Knowledge Network Racism Research (WinRa)
Structural Projects
Project head: Dr. Aisha-Nusrat Ahmad
Project team members: Roman Koska Aslan, Roian Anne Haußner, Samira Jani
Associates: Dr. Noa K. Ha
Not least the attacks in Hanau and Halle and the conjuncture of racist violence in Germany, which manifests itself structurally and institutionally, show how important it is to act decisively against racism and right-wing extremism and to promote and expand research on these topics more strongly as well as to anchor it in the university landscape.
Therefore, the Knowledge Network Racism Research (WinRa) aims to network and strategically strengthen the scattered and fragmented research community on racism in Germany through a research-led, interdisciplinary exchange. Questions of content and methodology take up central space within the knowledge network, which also wants to formulate strategies for expanding the research infrastructure for racism research in Germany. The network furthermore serves as a contact partner for politics, civil society, the media and the public.
The Knowledge Network Racism Research is conceived as a collaborative project. In addition to an overall coordination and management at the DeZIM Institute in Berlin, WinRa consists of four regional networks established at the Bucerius Law School Hamburg/University of Hamburg (Network North), the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences/Humboldt University of Berlin (Network East), the University of Mannheim/University of Bayreuth (Network South) and the University of Bielefeld/Leuphana University of Lüneburg (Network West).
WinRa is funded within the framework of the funding guideline "Current and Historical Dynamics of Right-Wing Extremism and Racism" of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for a period of five years and pursues, among others, the following overall objectives:
- Networking and strengthening existing racism research across all disciplines as well as strengthening the topic of racism in the individual disciplines as a central issue for identifying gaps and desiderata.
- Networking of research projects and junior research groups funded within the framework of the BMBF's funding guidelines.
- Regional strengthening and profile building of interdisciplinary research and teaching contexts for new impulses at the universities and the respective disciplines as well as strengthening and integrating the promotion of young researchers.
- Exchange with research on right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism as well as with research on integration, migration and flight.
For the implementation of these goals, a systematic and disciplinary stocktaking of racism research in Germany will be carried out in order to be able to name development perspectives and action recommendation for a suitable research infrastructure as well as concrete realisation possibilities for structural development on this basis. Furthermore, WinRa contributes to a more thorough reflection of racism research as a practice, to support the discussion about the self-understanding of the research field and to define it more precisely with regard to ethics, methodology and transfer to practice. WinRa also aims at the structured integration of civil society actors and community-based research as well as national and international networking with partners and institutions throughout the entire project duration.
Further information can be found here:
Funding: Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (Third-party funding)
Cooperation partner:
University of Mannheim (contact: Prof. Dr. Irena Kogan), University of Bayreuth (contact: Prof. Dr. Stefan Ouma), Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences (contact: Prof. Dr. Maureen Maisha Auma), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (contact: Prof. Dr. Gökce Yurdakul), Bucerius Law School (contact: Prof. Dr. Mehrdad Payandeh), University of Hamburg (contact: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zimmerer), University of Bielefeld (contact: Prof. Dr. Paul Mecheril), Leuphana University of Lüneburg (contact: Prof. Dr. Serhat Karakayali)