Scheme: DAAD: PPP Australien (Programm des Projektbezogenen Personenaustauschs) 2018/2019
Partner university: Edith Cowan University, Perth
Project team: Prof. Beate Neumeier, Dr. Victoria Herche, David Kern (University of Cologne) & Prof. Paul Arthur, Dr. Jamal Barnes (Edith Cowan University)
This joint research project focuses on perceptions and representations of migration and asylum seekers in Germany and Australia. The comparative study explores these issues from a range of interdisciplinary perspectives in the humanities and social sciences, including responses to migration and constructions of ‘migrant identities’ in social media, film, literature and more broadly in public discourse. This joint project brings together and maximises expertise across the partner institutions and concentrates especially on providing collaborative research opportunities for ECR scholars.
The project’s aim is to explore how immigration provokes transnational reconsiderations of socio-cultural meanings and practices, including cultural resources and expressive practices that are used by individuals and groups to understand themselves and their place in the world, to structure social relations, to shape identities, and to develop actions. Through a triangulation of methodologies, the project focusses on interconnected and overlapping transnational economic, political, and cultural activities associated with migration and how these may influence feelings of identity and belonging. This study will open a new lens for analysing a wide array of migration activities through which social cohesion and sharing are built and exchanged. Findings will form the basis of a formal research collaboration leading to new understandings of the impact of migration within and beyond Germany’s and Australia’s borders.