TALK "A culture of welcoming: Germany’s Refugee-problem – A Crisis or a Chance?" A Lecture by German Author Rajvinder Singh at Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg > 7:30pm on 1st December 2015

Time : 7:30 pm Add to Calendar 01/12/2015 19:30 01/12/2015 21:00 Asia/Kolkata TALK "A culture of welcoming: Germany’s Refugee-problem – A Crisis or a Chance?" A Lecture by German Author Rajvinder Singh Event Page : http://www.delhievents.com/2015/11/talk-culture-of-welcoming-germanys.html Library, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi-110001 DD/MM/YYYY

Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served Basis)

Venue : Library, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi-110001

Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Stations - 'Janpath(Violet Line)'  & 'Rajiv Chowk, Exit Gate - 5 (Yellow Line and Blue Line)' & 'Barakhamba Road(Blue Line)' 
Area : Kasturba Gandhi Marg Event

Event Description : "A culture of welcoming: Germany’s Refugee-problem – A Crisis or a Chance?" A Lecture by German Author Rajvinder Singh.

As the influx of refugees is continuing at an alarming rate, a recent German study has shown that as many as 59 per cent of German population would welcome the immigrants. However, a significant minority is of a different opinion. The intricate challenges it poses are twofold, perceived on the one hand as “forced Intimacy” transcending geographical and cultural frontiers, generating in a section of society a fear of estrangement. On the other hand a rigidified centuries old nostalgic approach to native identity prompts people like those participating in the Pegida demonstrations to come out and resist actively. 
In a world governed by discriminatory norms of economic and cultural belonging, territorial intimacy is engendered in response to a situation of economic exclusion or social marginality which is fueled by the myth of economic loss. Inspired by the German philosopher Georg Simmel’s Excursus on the Stranger Mr. Singh will argue that only when the crisis of the other becomes our own crisis, and we embrace it with conviviality, can it be recognized as a chance for both the parties involved.
After his lecture Mr. Singh will be in conversation with Indian journalist Aman Sethi. Aman Sethi is presently conducting an online correspondence with his German colleague Georg Diez on “Migration, 
Immigration, Fleeing” (www.goethe.de/indien/fleeing) discussing recent developments and issues in Germany and Europe.

Rajvinder Singh is a freelance poet and writer of German Language, translator, and dubbing actor. Born 1956 in Kapurthala (India), he has lived in Germany since 1980. In 1985 he started writing in German, which he lovingly calls his “stepmother tongue”. He is a member of the German PEN, and of German Writers Union. 

Aman Sethi is a New Delhi-based journalist and author of A Free Man, a work of non-fiction reportage on the lives of itinerant daily wage workers. He has written extensively on issues of labour and migration and has reported from India and eastern and southern Africa.

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