Program

Gegenüber Festival
Culture talks @ Goethe: Naika Foroutan & Ratna Omidvar on the post-migrant paradigm

Culture Talk © Canva
Presented by the Goethe-Institut & CERC Migration

As part of the Longing/Belonging festival across Goethe-Institutes in North America, the Goethe-Institut Toronto is hosting a salon conversation with Senator Ratna Omidvar and Prof. Naika Foroutan on cultural differences and belonging in diverse societies. They will discuss immigration, national identity, diversity, migration, and diaspora issues.

Part of the Festival “Longing / Belonging”

Stories of migration characterize our modern societies, in which people from different cultural backgrounds search for belonging. Cultural diversity is celebrated on the one hand, but at the same time new social boundaries are emerging. The Goethe-Institut's “Longing/Belonging” festival presents artistic contributions and social discourses from Germany and North America.

Festival Website ➜



Prof. Naika Foroutan, a CERC Scholar of Excellence at Toronto Metropolitan University for fall 2024, is a Social Sciences Professor at Berlin’s Humboldt University. She heads the integration studies and social policy department at the Berlin Institute on Integration and Migration and co-directs the German Center for Integration and Migration. Her research focuses on immigration, identity, attitudes towards minorities, and the impact of pluralization. Her books include The Post-migrant Society: A Promise of Plural Democracy and Es wäre einmal deutsch. Foroutan also explores "collateral racism" during her time as a CERC Scholar.

The German Center for Integration and Migration Research, led by Prof. Foroutan, was tasked with developing a National Discrimination and Racism Monitor to understand and record racism in Germany. This research highlights analytical differences between Germany and North America in understanding racism. Foroutan will also participate in a workshop on academic leadership in migration studies at TMU.

Senator Ratna Omidvar, C.M., O.Ont., represents Ontario in the Senate of Canada and is an internationally recognized voice on migration, diversity, and inclusion. She is a Member of the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, and received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.Senator Omidvar was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Global Diversity Exchange (GDX) at TMU, a think-and-do tank on diversity and migration. She was the founding Executive Director of GDX and has previously led efforts to promote immigrant integration as President of Maytree. Senator Omidvar studied and taught German at the Goethe-Institut New Delhi and was a speaker at the 2016 GOETHE FILMS series at TIFF Lightbox.

Part of the Goethe-Institut festival Longing/Belonging.
 

Goethe-Institut Toronto

100 University Ave, North Tower, 2nd Floor
Toronto M5J 1V6
Kanada

Details

Culture Talk

jutta.brendemuehl@goethe.de

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