Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
In this presentation, Dr. Luis Miguel Isava proposes a working definition of cultural artifacts, distinguishing them from both utensils and “things,” in order to analyze how they operate within and intervene in cultural contexts. This definition and characterization, which includes and expands the traditional notion of the art object, seeks to foreground the theorizing and critical impulse inherent in them.
Part of the Faculty Colloquium series. Open to the BCB community.
Luis Miguel Isava, PhD in Comparative Literature (Emory University) is Full Professor of Language and Literature at the Universidad Simón Bolívar (Caracas, Venezuela), is currently Guest Researcher at the Freie Universtität Berlin, and Visiting Professor at Bard College Berlin. He has published books on Poetry and Poetic Theory, as well as articles on Poetry, Literary Theory, Visual Arts and Film Studies. The paper proposed for discussion is the first chapter of his most recent book, On the Prolongations of the Human: Cultural Artifacts and Protocols of Experience (Valencia, Spain; Pre-Texts, 2022), in which he analyzes the way in which cultural artifacts intervene in culture.
Tocqueville on Revolution and Democracy: A conversation with Jan Tokarski
Monday, December 1, 2025 4–5:30 pm
Online (Zoom) PL 265 Interpreting the French Revolution seminar cordially invites you to a conversation with the Polish scholar and publicist Jan Tokarski. Dr. Tokarski will lead a discussion about Alexis de Tocqueville's vision of the French Revolution and its relevance to the present travails and future prospects of liberal democracy.
Zoom link Meeting ID: 849 6728 4916 Passcode: 821725
Dr. Jan Tokarski (born 1981) is a historian of ideas, essayist, regular contributor to Kultura Liberalna, and editor of Przegląd Polityczny and the quarterly Kronos. His latest book, In the Shadow of Catastrophe: Encounter, the Congress of Cultural Freedom, and the Memory of the 20th Century, received the 2024 Marcin Król Award. He is currently at work on a book-length biography of Alexis de Tocqueville.
Post Soviet Legacies in the Global Context (Reading Group)
Monday, December 1, 2025 6:30–8:30 pm
Online The working group “Post-Soviet Legacies in the Global Context”, organized by the academic association FG Dekolonial, seeks to examine the extensive and often underexplored influences of the Soviet Union that extend far beyond the geographic boundaries of the former USSR.
Our first reading group session will happen in collaboration with the Invisible University for Ukraine, with guest speakers Tatsiana Shchurko and Łukasz Stanek. Tatsiana Shchurko is a researcher and queer feminist activist from Belarus. Her work is situated within anti-colonial feminist theorizing, focusing on multiple imperialisms within and between Europe, Eurasia, and the United States. Łukasz Stanek is a historian of 20th-century urbanism, focusing on connections between regions that have often been considered peripheral. He explores how associations between Eastern Europe, West Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia have shaped urban landscapes globally.
Please register by 27 November directly via [email protected].edu to receive the reading material in preparation for the session and access information.
JJK Hall Café (W15) Join us for “An Evening with Jamaica Kincaid,” featuring the acclaimed writer and Fall 2025 Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. In this intimate conversation, Kincaid will reflect on her body of work from the 1970s to the present day, its exploration of enduring themes such as Black life and culture, the history of colonialism especially in the Caribbean, gardens, her mother and herself as they appear in books like At the Bottom of the River, In a Small Place, or The Autobiography of My Mother. She will also speak about the creative process that continues to shape her writing. The discussion offers an opportunity to engage with one of contemporary literature’s most influential voices and to meet a writer whose fiction and non-fiction is frequently taught in classes at Bard College Berlin. The conversation will be followed by a drinks reception.
Lecture Hall (P98a) Yossi Bartal is an independent journalist living in Berlin. He writes for taz, Neues Deutschland, The Diasporist, and Der Spiegel.
Jad Salfiti is a British-Palestinian journalist specializing in the intersection of culture and politics, based between London and Berlin. He has written extensively for a wide range of media, including The Guardian, Financial Times, Al Jazeera English, and many more. He also co-hosts the current affairs programme ARTE Europe Weekly.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
12:30-13:00 - Tahmina Ataee, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Migration Aspirations and Return Intentions of Afghan University Students Post-2021" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Hana Lotfy, "Mimetic Desire: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and How They Became Fiction" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Nesar Faizi, "The Impact of Selling Through Zalando on Mammut's Brand Positioning within the Competitive Outdoor Apparel Market" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
15:45-16:15 - Marley Heltai, "Dystopian Realities: Reproductive Autonomy and the Rhetoric of Care in the Age of Dobbs" (K24 Seminar Room 11)
Wednesday, November 26:
12:30-13:00 - Ehsan ul haq, "Poverty Reduction and Human Capital Development in Pakistan: Evaluating the Impact of the 18th Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Sofiia Slonovska, "The Gathering Storm? Hegemonic Transitions and the Conditions of Great Power War" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Tuesday, December 2:
12:30-13:00 - Maya Lakshmi Lascelles Jones, "The Desert as Reflective Aesthetic Terrain: Ontological and Phenomenological Inquiry Through the Visual Culture of the Desert Site" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Zabihullah Akbar, "Circles of Exile: Dancing Afghan Identity in Berlin" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Wednesday, December 3:
13:30-13:00 - Ahmed Mustafa, "People Power Vs Paper Power: Syrian Diaspora Activism in Germany, International Diplomacy and the Power of Documents in the Wake of the Fall of the Assad Regime" (P98A Lecture Hall)
*13:30-14:00 - Nora Stone Roig, "The Wood Began to Move Haunted Landscapes and the Stimmung of End-Times" (P98A Lecture Hall) *corrected time
13:15-13:45 - Michaella Toscano Vielma, "Undoing the Task: How Contemporary Translators Reconfigure Walter Benjamin into the Anti-Philosophical" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Thursday, December 11:
12:30-13:00 - Elizaveta Savitskaia, "Community and Judgment in Nick Riggle’s Aesthetic Theory" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Frishta Hashimi, "How the Hawala System in Afghanistan Shapes Trust among Individuals and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Afghan Migrants and Their Use of Hawala for Cross-Border Remittances?" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
13:15-13:45 - Štěpánka Slámová, "FDI and Regional Disparities in the Visegrad Four: Did COVID-19 Widen the Gap?" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Kidd Hall Cafe (W15) The Community Forums are dedicated to bringing our entire community (staff, students, and faculty) together to discuss topics related to life at BCB. These are an opportunity to talk about anything on your mind or to ask questions that you have. They are co-hosted between the Student Life Committee and Student Parliament.
