Policy & Practice

June 18, 2013 2

Review: Become a German (in just under 650 hours)

You must clean up after your dog. You must ride your bike in the right direction of the bike lane, recites a Russian student. The audience chuckles. First work, then... chants the teacher. The audience groans. Do you know any examples of German humor? asks the teacher. Uhhh, fumbles the Japanese student. 10 seconds go by. I'm still thinking, he mutters and scratches his head. The audience roars... [Read More!]

June 14, 2013 1

Happy Weekend: Breakfast with Korea, Supper with Afghanistan

Tomorrow is the All Nations Festival: an open house to many of the city's embassies, consulates, and cultural centers. Get ready for free food, dance performances, calligraphy workshops, language lessons, and interesting tales to this year's theme of "superstition" from the following participating countries: Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Bolivia, China, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Iraq, Yemen, Korea, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Nepal, Palestine, South Sudan, Chad, Venezuela (and the Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung). It is no coincidence that many of the countries registered have faced bad press or sweeping generalizations as of late, no coincidence that they are opening their doors and hoping to share something with their neighbors... [Read More!]

June 9, 2013 2

Weekend Review: Germany’s ‘Brown Babies’ (how America’s good-guy image might get a run for its money)

Berlin can be a historical mine field. Escaping the fact that genocide, division, tyranny, even the colonial division of Africa began on this ground is an impossible feat. As American tourists wander through the many memorials to the lost, murdered, and persecuted that saturate the city with this remembrance of tragedy, I have to ask myself: Do we Americans think that we were always the “good guys” in this mess? [Read More!]

June 6, 2013 1

The N-Word

When I posted the Who's/Whose Normal? article a few weeks ago, I expected the "N-word" of interest to be Neger, a term that falls somewhere between "negro" and "nigger" on the translation and offensiveness spectrum. Instead, the strongest reactions came in response to another N-Word: Nazi... [Read More!]

May 29, 2013 5

Prejudice with Condiments: understanding Schwabenhass

The ketchup- or cheese-smeared faces of Swabian and Berliner icons are just one small part of a culture war between imagined identities and exaggerated actors, i.e. the alternative Berliner vs. the fancy-schmancy Swabian. The worst part in this so-called Spätzlekrieg or 'Spätzel war' is the escalation from humorous prodding to line-crossing slogans. Parallels between Nazi persecution of the Jews, particularly in the insignia of Kristallnacht, can be found across the city. Berlin is a city rife with history; is its memory this short? [Read More!]

May 18, 2013 1

Happy Weekend: Karneval der Kultur(en), Carnival of Culture(s)?

What if the local government wanted to take stock of its cultures, parade its diversity through the city streets – what would you wear to participate? This weekend Berlin’s parade of culture, Karneval der Kulturen, takes over my Kreuzberg Kiez (neighborhood) once again, promising to leave trails of glitter and plastic cocktail remnants in its wake, as well as much food for thought in answering this question of cultural self-representation... [Read More!]

May 14, 2013 2

Rant: Who’s/Whose Normal?

It's these little images, phrases, and jokes that become so deeply engrained within our mindsets and pervasive within our culture that they are considered "normal". But in a city as diverse as Berlin - where 1 in every 7 inhabitants is non-German, over 138 countries are represented, and the LGBT population is one of Europe's largest - what or who the hell is "normal" anyway? And whose definition are we even using?... [Read More!]

May 2, 2013 0

Rave: “I am not a Terrorist”

In Berlin, the dimensions of migration and diversity may sometimes be over-simplified, but groups like Migrantas are changing that, and doing so creatively. The best part: the voice and agency of the "immigrants", so often talked-about and so seldom talking-back, take center stage... [Read More!]

April 23, 2013 5

Over and Over

Migrants face the concept of identity more acutely than many other groups. As they move from one geographic and cultural setting to another, they are presented with a new set of rules and codes for becoming a "member of a group" - their "distinct personality" may be interpreted differently than it was in their home country. The transition from migrant to "resident" or "citizen" is also laden with complications - legally, personally, and socially - both from the perspective of the migrant's identity and the national identity of the host country.... [Read More!]

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