Watch recording here:

https://youtu.be/FQZZTdoTnfo

Speakers:

Keyvan Allahyari (University of Tübingen)

Amina El Halawani (ICI Kulturlabor Berlin / University of Alexandria, Egypt)

Chair: Russell West-Pavlov (University of Tübingen)

Description:

This panel brings together two apparently quite distinct versions of the contemporary city: on the one hand, the city as it is constructed in the present on the basis of an inaccessible, desirable past, the city of nostalgia that its erstwhile inhabitants carry away with them into the future of their wanderings; and the city that is literally constructed in the present to house displaced persons fleeing war, famine, poverty or the other ills that drive forced migration – a city that is often improvised and temporary, but may eventually manifest a peculiarly permanent form of precarity, albeit one suffused with memories of violence and the present reality of violence. The city of nostalgia and the refugee camp display surprisingly similar features that invite reflection upon the peculiarities of the portable city.

About:

Keyvan Allahyari is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the English Department at the University of Tübingen.

Amina El Halawani is a Postdoctoral Fellow at ICI Kulturlabor Berlin and a Lecturer in the English Department at the University of Alexandria, Egypt.