EXIT · Exile in Transition: Arab Cultural Production in Berlin

Rising anti-migration sentiment, racism and xenophobia define the current political climate in many countries in Europe and in the United States. EXIT studies those directly affected by this exclusionary rhetoric, Arab cultural actors in Berlin. Its central question is: How do cultural actors with Arab backgrounds navigate the contemporary politics of exclusion in Berlin? In the aftermath of the Arab Spring, Berlin became a center of the global Arab diaspora and it witnessed a surge of Arab cultural initiatives. Yet, in the past two years major shifts in the Middle East – the destruction of Gaza and the end of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria – have tremendously impacted the lives of individuals who self-identify as Arabs. The image of Berlin as a new ‘capital of Arab culture’ is challenged by various exclusionary logics. In Germany, the media holds a prominent role in producing knowledge of criminalized and racialized ‘Arab clans’. Such representations obscure the multiple subjectivities of the many individuals with Arab migration background in Berlin and their manifold contributions to the city’s social and cultural life. It is within this context that EXIT seeks to examine the lived experiences of cultural actors who take on the role of ‘quotidian intellectuals’ in Berlin. Approaching Berlin’s Arab cultural actors through an intersectional lens that accounts for gender, race, and class, the project explores the ways in which they respond to and navigate the contemporary politics that force them to the margins. Taking the German capital as a case study offers the opportunity to generate new knowledge about those affected most by the rising anti-migration sentiment at a critical juncture.