Settling Into motion

Public closing ceremony of the international conference of the program „Settling Into Motion“ – The Bucerius Ph. D. Scholarships in Migration Studies, ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius

How to deal with cultural diversity in the context of global migration and globalization movements? What kind of challenges and implications arise from the culturally and socially diverse post- migrationnal societies with regard to the work of cultural institutions, actors and multipliers?

How do concepts and practices of "multiculturalism" within cultural policies amplify and change?

Together, the writer Grada Kilomba (Berlin / Germany), the sociologist Peggy Levitt (Wellesley College / US), and the politic- and media scientist Onur Kömürcü (London / GB) will discuss current transformations, experiences and perspectives of cultural productions in the era of diversity and migration, moderated by Jens Schneider (Hamburg / D), a migration researchers with extensive experience in the field of cultural education .

Jens Schneider

Jens Schneider studied ethnology and musicology and received his doctorate on " Das Eigene und das Fremde " at the University of Tübingen. He experienced some direct intervention with the topics of migration and immigration during his work with unaccompanied minors who are refugees and whilst mentoring a project for students with immigrant background.

He was also a lecturer at the universities of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg and coordinator of the European-wide survey "TIES" (The integration of the European Second Generation). Currently, Jens Schneider is a research fellow at the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies in Amsterdam, and project leader at verikom (Association for Intercultural Education and Communication e.V.) in Hamburg.

Grada Kilomba

Grada Kilomba studied clinical psychology and psychoanalysis in Lisbon, where she worked with war survivors in an psychiatric establishment, and developed several projects in the fields of memory and trauma. Early on she started publishing her literary work, combining academic writing and lyrical narrative to approach remembered stories of slavery, colonialism and racism. Among others, she is the author of the book ‚Plantation Memories’ (Unrast 2008), a compilation of episodes of everyday racism written in the form of short stories. Following its release at the 2008 International Literature Festival in Berlin, her book has been internationally acclaimed. She has been working on several theatre projects and lecturing in the frame of postcolonial studies at the Freie Universität - Berlin, department of political sciences; and at the University of Ghana, Legon/Accra, department of African studies and Performing Arts. She holds a distinguished Ph.D. from the Freie Universität. Currently she is writing in her novel ‚Kalunga’, a story on the Transatlantic, Separation, Encounter and the world of the Orishas.

Peggy Levitt

Peggy Levitt is a Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College and a Research Fellow at The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University where she co-directs The Transnational Studies Initiative. She holds different guest professorships (Malmö, Limerick, Bologna) and will be teaching as a International Fellow at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije University in Amsterdam during 2010-2012. Her research interests include transnationalism, migration, religion, sociology of cultures and ethnicities, and Latin-American studies. Among her publications are God Needs No Passport: Immigrants and the Changing American Religious Landscape (2007), The Transnational Studies Reader (2007), The Changing Face of Home: The Transnational Lives of the Second Generation (2002), and The Transnational Villagers (2001). Art across Borders, a film based on her research, came out in 2009.

Onur Kömürcü

Onur Suzan Kömürcü studied Social Sciences, Media and Communications and Political Sciences in Berlin and Düsseldorf. She worked as a freelancing journalist for several years (”die tageszeitung”, “persembe”, “WDR”), a researcher (Institute for Urban Sociology, Humboldt Universität Berlin, and Archive of Youth Cultures, Berlin), PR and tour manager (”Brothers Keepers”), project coordinator and seminar leader (Project P, School without Racism - School with Courage). She completed her Master of Arts in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College, University of London, where she is currently holding a scholarship of the ZEIT-Foundation for completing her Ph.D in the context of the program “Settling into Motion”. Her research interests include creative and precarious labour, theories on cultural industries, cultural politics and critical race studies.

An event of

in co-operation with Haus der Kulturen der Welt