Exploring Right Populisms

PSI (Philipp Schwartz-Initiative) fellows at the University of Siegen have initiated a collaborative research project and organized a workshop to share initial outcomes and to form a collective debate among experts.

Dr. Ali Ekber Dogan and Dr. Asli Telli Aydemir, PSI fellows at the University of Siegen, have initiated a collaborative research project in October, 2017 entitled: ‘Homeland Populism and its Discontents Among Migrant Communities in Europe’ with their fellow colleagues in the Academics for Peace Network, Dr. Mustafa Sener (PSI fellow @ Uni-Bamberg) and Aydin Bayad (PhD student @Uni-Bielefeld), CSO activist Murat Gürgöz (Tüday, Cologne) and Dr. Axel Gehring (Uni-Marburg), a native, adamant supporter of their cause as well as their research efforts.

The research team, mentioned above, have started working on the socio-psychological dynamics of high voter/supporter agency with AKP and its leader among Turkish/Kurdish Diaspora in Germany and are also planning to expand their research to migrant groups living in other points of attraction outside Germany within Europe; this will require a comparative/collaborative agenda, which marks the first ideafication for a workshop.

Here are the details in action: The workshop at the University of Siegen was organized in order to share initial outcomes of their pilot research and to form a collective debate among experts, researchers, journalists and civil society representatives in the field. The event took place in Herrengarten premises of the University of Siegen on December 16, 2017 and gathered a diversity of interest from 17 public actors in Siegen, Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin, Bielefeld, Wuppertal and Milan representing organizations with comprehensive socio-political impact with their effective advocacy efforts in specifically, the regions noted for their Turkish-Kurdish origin diaspora and migrant groups.

As for the researchers, the most significant take-away from this workshop is that many structures and mechanisms with politico-religious and civic groundings have been created to feed ‘Right Populisms’ from Turkey to Germany and vice versa and that these structures need to be elaborated without falling into the trap of culturally-essentialist treatments or biases that may arise from outdated nation-state perceptions. Thus, the pilot phase of the research project including this workshop will not only form the theoretical basis for a larger scale project with innovative empirical aspirations, but it will also invite further interest from civic and socio-political networks and individuals, dwelling in the streets of diverse Europe with sparking stories to be narrated and shared.

For further info: telli.asli@gmail.com, ekbera@gmail.com