Hakim Abderrezak – Combining Art and Scholarship: A Creative Approach to the Migration Crisis
Wednesday, May 19, 2021Lecture
5:00 pm CEST
Prof. Dr. Hakim Abderrezak discusses his scholarship and creative work, which centers on the so-called “refugee crisis.” In his talk, he will ask, “How do modes of creative expression—such as fine art, literature and cinema—address misnomers, misunderstandings and misconceptions and redress our biased visions of this global human migratory phenomenon?”; “Are scholars and artists able to impact issues that affect real people? How can our work make a contribution and a difference?”
Abderrezak will share his experience and work as a Franco-American scholar of North African ancestry teaching in the United States, who has published and painted about the current implications of the criminalization of forced migration, the militarization of seas, the persecution of those fleeing wars, the prevention of maritime crossings, the fortification of borders and the demonization of dreams of a better life for individuals hailing from the Global South.
Hakim Abderrezak is an associate professor of French and Francophone studies at the University of Minnesota. He is currently the ANDREW W. MELLON FELLOW IN THE HUMANITIES - CLASS OF SPRING 2021 at the American Academy in Berlin. His research focuses on migration which he connects with artistic production.
He completed his BA and MA in English-language and American literature at the Université de Rouen and PhD in French studies at Northwestern University. Abderrezak is the author of Ex-Centric Migrations: Europe and the Maghreb in Mediterranean Cinema, Literature, and Music (Indiana, 2016) and co-editor of a special issue of Expressions Maghrébines. He has been a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, visiting scholar in the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, and visiting professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the Philipps Universität in Marburg. His work has also appeared in journals including SITES: Contemporary French and Francophone Studies and Journal of North African Studies.
The SHORE (Students Helping to Organize for the Refugees of Europe) project will contribute to the student and activist perspective.
This event is organized in cooperation with the American Academy in Berlin and the U.S. Embassy Berlin and moderated by Prof. Kerry Bystrom and Director of Civic Engagement Xenia Muth.
Email: [email protected]