K24 Seminar room 11 Interested in how to better advocate for yourself in the workplace? Want to learn more about having difficult discussions with your Boss? What is networking and how do you do it?
If any of these topics sound interesting to you, join us to hear advice from Anastasia Barner!
Organized by Hanna Nelson & Kamilla Szőcs with REM on Campus.
Anastasia Barner is a business creator and considered one of the leading voices of Generation Z. In 2019, at just 20 years old, she founded FeMentor, the first reverse mentoring platform in Europe. Today, she is a Gen Z expert and TEDx speaker. She advises companies on topics such as social media and how to attract young talent.
War in Sudan: Fireside Chat Series (with Dr. Gerrit Kurtz)
Thursday, December 4, 2025 7 pm
JJK Hall Cafe (W15) As part of the Fireside Chat Series on the War in Sudan, Dr. Gerrit Kurtz will speak on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 7pm in JJK Hall (W15 Cafe). Kurtz is a peace and conflict researcher currently at the German Institute of International and Security Affairs focusing on conflict prevention, peacebuilding and diplomacy in the wider Horn of Africa. In his fireside chat with BCB, he will share his perspective and knowledge on the war in Sudan and highlight themes from his article “How (Not) to Talk About the War in Sudan”.
The Fireside Chat Series on the War in Sudan is an ongoing event series at BCB. Further events are in progress and may include visitors from the Sudanese Embassy and other scholars, writers, and artists from the region.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
12:30-13:00 - Tahmina Ataee, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Migration Aspirations and Return Intentions of Afghan University Students Post-2021" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Hana Lotfy, "Mimetic Desire: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and How They Became Fiction" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Nesar Faizi, "The Impact of Selling Through Zalando on Mammut's Brand Positioning within the Competitive Outdoor Apparel Market" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
15:45-16:15 - Marley Heltai, "Dystopian Realities: Reproductive Autonomy and the Rhetoric of Care in the Age of Dobbs" (K24 Seminar Room 11)
Wednesday, November 26:
12:30-13:00 - Ehsan ul haq, "Poverty Reduction and Human Capital Development in Pakistan: Evaluating the Impact of the 18th Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Sofiia Slonovska, "The Gathering Storm? Hegemonic Transitions and the Conditions of Great Power War" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Tuesday, December 2:
12:30-13:00 - Maya Lakshmi Lascelles Jones, "The Desert as Reflective Aesthetic Terrain: Ontological and Phenomenological Inquiry Through the Visual Culture of the Desert Site" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Zabihullah Akbar, "Circles of Exile: Dancing Afghan Identity in Berlin" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Wednesday, December 3:
13:30-13:00 - Ahmed Mustafa, "People Power Vs Paper Power: Syrian Diaspora Activism in Germany, International Diplomacy and the Power of Documents in the Wake of the Fall of the Assad Regime" (P98A Lecture Hall)
*13:30-14:00 - Nora Stone Roig, "The Wood Began to Move Haunted Landscapes and the Stimmung of End-Times" (P98A Lecture Hall) *corrected time
13:15-13:45 - Michaella Toscano Vielma, "Undoing the Task: How Contemporary Translators Reconfigure Walter Benjamin into the Anti-Philosophical" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Thursday, December 11:
12:30-13:00 - Elizaveta Savitskaia, "Community and Judgment in Nick Riggle’s Aesthetic Theory" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Frishta Hashimi, "How the Hawala System in Afghanistan Shapes Trust among Individuals and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Afghan Migrants and Their Use of Hawala for Cross-Border Remittances?" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
13:15-13:45 - Štěpánka Slámová, "FDI and Regional Disparities in the Visegrad Four: Did COVID-19 Widen the Gap?" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Let's Walk. A participatory expedition through the neighborhood
Friday, December 5, 2025 12:30–1:30 pm
The Factory You are warmly invited to join us for a Performance Walk through the neighborhood with Eva Burghardt. Open your eyes and ears and start relating to the surrounding architecture, movements, sounds and each other. Whether you choose to be actively observing or participating - everything that happens will be part of the choreography. No registration needed. Please be on time!
Cafeteria Get into the holiday spirit at the BCB Winter Market! Warm up with glühwein, hot chocolate, enjoy delicious French toast, and visit the community-run stalls. Gather around the Christmas tree, cozy up by the campfire, and enjoy holiday vibes with friends, peers and colleagues.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
12:30-13:00 - Tahmina Ataee, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Migration Aspirations and Return Intentions of Afghan University Students Post-2021" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Hana Lotfy, "Mimetic Desire: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and How They Became Fiction" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Nesar Faizi, "The Impact of Selling Through Zalando on Mammut's Brand Positioning within the Competitive Outdoor Apparel Market" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
15:45-16:15 - Marley Heltai, "Dystopian Realities: Reproductive Autonomy and the Rhetoric of Care in the Age of Dobbs" (K24 Seminar Room 11)
Wednesday, November 26:
12:30-13:00 - Ehsan ul haq, "Poverty Reduction and Human Capital Development in Pakistan: Evaluating the Impact of the 18th Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Sofiia Slonovska, "The Gathering Storm? Hegemonic Transitions and the Conditions of Great Power War" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Tuesday, December 2:
12:30-13:00 - Maya Lakshmi Lascelles Jones, "The Desert as Reflective Aesthetic Terrain: Ontological and Phenomenological Inquiry Through the Visual Culture of the Desert Site" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Zabihullah Akbar, "Circles of Exile: Dancing Afghan Identity in Berlin" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Wednesday, December 3:
13:30-13:00 - Ahmed Mustafa, "People Power Vs Paper Power: Syrian Diaspora Activism in Germany, International Diplomacy and the Power of Documents in the Wake of the Fall of the Assad Regime" (P98A Lecture Hall)
*13:30-14:00 - Nora Stone Roig, "The Wood Began to Move Haunted Landscapes and the Stimmung of End-Times" (P98A Lecture Hall) *corrected time
13:15-13:45 - Michaella Toscano Vielma, "Undoing the Task: How Contemporary Translators Reconfigure Walter Benjamin into the Anti-Philosophical" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Thursday, December 11:
12:30-13:00 - Elizaveta Savitskaia, "Community and Judgment in Nick Riggle’s Aesthetic Theory" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Frishta Hashimi, "How the Hawala System in Afghanistan Shapes Trust among Individuals and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Afghan Migrants and Their Use of Hawala for Cross-Border Remittances?" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
13:15-13:45 - Štěpánka Slámová, "FDI and Regional Disparities in the Visegrad Four: Did COVID-19 Widen the Gap?" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Interested in learning more about Bard College Berlin? Join us on December 6 for Virtual Open Day. You will have the chance to meet current BCB students, and attend informational sessions about our application process, degree programs, student life, campus facilities, and more.
