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July 3, 2015 1

Interview: “I’m a Human Being”

Vienna. Seat of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Widely considered the gateway to Eastern Europe. Home to a United Nations headquarters and numerous international companies and universities. The Austrian capital has long been a city of immigration – even when politics have told a different story – and a staggering 50% of the population has what’s referred to as a “migration background”. So it’s not as if I expected Vienna to not be multicultural... [Read More!]
March 23, 2015 0

Lens: On Leaving Home(s)

Last month, Kelly wrote about the implications of "collecting ourselves" to make a move back home. While wrought with complications in its own right, returning to where one grew up, has family, or holds full political and legal rights is a move that Makes Sense. One chapter closes, and however painful or messy, the next begins... [Read More!]
February 13, 2015 0

Lens: Leaving Berlin, collecting ourselves

Leaving Berlin might mean losing some connection to the tangible trek between dreams, realizations, and moments of vulnerability that is our movement through years, our aging and maturation, in any sense. But it is only temporary. Indeed, collecting ourselves means leaving ourselves. But only for now... [Read More!]
January 15, 2015 1

Interview: “I’m not Turkish, but my husband is”

In a capital city marked by transformation and transience, where people are perpetually coming and going, it can feel like a true rarity to meet someone actually from that city. “H” was my first Berlin friend from Berlin. We met through a language website, after she sent me a request to practice French in exchange for German. H was working on her degree to become a French teacher. I was still new to the city and could count my local friends on one hand... [Read More!]
Ali für Deutschland
September 2, 2014 0

Interview: Ali for (and from) Germany

In the wake of Germany's World Cup victory, much has been said about a renewed sense of German patriotism and its implications. While some have feared a connection to Germany's dark past, others have welcomed the discourse as a chance to shape a new sense of belonging within the country's evolving demographics. We've already written something about it here. But what a discussion on national identity means on the personal level is another story. Or rather many stories. Here's one... [Read More!]
April 30, 2014 0

Rave: the California Breakfast Slam Effect

Identity and belonging are closely intertwined with the foods we eat. The California Breakfast Slam, or CABslam, originally a pop-up breakfast establishment celebrating Americana classics like hash browns and maple syrup-drenched bacon, now hosts an unassuming 'Beta' restaurant space at the far edge of Neukölln's Reuterkiez. A visit allows for the giddy return to childhood memories that lead to goosebumps and pride, or a combination of both. Let's call this the California Breakfast Slam effect... [Read More!]
April 22, 2014 1

The Collidoscope Manifesto

A couple months ago, Collidoscope Berlin was invited to write its first guest post for the Global Citizens Initiative - an organization that aims “to build a network of people who see themselves as global citizens and want to build a better world”. Part of the task was to connect what we do here to the significance of borders. “Borders?”, we wondered, unsure how to proceed but mostly questioning why we had never concretely addressed the topic before... [Read More!]
January 21, 2014 1

Beyond Berlin: Difference in the Wet Country

For nearly a month this holiday season, I explored the social fabric surrounding my US origins with a German national, who had never before been to the land of plenty. Through the fresh eyes of 'the foreigner', I saw my part of America unfold under a curious and critical lens. America is a country that defines itself by historical narratives of migration and manifest destiny. What one encounters on the road in its northwestern corner, however, is a bit more mundane. At closer glance, emptiness and the prosaic everyday give food for thought, in regards to locating and valuing difference wherever it bubbles up... [Read More!]
December 11, 2013 5

Rave: a Colombian Culinary Homecoming

What role do embassies play in the lives of foreign nationals abroad? Beyond pure administration and diplomacy, cultural events that allow for a homecoming, a return to childhood, and a bringing together of compatriots might change how immigrants and expats live abroad and the involvement of embassies and consulates therein. The Embassy of Columbia in Berlin sponsored an event that did something just like this. A few weeks ago in Neukölln, Colombians and non-Colombians united over the genius of duck woven into starch - the duck, a true Berliner... [Read More!]
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