The course “Refugees, Migrants, and Exiles in German and Comparative Literature” has already been successfully run three times. Each time the students were enthusiastic about the programme, particularly by presenting their group research projects, they demonstrated high creativity and strong engagement in the topic.

Based on this very positive experience – and as the topic hasn’t lost actuality, the consortium would like to continue this successful course by improving the programme based on the gained experience. The course in German literary and cultural studies, will continue to be taught in “multilingual” German, to treat literature as a medium for reflection and imagination concerning the current cultural and societal situation in Europe.

In this course, scholars in German and Comparative Literature from CIVIS universities (Aix-Marseille, Athens, Brussels, Bucharest, Rome, Stockholm, Tübingen, Lausanne) and invited experts in the field share the results of their research: By studying literary texts, the students will learn about the impacts and challenges of migration. The course content will cover diverse types of travellers (refugees, migrants, exiles, expats), questions of identity and community (inter-/transculturality, belonging, integration, exclusion, diaspora, nomadism, cosmopolitanism), and influences on language (pluri- and multilingualism). Texts, films, and other media produced by authors with and without migrant backgrounds will provide a broad perspective. We will also study historical examples from “literature of exile” (writers who fled from the GDR, or from Nazi-Germany), and from earlier migrants (such as exiles in the 19th century).

The course has a strong interdisciplinary component as it integrates not only literature but also other forms of media, and as it reaches out to other disciplines and beyond academia (museums, memorial places, NGOs). It also engages with non-academic stakeholders, such as the Goethe-Institute, German Embassy, the International Organization for Migration.

The course format is planned as a long-term activity bringing together the expertise of several members of the consortium, all of them specialists in the field (see the list of publications in the attachment). Each year, one specific university will take responsibility for hosting and organising the workshop. Next year, 2025, University of Bucharest will serve as the coordinator and the host of the workshop.

The physical mobility part will be running from 5 to 9 May 2025 in Bucharest, Romania.

The online courses will be followed by a 5 day in-person workshop during which: 

• The students will present their research projects.
• The students and professors will discuss seminal theories in the field.
• Keynote lectures will be given by guest speakers Olivia Spiridon and Mircea Mocanu (cooperations with Institut für Donauschwäbische Geschichte und Literatur, Tübingen and the International Organization for Migration Romania).
• Lecture by the writer Jan Koneffke (cooperation with Goethe Institut).
• Study-visits of locations associated with migration and exile: Jewish Museum of Bucharest and Museum of Communism in Bucharest, as well as tour of the Palace of Parliament Bucharest (cooperation with the three museums).

The virtual part will be running from 11 February to 29 April 2025.

• 11.2.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET, Einführung/ Grundlagen der europäischen Migrationsliteratur, Kollektiv
• 18.2.2025,18:00 - 20:00 CET, Social Event – CIVIS Social Lab, Kollektiv
• 25.2.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET, Kultursemiotik: Grenzen, Eingrenzen, Ausgrenzen, Katerina Karakassi (NKUA)
• 4.3.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET, Frauen und Migration, Ibrahima Diagne (Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar)
• 11.3.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET, Repräsentation von afrikanischen MigrantInnen bei deutscher AutorInnen/Postmigration bei Fiston Mujila Mwanza, Joan Mwangovya/Helga Mitterbauer (ULB)
• 18.3.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET, Postmigration aus dem Osten: Deutschland, Catherine Teissier (AMU)
• 25.3.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET, Exilort Schweiz, Robert Leucht (Unil)
• 2.4.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET, Sprache und Schreiben im Exil seit 1933, Caroline Merkel (SU), Dorothee Kimmich (EKUT)
• 8.4.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET,  Zwischen Deutschland und Afrika: Marseille als Exilort, Nicole Colin (AMU)
• 22.4.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET, Exil in der Lyrik Paul Celans und Rose Ausländers, Camilla Miglio (Sapienza)
• 29.4.2025, 18:00 - 20:00 CET, Afrika- und Mittelmeerraumdiskurse in den Werken kanonischer deutsch- sprachiger Autor_innen aus dem 19. Jh. (aus postkolonialer Sicht), Raluca Rădulescu (UB)