Im Auge des Betrachers: Analog Photography Exhibition
Saturday, December 6, 2025 6–9 pm
WIRWIR, Stuttgarter Str. 56, 12059 Berlin-Neukölln Students in April Gertler's Advanced Analog Photography class (FA220) will be having a one-day exhibition at the project space WIRWIR in Berlin-Neukölln on Saturday, 6 December.
With: Wiles Assael, Eleni Ernst, Fiona Galinksy, Kuba Laichter, Ketevan Lomidze, Jay Nidzelska, Mar Parra, Ruska Tskhvediani
Reading by the students of Clare Wigfall's Fiction Writing Workshop
Saturday, December 6, 2025 8–10:30 pm
Wein Salon, Schreinerstr. 59, Friedrichshain, 10247, Berlin It is now a well-loved tradition that the writers in Clare Wigfall's fiction writing workshops give a much-anticipated reading of their work as the finale of their course. As always, we are returning to the charming Wein Salon in Friedrichshain. Please join us for a cozy and intimate (but also perhaps a little bit riotous, let's be frank) evening of beautiful and surprising stories and words written by Clare's students. All BCB students, alumni, friends, and faculty members are warmly welcome.
Writers presenting: Samantha Aikman, Kalina Beleska, August Blais, Isa Boddeker, Claire Daylo, Marcy Hill, Lara Jovanovska, Martina Leprotti, Nico Leupold, Sophie Rhines, Hana Trenčanová
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
12:30-13:00 - Tahmina Ataee, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Migration Aspirations and Return Intentions of Afghan University Students Post-2021" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Hana Lotfy, "Mimetic Desire: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and How They Became Fiction" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Nesar Faizi, "The Impact of Selling Through Zalando on Mammut's Brand Positioning within the Competitive Outdoor Apparel Market" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
15:45-16:15 - Marley Heltai, "Dystopian Realities: Reproductive Autonomy and the Rhetoric of Care in the Age of Dobbs" (K24 Seminar Room 11)
Wednesday, November 26:
12:30-13:00 - Ehsan ul haq, "Poverty Reduction and Human Capital Development in Pakistan: Evaluating the Impact of the 18th Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Sofiia Slonovska, "The Gathering Storm? Hegemonic Transitions and the Conditions of Great Power War" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Tuesday, December 2:
12:30-13:00 - Maya Lakshmi Lascelles Jones, "The Desert as Reflective Aesthetic Terrain: Ontological and Phenomenological Inquiry Through the Visual Culture of the Desert Site" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Zabihullah Akbar, "Circles of Exile: Dancing Afghan Identity in Berlin" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Wednesday, December 3:
13:30-13:00 - Ahmed Mustafa, "People Power Vs Paper Power: Syrian Diaspora Activism in Germany, International Diplomacy and the Power of Documents in the Wake of the Fall of the Assad Regime" (P98A Lecture Hall)
*13:30-14:00 - Nora Stone Roig, "The Wood Began to Move Haunted Landscapes and the Stimmung of End-Times" (P98A Lecture Hall) *corrected time
13:15-13:45 - Michaella Toscano Vielma, "Undoing the Task: How Contemporary Translators Reconfigure Walter Benjamin into the Anti-Philosophical" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Thursday, December 11:
12:30-13:00 - Elizaveta Savitskaia, "Community and Judgment in Nick Riggle’s Aesthetic Theory" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Frishta Hashimi, "How the Hawala System in Afghanistan Shapes Trust among Individuals and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Afghan Migrants and Their Use of Hawala for Cross-Border Remittances?" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
13:15-13:45 - Štěpánka Slámová, "FDI and Regional Disparities in the Visegrad Four: Did COVID-19 Widen the Gap?" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Maxim Gorki Theater (Am Festungsgraben 2, 10117 Berlin) Zum 50. Todestag von Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) lädt die Internationale Hannah Arendt Gesellschaft e.V. (IHAG) gemeinsam mit Bard College Berlin und der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Berlin zu einem Tag des Nachdenkens, Streitens und gemeinsamen Fragens ein. Unter dem Titel „Verstehen, was ist“ widmet sich die Veranstaltung den brennenden politischen und gesellschaftlichen Fragen unserer Zeit – im Licht von Hannah Arendts Denken.
Arendt hat wie kaum eine andere das 20. Jahrhundert durchdacht: Totalitarismus, Revolution, Freiheit und Verantwortung. Heute, in einer Welt, die erneut von autoritären Tendenzen, Kriegen und demokratischer Erosion geprägt ist, stellt sich ihre Leitfrage dringlicher denn je: Wie lässt sich verstehen, was ist?
