Right-wing extremism, everyday racism and racialized microaggressions, and pressure to “assimilate” – all of these constructs affecting racialized minorities result from an inability and unwillingness to respect and appreciate the radical diversity that underscores our societies. Max Czollek (“De-integrate Yourselves”) and Mohamed Amjahid (“Among Whites: What It Means to Be Privileged”) are two Millennial generation voices that have emerged from Germany in recent years. With a critical, multidimensional approach, Czollek and Amjahid will examine the challenges faced by German and North American societies, as well as various visions for progress, by discussing them with experts in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
The kick-off of this event series will be in Los Angeles, where Mohamed Amjahid and Max Czollek will discuss political activism and diversity with
Priscilla Layne, one of the pioneers of Black German Studies and a Professor of German and African American Diaspora Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
© Courtesy of Priscilla Layne
Priscilla Layne: Her publications deal with the themes of "Blackness" in German film, protest movements in the post-war period and Turkish-German culture. She is the author of "White Rebels in Black: German Appropriation of African American Culture", which was published by the University of Michigan Press in 2018. She is currently working on a monograph on Afro-German Afrofuturism.
Moderators:
© A.Langer
Mohamed Amjahid studied political science in Berlin and Cairo, and conducted research on various anthropological projects in North America. Mohamed is a political reporter for the weekly newspapers Die Zeit and Das Zeit Magazin. Anthropologically and journalistically, Amjahid focuses on human rights, equality, and upheaval in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Amjahid is a 2020 Thomas-Mann Fellow.
© Konstantin Boerner
Dr. Max Czollek completed his doctorate studies at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University Berlin. Since 2009, Czollek has been a member of poetry collective G13, which has published books and organized lectures. In 2018, his essay Desintegriert Euch! (Disintegrate!) was published at Carl Hanser. His second essay, Gegenwartsbewältigung (Coping with the Present), will be published in August 2020.
