Society and Current Affairs//Kulturpolitik//Migration//Zivilgesellschaft//Gegenüber Festival
Without a Plan: Germany and Migration
It is a strange picture that Germany is presenting these days. Although workers are needed everywhere and the acceptance of refugees on the labor market is a success story, “irregular migration” seems to be the most controversial topic. People in areas whose populations have been shrinking for years are particularly afraid of migration. How can these contradictions be explained? Germany is de facto only until very recent a country of immigration and obviously attitudes are not really keeping pace with reality. The “crisis” is not so much one of migration as one of mentality.
Mark Terkessidis will be in conversation with Xóchitl Bada, Professor in the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago.
This talk will also be streamed live on our YouTube Channel.
Mark Terkessidis is a freelance author who works on the topics of migration, racism, social change and memory. He studied psychology in Cologne and received a doctorate in education in Mainz. He is the editor of the magazine “Spex”, a presenter for WDR “Funkhaus Europa”, a Fellow at the Piet Zwart Instituut of the Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam, and from 2012 to 2017 served as a lecturer at the University of St Gallen (HSG). He has published numerous articles in “tageszeitung”, “Die Zeit”, “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, “Freitag”, “Literaturen”, “Texte zur Kunst”, and other publications, as well as for “Westdeutscher Rundfunk” and “DeutschlandFunk”. His latest books include: „Interkultur” (2010), „Kollaboration“ (2015, published by edition Suhrkamp), „Nach der Flucht. Neue Vorschläge für die Einwanderungsgesellschaft” (2017, Reclam), ”Wessen Erinnerung zählt. Koloniale Vergangenheit und Rassismus heute” (2019, Hoffmann & Campe), „Das postkoloniale Klassenzimmer“ (2021, Aktion Courage); and (ed. with Natalie Bayer): „Die postkoloniale Stadt lesen. Historische Erkundungen in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg ” (2022, Verbrecher).
Xóchitl Bada is a Professor in the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. A sociologist by training, her work focuses on analyzing the sociology of migration from Latin American countries, with an interest in the rights of migrants and their access to labor rights. Her research delves deep into the root causes and history of cross-border migration from rural Mexico to the U.S. and the patterns of migrant’s transnational participation in the social fabric of their new and home country. Dr. Bada is co-author of the award-winning book Scaling Migrant Worker Rights: How Advocates Collaborate and Contest State Power (University of California Press 2023) and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Latin America, Accountability across Borders: Migrant Rights in North America (University of Texas Press), and The Routledge International Handbook of Transnational Studies (2024).
This talk will also be streamed live on our YouTube Channel.
About the speakers
Mark Terkessidis is a freelance author who works on the topics of migration, racism, social change and memory. He studied psychology in Cologne and received a doctorate in education in Mainz. He is the editor of the magazine “Spex”, a presenter for WDR “Funkhaus Europa”, a Fellow at the Piet Zwart Instituut of the Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam, and from 2012 to 2017 served as a lecturer at the University of St Gallen (HSG). He has published numerous articles in “tageszeitung”, “Die Zeit”, “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, “Freitag”, “Literaturen”, “Texte zur Kunst”, and other publications, as well as for “Westdeutscher Rundfunk” and “DeutschlandFunk”. His latest books include: „Interkultur” (2010), „Kollaboration“ (2015, published by edition Suhrkamp), „Nach der Flucht. Neue Vorschläge für die Einwanderungsgesellschaft” (2017, Reclam), ”Wessen Erinnerung zählt. Koloniale Vergangenheit und Rassismus heute” (2019, Hoffmann & Campe), „Das postkoloniale Klassenzimmer“ (2021, Aktion Courage); and (ed. with Natalie Bayer): „Die postkoloniale Stadt lesen. Historische Erkundungen in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg ” (2022, Verbrecher).Xóchitl Bada is a Professor in the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. A sociologist by training, her work focuses on analyzing the sociology of migration from Latin American countries, with an interest in the rights of migrants and their access to labor rights. Her research delves deep into the root causes and history of cross-border migration from rural Mexico to the U.S. and the patterns of migrant’s transnational participation in the social fabric of their new and home country. Dr. Bada is co-author of the award-winning book Scaling Migrant Worker Rights: How Advocates Collaborate and Contest State Power (University of California Press 2023) and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Latin America, Accountability across Borders: Migrant Rights in North America (University of Texas Press), and The Routledge International Handbook of Transnational Studies (2024).
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.
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