In drei Gesprächsrunden diskutieren Denker:innen, Autor:innen, Politiker:innen und Wissenschaftler:innen über aktuelle Herausforderungen der Demokratie – von digitaler Öffentlichkeit bis zu zivilem Ungehorsam – und über die Möglichkeit eines Neubeginns.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
12:30-13:00 - Tahmina Ataee, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Migration Aspirations and Return Intentions of Afghan University Students Post-2021" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Hana Lotfy, "Mimetic Desire: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and How They Became Fiction" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Nesar Faizi, "The Impact of Selling Through Zalando on Mammut's Brand Positioning within the Competitive Outdoor Apparel Market" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
15:45-16:15 - Marley Heltai, "Dystopian Realities: Reproductive Autonomy and the Rhetoric of Care in the Age of Dobbs" (K24 Seminar Room 11)
Wednesday, November 26:
12:30-13:00 - Ehsan ul haq, "Poverty Reduction and Human Capital Development in Pakistan: Evaluating the Impact of the 18th Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Sofiia Slonovska, "The Gathering Storm? Hegemonic Transitions and the Conditions of Great Power War" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Tuesday, December 2:
12:30-13:00 - Maya Lakshmi Lascelles Jones, "The Desert as Reflective Aesthetic Terrain: Ontological and Phenomenological Inquiry Through the Visual Culture of the Desert Site" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Zabihullah Akbar, "Circles of Exile: Dancing Afghan Identity in Berlin" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Wednesday, December 3:
13:30-13:00 - Ahmed Mustafa, "People Power Vs Paper Power: Syrian Diaspora Activism in Germany, International Diplomacy and the Power of Documents in the Wake of the Fall of the Assad Regime" (P98A Lecture Hall)
*13:30-14:00 - Nora Stone Roig, "The Wood Began to Move Haunted Landscapes and the Stimmung of End-Times" (P98A Lecture Hall) *corrected time
13:15-13:45 - Michaella Toscano Vielma, "Undoing the Task: How Contemporary Translators Reconfigure Walter Benjamin into the Anti-Philosophical" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Thursday, December 11:
12:30-13:00 - Elizaveta Savitskaia, "Community and Judgment in Nick Riggle’s Aesthetic Theory" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Frishta Hashimi, "How the Hawala System in Afghanistan Shapes Trust among Individuals and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Afghan Migrants and Their Use of Hawala for Cross-Border Remittances?" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
13:15-13:45 - Štěpánka Slámová, "FDI and Regional Disparities in the Visegrad Four: Did COVID-19 Widen the Gap?" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Lecture Hall The Learning Commons presents a hands-on workshop for the IS101: Plato's Republic Final. During the session we will cover how to prepare your notes and quotes, process and respond to questions, and manage your time for in-class writing.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
12:30-13:00 - Tahmina Ataee, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Migration Aspirations and Return Intentions of Afghan University Students Post-2021" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Hana Lotfy, "Mimetic Desire: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and How They Became Fiction" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Nesar Faizi, "The Impact of Selling Through Zalando on Mammut's Brand Positioning within the Competitive Outdoor Apparel Market" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
15:45-16:15 - Marley Heltai, "Dystopian Realities: Reproductive Autonomy and the Rhetoric of Care in the Age of Dobbs" (K24 Seminar Room 11)
Wednesday, November 26:
12:30-13:00 - Ehsan ul haq, "Poverty Reduction and Human Capital Development in Pakistan: Evaluating the Impact of the 18th Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Sofiia Slonovska, "The Gathering Storm? Hegemonic Transitions and the Conditions of Great Power War" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Tuesday, December 2:
12:30-13:00 - Maya Lakshmi Lascelles Jones, "The Desert as Reflective Aesthetic Terrain: Ontological and Phenomenological Inquiry Through the Visual Culture of the Desert Site" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Zabihullah Akbar, "Circles of Exile: Dancing Afghan Identity in Berlin" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Wednesday, December 3:
13:30-13:00 - Ahmed Mustafa, "People Power Vs Paper Power: Syrian Diaspora Activism in Germany, International Diplomacy and the Power of Documents in the Wake of the Fall of the Assad Regime" (P98A Lecture Hall)
*13:30-14:00 - Nora Stone Roig, "The Wood Began to Move Haunted Landscapes and the Stimmung of End-Times" (P98A Lecture Hall) *corrected time
13:15-13:45 - Michaella Toscano Vielma, "Undoing the Task: How Contemporary Translators Reconfigure Walter Benjamin into the Anti-Philosophical" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Thursday, December 11:
12:30-13:00 - Elizaveta Savitskaia, "Community and Judgment in Nick Riggle’s Aesthetic Theory" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Frishta Hashimi, "How the Hawala System in Afghanistan Shapes Trust among Individuals and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Afghan Migrants and Their Use of Hawala for Cross-Border Remittances?" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
13:15-13:45 - Štěpánka Slámová, "FDI and Regional Disparities in the Visegrad Four: Did COVID-19 Widen the Gap?" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Hermaphrodite Logic: A New History of the Intersex Movement (1990-2025)
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 12:30–2 pm
JJK Hall Cafe (W15) This talk begins with a reading from the opening of Juliana Gleeson's new book Hermaphrodite Logic, to drop us in medias res at the moment of the intersex movement's unlikely birth (on the streets of Boston). Then will follow a rapid synopsis of the book's arguments:
1) That intersex advocacy followed on rapidly from intersex people meeting one (on and offline) another in the early 1990s.
2) That this new intersex movement developed in conjunction with feminist research, offering a moment of self-consciousness that was spoken to by intersex advocacy's rhetoric, and wit. The bite of that wit was seizing the abject: with intersex advocates declaring themselves “hermaphrodites with attitude” in line with groups like Queer Nation, Lesbian Avengers, and key their allies Transexual Menace.
3) But less often recognized, it was characterized by a style which sardonically appropriated clinical terminology, and derided medic's pretensions of objectivity. (Together, this combination of subversiveness and fluency style that Juliana calls "90s edgy")
4) That their protests from 1996 to the present served as a revelation, which challenged professional authority (specifically claims to clinical "management", and objectivity). The intersex movement thus rewrote the history of sex (in ways still being processed today).
5) The intersex movement today followed two subsequent phases following the edgy 90s incarnation: the 'Intersex Ordinary' in the 00s, then a reframing of their campaigning as a human rights struggle from 2010s-present. Grasping these shifts is a matter of global history and a question of a new science of sex (one attempted in the ruins of sexology).
Organized and moderated by Sasha Johansson and Agata Lisiak, this event is part of Lisiak's PT160 Transnational Feminism Is for Everybody and supported by the Civic Engagement Office.
W16 Learning Commons Finals got you overwhelmed? Join us at the Learning Commons Final Event for a supportive writing space. Whether it’s a thesis, an OPE response, a policy analysis, or another assignment, tutors will be available for help, and you’ll have scheduled work-and-rest time alongside peers. Let’s finish strong together!
The Factory This series aims to provide the student community at BCB with a platform to share and learn about diverse political issues in the form of informative presentations and discussions given by their own peers.
Organized by Atreyee Ahsan, Mariia Tarasenko in collaboration with EOPND Office.
Julie Johnson Kidd Hall Café (W15) BCB has a living and learning community with a special focus on German language and culture: the “DerDieDas Haus”. Students with an interest in exploring German in their daily lives share a designated floor in one of our residence halls. They use German amongst each other during the week and engage in extracurricular activities in the city.
