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 based on four focal points:
The first focus is on the structures and manifestations of experiences of injustice as described and analyzed in literature (especially Arabic and German literature), 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 prescribed 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 is on coming to terms with experiences of injustice. The question of memory and testimony in prison and torture literature, in memoirs and testimony in the media plays an important role here.
Here, too, there is a discrepancy between official and unofficial, private and collective memory, the tensions and sometimes productive dialectic 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 transitional justice . 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, the last focus will be on examining the significance of the institutionalization of protest, resistance and coming to terms with the past in more detail. This includes, for example, the question of the role of civil societies during and after a dictatorship, the different justifications and compositions of truth commissions or the question of the elements of a policy of reparation.

Current focal points 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 the archive in a historical, cultural, literary and philosophical context.
  3. Analysis of the language(s) of dictatorship(s): Misuse of language by the dictatorship, especially in the public use of language 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, Appendix: main topics and program

Experiences of injustice and transitional justice. German-Arabic Perspectives, University of Kassel, 10-12.07.2015, Annex: Focus and Program


Workshop 2014:


Workshops 2013:

  • Living under dictatorship - injustice and responsibility, Kassel, Evangelische Akademie Hofgeismar, 9 - 11.12.2013, Argumentarium, focal points and program
  • Culture of remembrance in an interdisciplinary and intercultural context", Tunis, FLAH Manouba, 20-23.02.2013, Argumentarium, focal points and program

Current members of the German-Arabic research group.