Emerging Topics Research Group "Migration" – Workshop

Invitation to an "Intellectual Picnic"

The Emerging Topics Group on Migration will be organizing an “intellectual picnic” in which the question of how to rethink the political in times of the so-called “refugee crisis” in Europe will be discussed.

This meeting will be held in the format of a self-organized workshop. Our aim will be to exchange our immediate views, analysis and thoughts regarding the summer of  “refugees welcome” in Germany and the current debates on re-establishing national borders within the EU Schengen zone.

We would like to look at the impact these events have on us, personally, politically and intellectually. Departing from here, we hope to create an open space for collective reflection, from where topics will emerge for our future work.  In order to facilitate this conversation, we propose to work with workshop instructions created by Ultra Red.  

1. Bring two objects, related to your research or just to the question you would like to raise. These objects can be soundwalk-recordings, photographs, films or film clips of max. 3 minutes, regular or exceptional material objects, poems, extracts of literary texts, interviews or talks, maps, paintings, performance or other kind of objects relevant to the question of the workshop..
2. Present them and ask: What do you see or hear?
3. Write down the answers
4. Go on with the next contribution in the same way
5. After the presentation of all objects, explain (5 Min.) why you have chosen these objects, why and how they contribute to the topic

Everybody is invited, but not forced to bring these objects. We welcome other research group members and invite them to participate

Suggested preparatory readings:

Etienne Balibar (2015) Europe and the refugees: a demographic enlargement, in:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/etienne-balibar/europe-and-refugees-demographic-enlargement(14.11.2015)