To find out more about how the projects works, how to apply for a place etc., please join us for an “Offenes Haus” with snacks and drinks hosted by members of “DerDieDas Haus” and the BCB German Program.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
12:30-13:00 - Tahmina Ataee, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Migration Aspirations and Return Intentions of Afghan University Students Post-2021" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Hana Lotfy, "Mimetic Desire: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and How They Became Fiction" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Nesar Faizi, "The Impact of Selling Through Zalando on Mammut's Brand Positioning within the Competitive Outdoor Apparel Market" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
15:45-16:15 - Marley Heltai, "Dystopian Realities: Reproductive Autonomy and the Rhetoric of Care in the Age of Dobbs" (K24 Seminar Room 11)
Wednesday, November 26:
12:30-13:00 - Ehsan ul haq, "Poverty Reduction and Human Capital Development in Pakistan: Evaluating the Impact of the 18th Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Sofiia Slonovska, "The Gathering Storm? Hegemonic Transitions and the Conditions of Great Power War" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Tuesday, December 2:
12:30-13:00 - Maya Lakshmi Lascelles Jones, "The Desert as Reflective Aesthetic Terrain: Ontological and Phenomenological Inquiry Through the Visual Culture of the Desert Site" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Zabihullah Akbar, "Circles of Exile: Dancing Afghan Identity in Berlin" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Wednesday, December 3:
13:30-13:00 - Ahmed Mustafa, "People Power Vs Paper Power: Syrian Diaspora Activism in Germany, International Diplomacy and the Power of Documents in the Wake of the Fall of the Assad Regime" (P98A Lecture Hall)
*13:30-14:00 - Nora Stone Roig, "The Wood Began to Move Haunted Landscapes and the Stimmung of End-Times" (P98A Lecture Hall) *corrected time
13:15-13:45 - Michaella Toscano Vielma, "Undoing the Task: How Contemporary Translators Reconfigure Walter Benjamin into the Anti-Philosophical" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Thursday, December 11:
12:30-13:00 - Elizaveta Savitskaia, "Community and Judgment in Nick Riggle’s Aesthetic Theory" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Frishta Hashimi, "How the Hawala System in Afghanistan Shapes Trust among Individuals and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Afghan Migrants and Their Use of Hawala for Cross-Border Remittances?" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
13:15-13:45 - Štěpánka Slámová, "FDI and Regional Disparities in the Visegrad Four: Did COVID-19 Widen the Gap?" (P98A Lecture Hall)
JJK Hall Cafe (W15) Kick off completion week with a dinner of breakfast! Student Life Staff will be here to serve you stacks of pancakes, fruit, and hot beverages.
JJK Hall Cafe (W15) "Abendbrot" is an informal social gathering for all students interested in speaking German. Bi-weekly on Wednesdays at 6:30pm in JJK Cafe (W15). Hosted by your German tutors Sanskriti and Giulio.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
12:30-13:00 - Tahmina Ataee, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Migration Aspirations and Return Intentions of Afghan University Students Post-2021" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Hana Lotfy, "Mimetic Desire: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and How They Became Fiction" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Nesar Faizi, "The Impact of Selling Through Zalando on Mammut's Brand Positioning within the Competitive Outdoor Apparel Market" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
15:45-16:15 - Marley Heltai, "Dystopian Realities: Reproductive Autonomy and the Rhetoric of Care in the Age of Dobbs" (K24 Seminar Room 11)
Wednesday, November 26:
12:30-13:00 - Ehsan ul haq, "Poverty Reduction and Human Capital Development in Pakistan: Evaluating the Impact of the 18th Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Sofiia Slonovska, "The Gathering Storm? Hegemonic Transitions and the Conditions of Great Power War" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Tuesday, December 2:
12:30-13:00 - Maya Lakshmi Lascelles Jones, "The Desert as Reflective Aesthetic Terrain: Ontological and Phenomenological Inquiry Through the Visual Culture of the Desert Site" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Zabihullah Akbar, "Circles of Exile: Dancing Afghan Identity in Berlin" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Wednesday, December 3:
13:30-13:00 - Ahmed Mustafa, "People Power Vs Paper Power: Syrian Diaspora Activism in Germany, International Diplomacy and the Power of Documents in the Wake of the Fall of the Assad Regime" (P98A Lecture Hall)
*13:30-14:00 - Nora Stone Roig, "The Wood Began to Move Haunted Landscapes and the Stimmung of End-Times" (P98A Lecture Hall) *corrected time
13:15-13:45 - Michaella Toscano Vielma, "Undoing the Task: How Contemporary Translators Reconfigure Walter Benjamin into the Anti-Philosophical" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Thursday, December 11:
12:30-13:00 - Elizaveta Savitskaia, "Community and Judgment in Nick Riggle’s Aesthetic Theory" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Frishta Hashimi, "How the Hawala System in Afghanistan Shapes Trust among Individuals and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Afghan Migrants and Their Use of Hawala for Cross-Border Remittances?" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
13:15-13:45 - Štěpánka Slámová, "FDI and Regional Disparities in the Visegrad Four: Did COVID-19 Widen the Gap?" (P98A Lecture Hall)
The Factory (Eichenstraße 43, 13156) BCB’s celebrated end-of-the-semester arts tradition returns: Open Studios is a two day display of student's works that they have created throughout the semester. This includes performances, films, and visual artworks of all kinds. Everyone is welcome to come see what our talented student body has created and experience the ongoing growth of our arts programs.
On December 11, visual and performing arts students will showcase their work at the Factory (Eichenstraße 43, 13156 Berlin). On December 12, visual arts students will showcase their work at Monopol (Provinzstraße 44, 13409 Berlin). View more information here.
Open Studios and Performance Factory on Thursday, December 11 consists of exhibitions and performances by students from the following classes:
The Study and Staging of Epic Theater
Performance and Digital Culture
From Street to Stage: Experimenting with Rimini Protokoll's Approach to Documentary Theater
The Photo Zine: A Subversive Phenomenon
Advanced Photography: Analog 4eva
Immersive Spatial Experiences
How Long Is Now? – A Photographic Portrait of Berlin
Introduction to Digital Photography: Identity Construction and Representation
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
Monopol (Provinzstraße 44, 13409 Berlin) BCB’s celebrated end-of-the-semester arts tradition returns: Open Studios is a two day display of student's works that they have created throughout the semester. This includes performances, films, and visual artworks of all kinds. Everyone is welcome to come see what our talented student body has created and experience the ongoing growth of our arts programs.
On December 11, visual and performing arts students will showcase their work at the Factory (Eichenstraße 43, 13156 Berlin). View more information here. On December 12, visual arts students will showcase their work at Monopol (Provinzstraße 44, 13409 Berlin).
