Interdisciplinary German-Arab Research Group

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German-Arab Research Group

The work of the interdisciplinary German-Arab research group combines reflection on historical experiences of injustice in authoritarian states with normative questions and is oriented toward four focal points:
The first focal point deals with the structures and manifestations of experiences of injustice as described and analyzed by literature (especially Arabic and German), political science, philosophy, psychology, and ethnology. Life in dictatorships and authoritarian regimes is characterized by a cognitive dissonance between official and unofficial interpretations of the present. This "dichotomy" of life in dictatorships and regimes enables the population to maintain a critical distance from the officially imposed view of the world and society. In addition to an interdisciplinary comparison of the analyses of structures and manifestations of injustice, the focus will also be on different forms of protest and resistance, which can manifest themselves in actions as well as in the linguistic treatment of authoritarian behavior (irony, whispered jokes, eloquent silence).
A second focus turns to the reappraisal of experiences of injustice. Here, the question of memory and witnessing in prison and torture literature, in memoirs, as well as witnessing in the media plays an important role.
Here, too, there is a discrepancy between official and unofficial, private and collective memory, the tensions and sometimes productive dialectics of which need to be examined.
Another aspect of coming to terms with experiences of injustice is the debate about the universality of human rights and the problem of a transitional justice in the countries in transition. What conditions must a society or a new democratic political order create so that the victims of violence can talk about what they have suffered? The question of what is the right mix of punishment, compensation and amnesty to achieve national reconciliation remains central here.
Finally, a final focus will be to examine more closely the significance of the institutionalization of protest, resistance and reappraisal. This includes, for example, the question of the role of civil societies during and after a dictatorship, the different rationales and compositions of truth commissions, or the question of the elements of a politics of reparation.

Current focus and areas of work:

  1. Critical examination of structures and manifestations of authoritarian conditions from an interdisciplinary perspective, combined with the analysis of forms of protest and resistance.
  2. Dealing with the concepts of memory culture, testimony, and archive in historical, cultural, literary, and philosophical contexts.
  3. Analysis of language(s) of dictatorship(s): Abuse of language by the dictatorship, especially in public language use in the media; internal communication of the ruling elite in totalitarian systems; expression of the subversive in the language use of the oppressed population (e.g., political whisper jokes).
  4. Contemporary and historical responsibility
  5. Coming to terms with the experience of injustice in the democratization process (human rights, justice, rule of law or new dictatorship?)

Workshops 2015:

Language in Dictatorship, ISSH Medenine (University of Gabes) and Hotel Djerba Plaza/ Tunisia, 30.03.-01.04.2015, Annex: Focus and program.

Experiences of Injustice and Transitional Justice. German-Arab perspectives, University of Kassel, 10.-12.07.2015, Annex: focal points and program.


Workshop 2014:


Workshops 2013:

  • Life in Dictatorship - Injustice and Responsibility, Kassel, Evangelische Akademie Hofgeismar, Dec. 9-11, 2013, Argumentarium, Focus and Program.
  • Remembrance culture in an interdisciplinary and intercultural context", Tunis, FLAH Manouba, 20.-23.02.2013, Argumentarium, focal points and program

Current members of the German-Arab Research Group.