News and Events

"Paths through the crises" - this is the title of a lecture series at the TU Braunschweig dealing with Jewish impulses for thinking and acting in challenging times. Films about Jewish life, Jewish children's and youth literature are just as much a topic as Jewish education and the prevention of anti-Semitism in schools. The weekly lectures are held by renowned academics and Jewish discussion partners and are organized by PD Dr. Detlef Dieckmann at the Institute for Protestant Theology and Religious Education.

Lecture series "Paths through the crises. Impulses from Judaism"

The lectures take place on Wednesdays from 18.30 to 20.00h in Bienroder Weg 84, lecture hall 2 (BI 84.2), two lectures are held online.

17.04.24 The emergence of Christianity from Judaism in a time of crisis (Prof. Dr. Klaus Wengst, Bochum)

26.04.24 Democracy experience program "Betzavta - Together" (Dimitri Tukuser, Liberal Jewish Community Wolfsburg - Region Braunschweig)

08.05.24 Prevention of anti-Semitism in schools (Academic Director Dr. Ingrid Wiedenroth-Gabler, Braunschweig)

15.05.24 Moses Mendelssohn and the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskala) (Prof. Dr. Cord-Friedrich Berghahn, Braunschweig)

29.05.24 Crises of Jews in the mirror of films and series (Pastor Dietmar Adler, interfilm)

05.06.24 Online: Human rights in crisis? Impulses from Hannah Arendt, E. Lévinas and Omri Boehm (Prof. Dr. Stefan Heuser, Braunschweig)

12.06.24 Crises in the mirror of Jewish children's and youth literature (PD Dr. Dorothea Salzer, Potsdam)

19.06.24 The crises of the time as reflected by the Jewish community in Braunschweig (Renate Wagner-Redding, Jewish Community, Braunschweig)

26.06.24 Helmut Gollwitzer's contribution to the Christian-Jewish dialogue (Prof. Dr. Gottfried Orth, Braunschweig)

03.07.24 Online: The Kabbalah as crisis theology (Prof. Dr. Daniel Krochmalnik, Potsdam)

10.07.24 Migration of Jews to the USA in times of crisis (Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Heinze, Braunschweig)

The lectures are free of charge. Registration is required for the two online lectures at detlef.dieckmann(at)tu-bs.de; no registration is required for the on-site lectures.

In crises, people begin to think anew about the roots of good and evil, about the reasons for the current situation, about possible paths to a better future - this can already be seen in the Old Testament, much of which is crisis literature. 
What philosophical, theological or ethical concepts have Jewish people or people influenced by Judaism used in the past to react to crises, including threats to the people of Israel? What actions have resulted from this? Can we learn anything from this for the current crises?

These questions will be explored in this lecture series, which will also deal with the current situation of Jewish communities in Germany and concepts against anti-Semitism in schools.

Flyer for the lecture series (in german only)

From 02.04.2024 to 30.04.2024, the exhibition "Afrotopia NDS"¹ can be seen in the University Library of the TU Braunschweig.

The exhibition portrays five well-known Black personalities from Lower Saxony - Djenabou Diallo-Hartmann, Yared Dibaba, Denise M'Baye, Emmanuel Whajah and Elli Mariyama Manneh - who present their individual success stories. Through their perspectives, visitors will see resistance, hurdles and inspiring moments of self-assertion against racism and intersectional discrimination.

We are delighted to be able to show the exhibition as part of our Focus 2024: Racism-critical university, a project of the Diversity Office: https://www.tu-braunschweig.de/en/organisation/designated-offices/equal-opportunity-office/diversity-office/translate-to-english-fokus-2024-rassismuskritische-universitaet

More Information about the exhibition: https://afrotopia-nds.de/wanderausstellung/

^{1 The exhibition is available in German only}

After two successful years with the "Diversity Day", the event concept is opening up to a larger audience in favor of knowledge transfer and to strengthen its participatory character. The organizers Inga Stang and Anouk Almstedt invite you to become part of the "Diversity Days - Days of Diversity 2024" again this year and enrich the program with your contribution around the topic of diversity.

