• Tue 03 05 2016 / 7 pm •
How Colonial Is Welcome Culture?

with KIEN NGHI HA, MARK TERKESSIDIS, MILTIADIS OULIOS

Over the last months, there has been much talk in Germany about Wilkommenskultur, or the “culture of welcome.” But what comes after the cheerful greeting? What lies beyond the propagation of a newfound solidarity, as heartfelt but also possibly self-congratulatory as it might be? Is there an addressee for this vaunted charity besides the European conscience? How, for example, do we describe the new power relations that are emerging between migrants and German authorities and potential employers? On the left, one often hears that these relations are neo-colonial, and that there is even a missionarizing aspect to the propagation of German cultural values—decidedly Eurocentric Leitkultur. What are the consequences of considering integration courses as a hegemonial geopolitical practice, as Kien Nghi Ha suggested in 2007? He joins in conversation with Academy member Mark Terkessidis and journalist and activist Miltiadis Oulios. Together they revisit the “integration debates” of the mid-2000s and ask what has changed under present conditions.

Venue: ACADEMYSPACE, Herwarthstraße 3, 50672 Cologne Free admission