Open Studios on Friday, December 12 consists of exhibitions by students from the following classes:
Introduction to Glassmaking
Marble Stone Sculpture
Beginning Painting
Advanced Painting: Oil Paint and After
Advanced Drawing: Drawing and Display
Found Fragments and Layered Lines: Mixed-Media Techniques for Drawing and Collage
diffrakt | zentrum für theoretische peripherie e.V., Crellestraße 22, 10827 Berlin The distinction between reason and unreason, a tenet of Enlightenment thought, sustains the universal appeal of liberal democracy, but leaves unexamined the paradoxes that haunt modernity, particularly its colonial foundations, thus obscuring the continuities between imperial policies and fascism. A recent book, The White West: Fascism, Unreason, and the Paradox of Modernity, contends that without confronting the structuring force of race in the production and reproduction of global wealth disparities, fighting for reason only leads to flawed utopias in which a critique or disruption of capitalism is easily inflected in the direction of neofascism.
In conversation with cultural theorists Ana Teixeira Pinto and Anselm Franke, using their collected volume as a point of departure, Clio Nicastro and Agata Lisiak will critically unpack the ongoing processes of fascisization in Germany and beyond, reflecting on how the most recent political developments have affected, or possibly challenged, their theorization of fascism. Interrogating fascism’s genealogies and legacies, we will also contemplate possible ways forward, outside myopic and harmful frameworks of universality.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
Runs through Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:30–8 pm
Platanenstraße 24, 13156 Berlin This initiative offers an opportunity to experience university-level courses in an informal, discussion-based setting that is open to everyone. Our goal is to foster a shared learning space where participants from all backgrounds can engage with academic material alongside Bard Berlin students.
This semester’s theme: Origins of Political Economy. Adapted from an undergraduate core course at Bard College Berlin, this class will trace the foundations of modern social and economic thought.
In this presentation, Dr. Luis Miguel Isava proposes a working definition of cultural artifacts, distinguishing them from both utensils and “things,” in order to analyze how they operate within and intervene in cultural contexts. This definition and characterization, which includes and expands the traditional notion of the art object, seeks to foreground the theorizing and critical impulse inherent in them.
Part of the Faculty Colloquium series. Open to the BCB community.
Luis Miguel Isava, PhD in Comparative Literature (Emory University) is Full Professor of Language and Literature at the Universidad Simón Bolívar (Caracas, Venezuela), is currently Guest Researcher at the Freie Universtität Berlin, and Visiting Professor at Bard College Berlin. He has published books on Poetry and Poetic Theory, as well as articles on Poetry, Literary Theory, Visual Arts and Film Studies. The paper proposed for discussion is the first chapter of his most recent book, On the Prolongations of the Human: Cultural Artifacts and Protocols of Experience (Valencia, Spain; Pre-Texts, 2022), in which he analyzes the way in which cultural artifacts intervene in culture.
Tocqueville on Revolution and Democracy: A conversation with Jan Tokarski
Monday, December 1, 2025 4–5:30 pm
Online (Zoom) PL 265 Interpreting the French Revolution seminar cordially invites you to a conversation with the Polish scholar and publicist Jan Tokarski. Dr. Tokarski will lead a discussion about Alexis de Tocqueville's vision of the French Revolution and its relevance to the present travails and future prospects of liberal democracy.
Zoom link Meeting ID: 849 6728 4916 Passcode: 821725
Dr. Jan Tokarski (born 1981) is a historian of ideas, essayist, regular contributor to Kultura Liberalna, and editor of Przegląd Polityczny and the quarterly Kronos. His latest book, In the Shadow of Catastrophe: Encounter, the Congress of Cultural Freedom, and the Memory of the 20th Century, received the 2024 Marcin Król Award. He is currently at work on a book-length biography of Alexis de Tocqueville.
Post Soviet Legacies in the Global Context (Reading Group)
Monday, December 1, 2025 6:30–8:30 pm
Online The working group “Post-Soviet Legacies in the Global Context”, organized by the academic association FG Dekolonial, seeks to examine the extensive and often underexplored influences of the Soviet Union that extend far beyond the geographic boundaries of the former USSR.
Our first reading group session will happen in collaboration with the Invisible University for Ukraine, with guest speakers Tatsiana Shchurko and Łukasz Stanek. Tatsiana Shchurko is a researcher and queer feminist activist from Belarus. Her work is situated within anti-colonial feminist theorizing, focusing on multiple imperialisms within and between Europe, Eurasia, and the United States. Łukasz Stanek is a historian of 20th-century urbanism, focusing on connections between regions that have often been considered peripheral. He explores how associations between Eastern Europe, West Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia have shaped urban landscapes globally.
Please register by 27 November directly via [email protected].edu to receive the reading material in preparation for the session and access information.
JJK Hall Café (W15) Join us for “An Evening with Jamaica Kincaid,” featuring the acclaimed writer and Fall 2025 Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. In this intimate conversation, Kincaid will reflect on her body of work from the 1970s to the present day, its exploration of enduring themes such as Black life and culture, the history of colonialism especially in the Caribbean, gardens, her mother and herself as they appear in books like At the Bottom of the River, In a Small Place, or The Autobiography of My Mother. She will also speak about the creative process that continues to shape her writing. The discussion offers an opportunity to engage with one of contemporary literature’s most influential voices and to meet a writer whose fiction and non-fiction is frequently taught in classes at Bard College Berlin. The conversation will be followed by a drinks reception.
Lecture Hall (P98a) Yossi Bartal is an independent journalist living in Berlin. He writes for taz, Neues Deutschland, The Diasporist, and Der Spiegel.
Jad Salfiti is a British-Palestinian journalist specializing in the intersection of culture and politics, based between London and Berlin. He has written extensively for a wide range of media, including The Guardian, Financial Times, Al Jazeera English, and many more. He also co-hosts the current affairs programme ARTE Europe Weekly.