Between 28 May and 4 June, selected program items from various actors at TU Braunschweig and external partners will be made available to the general public in a joint program entitled "Diversity Days - Days of Diversity".

Further information and contact details can be found here.

On April 16, 2024, Dr. Bontu Lucie Guschke will give the lecture "The Persistence of Sexism and Racism at Universities" as part of the CEWS Colloquium. The lecture will be held in English.

Lecture content & Speaker

#MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter, and related social movements have over the last years continuously shown us that sexism and racism persist in our societies, our workplaces, and our universities and that we need to invest time, care, and resources into understanding how the sexism and racism that so many continuously experience is reproduced.

This presentation discusses how sexist and racist harassment and discrimination are reproduced in workplaces at universities. Building on empirical research that integrates discourse and affect analysis to focus on the interplay of individual- and structural-level factors, it details how harassment and discrimination are facilitated in a context of in/ formality which prevails at universities, leading to a continuous reproduction of inequality. Drawing on dis/organization theory as well as queer and Black feminist understandings of vulnerability, autonomy, and discrimination, it is further discussed how harassment and discrimination remain imperceptible and unspeakable.

On this basis, implications for organizational practice are discussed that recognize anti-harassment and anti-discrimination as ongoing, relational organizational practices and address the affective ambiguities of harassment and discrimination.

Dr Bontu Lucie Guschke is a researcher in the area of queer and anti-racist feminist theory. She earned her PhD degree at the Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School. Her research interests include intersectional feminist organizational analyses, queer feminist and norm-critical theory, anti-/racism research, feminist epistemologies and the interplay of discourse and affect analysis. She wrote her PhD dissertation on ‘The persistence of sexism and racism at universities - Exploring the imperceptibility and unspeakability of workplace harassment and discrimination in academia.’

CEWS-Kolloquium with Dr. Bontu Lucie Guschke am 16. April 2024, 14-15h, online via Zoom

Registration for the colloquium at: https://www.gesis.org/cews/news-events/cews-kolloquium  

EMPOWERED! Disarm racism, unleash strength!

Empowerment workshop for students who have experienced racism

Racism is a pattern of discrimination and an expression of social power relations (see DIMR, 2023)1. It manifests itself in discriminatory practices, thought patterns, as well as structural, institutional and social inequalities. Racism negates the human dignity of certain social groups and is fundamentally opposed to the idea of human rights (cf. DIMR, 2023). Racialized and migrant social groups encounter restrictive racism in their everyday lives, which triggers feelings of incapacity to act, anger, sadness and despair for many of those affected. 

Racialized/migrant students also encounter racism and discrimination based on their actual or ascribed origin at university, for example in the form of racist remarks made by fellow students and lecturers in lectures, exercises, exams, etc. In order to be able to deal with discriminatory everyday situations, the empowerment workshop offers a safe space to develop strategies for action, empower each other and promote collective strength. The workshop aims to find resource-oriented solutions that enable students to develop individual options for action. The workshop deals with manners and develops skills that students are given as a tool to be prepared in critical situations and to strengthen their ability to act. Recognizing, naming and classifying racist situations will be taught.

The empowerment workshop is held in German and can also be offered in English-German if required with the support of the participants.

The maximum number of participants is limited to 15. We ask for the understanding of students who have not been allocated a place and will endeavor to continue offering similar events.

Target group:

The workshop is aimed at students who experience racism and is open to Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPoC), FLINTA*, people with migration history/s.

Date:
28.02.24, 17:00 - 19:30h, PK 4.2 (old building, barrier-free).

Leader:
Sabrina Rahimi - social worker, mediator, anti-racism trainer, empowerment trainer and lecturer with a focus on criticism of racism

Organizer:in:
Diversity Office of the Technical University of Braunschweig
With the support of ANTIFA/-RA-Referat of AStA

Registration:
Informal email to: diversity@tu-braunschweig.de

^{1 German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR) 2023. Racial discrimination. Available at: www.institut-fuer-menschenrechte.de/themen/rassistische-diskriminierung [27.11.23]}