Events

What is “East Germany”? We want to talk about a region often perceived as gray, cold, and politically right-leaning. We aim to discuss how East German lifeworlds are constructed in media representations, political debates, and cultural and literary narratives, navigating between self-description and external attribution, between memory and the present.

In fall 2025, Worlds of Contradiction (WOC) will be 10 years old. An overview of the planned program is available on the WOC website.

Early Career Networking Workshop as part of the 10th anniversary of the WOC Contradictions Festival with members of the WOC Graduate Network (WOC GradNet), the DFG Research Training Group 2686 Contradiction Studies, the Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), the Institute for Social Research (IfS) and the GRK 2638 Normativity, Critique, Change

The dominant understanding of academia assumes that beneficial participation for all involved (students, early career researchers, academic staff…) is based primarily on the ability to make a valuable intellectual contribution to research. In reality, however, universities – and higher education as a whole – are complex social systems in which the agency and access of each individual is determined in multiple ways, including by gender, ethnicity, social class, and health status. These determinations can create powerful cultural and social barriers and inequalities. In the panel discussion “(Breaking) Barriers in Science: Mapping the Field,” we will try to overcome the taboo of not addressing them, identify the most common types of barriers, consider strategies for addressing them, and narrow down the future content of our Navigating Academia series.v

Vanessa Lara Ullrich | Universität Bielefeld

Dr. Philipp Goll | Department of Media Studies | Universität Siegen

Panel discussion on the memory of the events in autumn 1989 in the German Embassy in Prague, as part of the stage play “Über den Zaun”.

Lindokuhle Shabane Comments Fellow: Dr. Debora Nyangulu Guest: Dr. Jonathan Chimakonam | University of Pretoria | South Africa

Jonas Trochemowitz Comments Fellow: Eva Arnaszus Guest: Prof. Dr. Phillip Dreesen | ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften

Eva Arnaszus Comments Fellow: Rosa Lütge Guest: Dr. Ulrich Harlass | University of Bremen