12:30-13:00 - Tahmina Ataee, "Should I Stay or Should I Go? Understanding Migration Aspirations and Return Intentions of Afghan University Students Post-2021" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Hana Lotfy, "Mimetic Desire: Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald and How They Became Fiction" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Nesar Faizi, "The Impact of Selling Through Zalando on Mammut's Brand Positioning within the Competitive Outdoor Apparel Market" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
15:45-16:15 - Marley Heltai, "Dystopian Realities: Reproductive Autonomy and the Rhetoric of Care in the Age of Dobbs" (K24 Seminar Room 11)
Wednesday, November 26:
12:30-13:00 - Ehsan ul haq, "Poverty Reduction and Human Capital Development in Pakistan: Evaluating the Impact of the 18th Amendment and Sustainable Development Goals" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Sofiia Slonovska, "The Gathering Storm? Hegemonic Transitions and the Conditions of Great Power War" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Tuesday, December 2:
12:30-13:00 - Maya Lakshmi Lascelles Jones, "The Desert as Reflective Aesthetic Terrain: Ontological and Phenomenological Inquiry Through the Visual Culture of the Desert Site" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Zabihullah Akbar, "Circles of Exile: Dancing Afghan Identity in Berlin" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Wednesday, December 3:
13:30-13:00 - Ahmed Mustafa, "People Power Vs Paper Power: Syrian Diaspora Activism in Germany, International Diplomacy and the Power of Documents in the Wake of the Fall of the Assad Regime" (P98A Lecture Hall)
*13:30-14:00 - Nora Stone Roig, "The Wood Began to Move Haunted Landscapes and the Stimmung of End-Times" (P98A Lecture Hall) *corrected time
13:15-13:45 - Michaella Toscano Vielma, "Undoing the Task: How Contemporary Translators Reconfigure Walter Benjamin into the Anti-Philosophical" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Thursday, December 11:
12:30-13:00 - Elizaveta Savitskaia, "Community and Judgment in Nick Riggle’s Aesthetic Theory" (P98A Lecture Hall)
13:15-13:45 - Frishta Hashimi, "How the Hawala System in Afghanistan Shapes Trust among Individuals and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Afghan Migrants and Their Use of Hawala for Cross-Border Remittances?" (P24 Seminar Room 8)
13:15-13:45 - Štěpánka Slámová, "FDI and Regional Disparities in the Visegrad Four: Did COVID-19 Widen the Gap?" (P98A Lecture Hall)
Kidd Hall Cafe (W15) The Community Forums are dedicated to bringing our entire community (staff, students, and faculty) together to discuss topics related to life at BCB. These are an opportunity to talk about anything on your mind or to ask questions that you have. They are co-hosted between the Student Life Committee and Student Parliament.
K24 Seminar room 11 Interested in how to better advocate for yourself in the workplace? Want to learn more about having difficult discussions with your Boss? What is networking and how do you do it?
If any of these topics sound interesting to you, join us to hear advice from Anastasia Barner!
Organized by Hanna Nelson & Kamilla Szőcs with REM on Campus.
Anastasia Barner is a business creator and considered one of the leading voices of Generation Z. In 2019, at just 20 years old, she founded FeMentor, the first reverse mentoring platform in Europe. Today, she is a Gen Z expert and TEDx speaker. She advises companies on topics such as social media and how to attract young talent.
War in Sudan: Fireside Chat Series (with Dr. Gerrit Kurtz)
Thursday, December 4, 2025 7 pm
JJK Hall Cafe (W15) As part of the Fireside Chat Series on the War in Sudan, Dr. Gerrit Kurtz will speak on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 7pm in JJK Hall (W15 Cafe). Kurtz is a peace and conflict researcher currently at the German Institute of International and Security Affairs focusing on conflict prevention, peacebuilding and diplomacy in the wider Horn of Africa. In his fireside chat with BCB, he will share his perspective and knowledge on the war in Sudan and highlight themes from his article “How (Not) to Talk About the War in Sudan”.
The Fireside Chat Series on the War in Sudan is an ongoing event series at BCB. Further events are in progress and may include visitors from the Sudanese Embassy and other scholars, writers, and artists from the region.
Let's Walk. A participatory expedition through the neighborhood
Friday, December 5, 2025 12:30–1:30 pm
The Factory You are warmly invited to join us for a Performance Walk through the neighborhood with Eva Burghardt. Open your eyes and ears and start relating to the surrounding architecture, movements, sounds and each other. Whether you choose to be actively observing or participating - everything that happens will be part of the choreography. No registration needed. Please be on time!
Cafeteria Get into the holiday spirit at the BCB Winter Market! Warm up with glühwein, hot chocolate, enjoy delicious French toast, and visit the community-run stalls. Gather around the Christmas tree, cozy up by the campfire, and enjoy holiday vibes with friends, peers and colleagues.
Interested in learning more about Bard College Berlin? Join us on December 6 for Virtual Open Day. You will have the chance to meet current BCB students, and attend informational sessions about our application process, degree programs, student life, campus facilities, and more.
Im Auge des Betrachers: Analog Photography Exhibition
Saturday, December 6, 2025 6–9 pm
WIRWIR, Stuttgarter Str. 56, 12059 Berlin-Neukölln Students in April Gertler's Advanced Analog Photography class (FA220) will be having a one-day exhibition at the project space WIRWIR in Berlin-Neukölln on Saturday, 6 December.
With: Wiles Assael, Eleni Ernst, Fiona Galinksy, Kuba Laichter, Ketevan Lomidze, Jay Nidzelska, Mar Parra, Ruska Tskhvediani
Reading by the students of Clare Wigfall's Fiction Writing Workshop
Saturday, December 6, 2025 8–10:30 pm
Wein Salon, Schreinerstr. 59, Friedrichshain, 10247, Berlin It is now a well-loved tradition that the writers in Clare Wigfall's fiction writing workshops give a much-anticipated reading of their work as the finale of their course. As always, we are returning to the charming Wein Salon in Friedrichshain. Please join us for a cozy and intimate (but also perhaps a little bit riotous, let's be frank) evening of beautiful and surprising stories and words written by Clare's students. All BCB students, alumni, friends, and faculty members are warmly welcome.
Writers presenting: Samantha Aikman, Kalina Beleska, August Blais, Isa Boddeker, Claire Daylo, Marcy Hill, Lara Jovanovska, Martina Leprotti, Nico Leupold, Sophie Rhines, Hana Trenčanová
Maxim Gorki Theater (Am Festungsgraben 2, 10117 Berlin) Zum 50. Todestag von Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) lädt die Internationale Hannah Arendt Gesellschaft e.V. (IHAG) gemeinsam mit Bard College Berlin und der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Berlin zu einem Tag des Nachdenkens, Streitens und gemeinsamen Fragens ein. Unter dem Titel „Verstehen, was ist“ widmet sich die Veranstaltung den brennenden politischen und gesellschaftlichen Fragen unserer Zeit – im Licht von Hannah Arendts Denken.
Arendt hat wie kaum eine andere das 20. Jahrhundert durchdacht: Totalitarismus, Revolution, Freiheit und Verantwortung. Heute, in einer Welt, die erneut von autoritären Tendenzen, Kriegen und demokratischer Erosion geprägt ist, stellt sich ihre Leitfrage dringlicher denn je: Wie lässt sich verstehen, was ist?
