching channel they mainly foster debates on white saviorism and are equally word-leading in debates on critical whiteness and anti-black racism. This...

Even though racism is inseparable from European history and the continents' colonial past, the idea of Europe as a "colorblind continent" has been central to the continents' narrative. In her book ‘European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe.’ (2011), our speaker Fatima El-Tayeb, Professor for Literature and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego, examines how racialized communities in Europe produce new forms of identity and activism as tension between a growing non-white,...

This event will take place in german.