Fourth-year student Christin Alhalabi receives the 2023 DAAD Prize

Christin Alhalabi, a fourth year Humanities, the Arts, and Social Thought student, concentrating in Ethics and Politics, is the recipient of this year’s DAAD Prize at Bard College Berlin. This prestigious award is given annually to an international student who has demonstrated academic excellence and has shown strong dedication to civic and cultural engagement beyond their studies.

Christin, who comes from Syria, has a stellar academic record which is bolstered by her commitment to youth development, intercultural communication and community engagement. Before coming to Bard College Berlin, Christin was awarded a full scholarship to pursue a cultural immersion gap year in Senegal in 2019, where she interned in a middle school with an English teacher, designing and delivering English as a Second Language content in the Wolof language.

Upon arriving in Berlin, Christin began to volunteer with Ubuntu, an intergenerational art NGO, as a mentor for two teenage girls from Syria and Moldova, where she facilitated on complex topics related to active citizenship. Christin used her international experience and refugee identity to get in touch with the sensibilities of memory sites such as the Stasi Museum, or places facing hardship, such as the Moria camp in Greece.

In January 2021, she exhibited a booklet of Syrian women’s stories, which she had collected with her classmate Sohaib Al-Zoubi as part of a project in a course “Feminism and Community,” at Haus der Statistik, Berlin, as part of the Critical Practice Institute with Bard Al-Quds. “In addition to shedding light on the diversity of the Syrian woman experience and presenting its complexity to the exhibition visitors in Berlin, I co-created a space for sharing, healing and community building through writing for Syrian women like me,” says Christin. This led to an internship with International Women* Space, with the support of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate in Annandele, New York. 

Currently, Christin is studying abroad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she has learned fluent Portuguese, and fallen in love with the historically Arab SAARA market, which has become the topic of her BA thesis. “I am writing about the collective memory cultivated within SAARA, as well as reaching out to Arab descendants in order to hear their stories about heritage and familial memories,” says Christin. She will return to Bard College Berlin in the spring 2024 semester to complete her thesis project and graduate.

Christin's journey showcases a remarkable blend of academic excellence, cultural exploration, and dedicated community engagement. Managing Director Florian Becker will award the DAAD Prize in person upon Christin’s return to Berlin. Previous recipients are Salma Houmane (2022), Vala Schriefer (2021), Adam Hardaker (2020), and Bíborka Béres (2019). 
 

Post Date: 12-12-2023