In drei Gesprächsrunden diskutieren Denker:innen, Autor:innen, Politiker:innen und Wissenschaftler:innen über aktuelle Herausforderungen der Demokratie – von digitaler Öffentlichkeit bis zu zivilem Ungehorsam – und über die Möglichkeit eines Neubeginns.
Lecture Hall The Learning Commons presents a hands-on workshop for the IS101: Plato's Republic Final. During the session we will cover how to prepare your notes and quotes, process and respond to questions, and manage your time for in-class writing.
Hermaphrodite Logic: A New History of the Intersex Movement (1990-2025)
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 12:30–2 pm
JJK Hall Cafe (W15) This talk begins with a reading from the opening of Juliana Gleeson's new book Hermaphrodite Logic, to drop us in medias res at the moment of the intersex movement's unlikely birth (on the streets of Boston). Then will follow a rapid synopsis of the book's arguments:
1) That intersex advocacy followed on rapidly from intersex people meeting one (on and offline) another in the early 1990s.
2) That this new intersex movement developed in conjunction with feminist research, offering a moment of self-consciousness that was spoken to by intersex advocacy's rhetoric, and wit. The bite of that wit was seizing the abject: with intersex advocates declaring themselves “hermaphrodites with attitude” in line with groups like Queer Nation, Lesbian Avengers, and key their allies Transexual Menace.
3) But less often recognized, it was characterized by a style which sardonically appropriated clinical terminology, and derided medic's pretensions of objectivity. (Together, this combination of subversiveness and fluency style that Juliana calls "90s edgy")
4) That their protests from 1996 to the present served as a revelation, which challenged professional authority (specifically claims to clinical "management", and objectivity). The intersex movement thus rewrote the history of sex (in ways still being processed today).
5) The intersex movement today followed two subsequent phases following the edgy 90s incarnation: the 'Intersex Ordinary' in the 00s, then a reframing of their campaigning as a human rights struggle from 2010s-present. Grasping these shifts is a matter of global history and a question of a new science of sex (one attempted in the ruins of sexology).
Organized and moderated by Sasha Johansson and Agata Lisiak, this event is part of Lisiak's PT160 Transnational Feminism Is for Everybody and supported by the Civic Engagement Office.
W16 Learning Commons Finals got you overwhelmed? Join us at the Learning Commons Final Event for a supportive writing space. Whether it’s a thesis, an OPE response, a policy analysis, or another assignment, tutors will be available for help, and you’ll have scheduled work-and-rest time alongside peers. Let’s finish strong together!
The Factory This series aims to provide the student community at BCB with a platform to share and learn about diverse political issues in the form of informative presentations and discussions given by their own peers.
Organized by Atreyee Ahsan, Mariia Tarasenko in collaboration with EOPND Office.
Julie Johnson Kidd Hall Café (W15) BCB has a living and learning community with a special focus on German language and culture: the “DerDieDas Haus”. Students with an interest in exploring German in their daily lives share a designated floor in one of our residence halls. They use German amongst each other during the week and engage in extracurricular activities in the city.
To find out more about how the projects works, how to apply for a place etc., please join us for an “Offenes Haus” with snacks and drinks hosted by members of “DerDieDas Haus” and the BCB German Program.
JJK Hall Cafe (W15) Kick off completion week with a dinner of breakfast! Student Life Staff will be here to serve you stacks of pancakes, fruit, and hot beverages.
JJK Hall Cafe (W15) "Abendbrot" is an informal social gathering for all students interested in speaking German. Bi-weekly on Wednesdays at 6:30pm in JJK Cafe (W15). Hosted by your German tutors Sanskriti and Giulio.
The Factory (Eichenstraße 43, 13156) BCB’s celebrated end-of-the-semester arts tradition returns: Open Studios is a two day display of student's works that they have created throughout the semester. This includes performances, films, and visual artworks of all kinds. Everyone is welcome to come see what our talented student body has created and experience the ongoing growth of our arts programs.
On December 11, visual and performing arts students will showcase their work at the Factory (Eichenstraße 43, 13156 Berlin). On December 12, visual arts students will showcase their work at Monopol (Provinzstraße 44, 13409 Berlin). View more information here.
Open Studios and Performance Factory on Thursday, December 11 consists of exhibitions and performances by students from the following classes:
The Study and Staging of Epic Theater
Performance and Digital Culture
From Street to Stage: Experimenting with Rimini Protokoll's Approach to Documentary Theater
The Photo Zine: A Subversive Phenomenon
Advanced Photography: Analog 4eva
Immersive Spatial Experiences
How Long Is Now? – A Photographic Portrait of Berlin
Introduction to Digital Photography: Identity Construction and Representation
Monopol (Provinzstraße 44, 13409 Berlin) BCB’s celebrated end-of-the-semester arts tradition returns: Open Studios is a two day display of student's works that they have created throughout the semester. This includes performances, films, and visual artworks of all kinds. Everyone is welcome to come see what our talented student body has created and experience the ongoing growth of our arts programs.
On December 11, visual and performing arts students will showcase their work at the Factory (Eichenstraße 43, 13156 Berlin). View more information here. On December 12, visual arts students will showcase their work at Monopol (Provinzstraße 44, 13409 Berlin).
Open Studios on Friday, December 12 consists of exhibitions by students from the following classes:
Introduction to Glassmaking
Marble Stone Sculpture
Beginning Painting
Advanced Painting: Oil Paint and After
Advanced Drawing: Drawing and Display
Found Fragments and Layered Lines: Mixed-Media Techniques for Drawing and Collage
diffrakt | zentrum für theoretische peripherie e.V., Crellestraße 22, 10827 Berlin The distinction between reason and unreason, a tenet of Enlightenment thought, sustains the universal appeal of liberal democracy, but leaves unexamined the paradoxes that haunt modernity, particularly its colonial foundations, thus obscuring the continuities between imperial policies and fascism. A recent book, The White West: Fascism, Unreason, and the Paradox of Modernity, contends that without confronting the structuring force of race in the production and reproduction of global wealth disparities, fighting for reason only leads to flawed utopias in which a critique or disruption of capitalism is easily inflected in the direction of neofascism.
In conversation with cultural theorists Ana Teixeira Pinto and Anselm Franke, using their collected volume as a point of departure, Clio Nicastro and Agata Lisiak will critically unpack the ongoing processes of fascisization in Germany and beyond, reflecting on how the most recent political developments have affected, or possibly challenged, their theorization of fascism. Interrogating fascism’s genealogies and legacies, we will also contemplate possible ways forward, outside myopic and harmful frameworks of universality.
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