Sponsored by the Center for German and European Studies.
In times of global crises, nationalist movements, and increasingly violent bordering regimes, questions of identity and belonging are more pressing than ever, particularly in contexts of migration and forced displacement. Such questions are all the more urgent in contemporary Germany, which has not only seen a dramatic rise in far-right political presence and anti-immigration sentiment, but which is also marked by increasingly restrictive immigration, asylum and integration policies.
In this book talk and discussion with Dr. Oksana Stoychuk (GNS+) and Berlin-based author, essayist and playwright, Maxi Obexer, we will explore these questions as they emerge in contemporary literature. During the event, Dr. Stoychuk will be drawing on her recent book, Wessen Berlin? Migration und Zugehorigkeit in der transkulturellen Stadtliteratur seit den 1980er Jahren (DeGruyter 2026) to examine literary representations of Berlin since the 1980’s in the works of authors with transnational migration experiences. Bringing together transcultural theories, anthropological research on belonging, and literary analysis, Stoychuk’s work introduces the concept of catastrophic multiple belonging, which critically challenges affirmative understandings of transcultural identity and offers a new perspective on post migrant subject positions.
Stoychuk’s book shows how tensions surrounding cultural, social, and political non-belonging converge in the figure of migrant shame, finding aesthetic expression in the structural ambivalence of these positions. Stoychuk’s work will be discussed in conversation with Maxi Obexer’s writings on language, power, belonging and exlusion, particularly as described in her autobiographical Europas langster Sommer (Verbrecher Verlag 2017) and her plays, Illegale Helfer and Gehen und Bleiben. Obexer’s work offers a nuanced critique of borders, identity and cultural memory, examining the unequal politics of free movement, conflicting notions of European identity, rights and participation and the ways in which these impact the lives of the marginalized communities.
Together, Stoychuk and Obexer’s works push us to examine the boundaries of mobility and belonging as they are shaped and transgressed in social discourse and German writing since the 1980’s.
This event will be moderated by Dr. Leonie Schulte from the Department of Anthropology, UW-Madison.
Readings will be in German with projected slides of English translation. The discussion will be in English.