“The Beauty of Difference – A Lecture and Conversation with Hadija Haruna-Oelker”

Hadija Haruna-Oelker (she/her) is a prize-winning German author, journalist, and podcaster. She writes and speaks regularly in the media about migration, race, racism, discrimination, and the intersection of human identities. She is convinced that we all carry within us the perspectives of others, but how to talk and write about yourself and others? In her book The Beauty of Difference—Think Differently Together, which was nominated for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in 2022, she tells her personal story and combines it with sociopolitical reflections about Germany as a migration society. She develops visions of how we can unlearn what we have learned. In October 2024, her second book Be Together will be published.

In her presentation Hadija Haruna-Oelker will discuss perceptions of difference, changing perspectives, and empowerment through translated texts. What helps to shed light on current social and political crises from multiple perspectives? What roles do memory and reappraisal play in Germany?