Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Student-Run Groups & Meetups

 

 

Townhall-Meetup, Black Student Union, BIPOC Meeting

 

The American Studies division is organizing virtual "townhall" zoom meet ups where students and faculty members can come together and talk about racism in the US and Germany, white supremacy in academia, as well as possible anti-racist practices and actions at and beyond the department.

Faculty members and students from other departments are welcome!

 

Townhall Meetup

The townhall meetup is open to anyone. Since the first meeting in June 2020, several working groups have been established: MeetUps/ Spaces, Education, Accessibility, Academia in Action. All protocols and more information about the townhall meetups can be found on a drive. Write an e-mail to hu.berlin.townhall@gmail.com to gain access, stay updated and become active.

Two autonomous groups have formed out of the working group “Meet Ups/ Space”:

 

Black Student Union

During the first Townhall meeting in June 2020, it was mentioned that there is the desire for a space or forum where Black students can meet and organize to not only exchange their experiences but find ways to efficiently advocate for their issues. The Black Student Union is currently in the “building” process. So, everyone interested in taking part in creating a Black community on campus is more than welcome to join and bring in their ideas.

Website: https://bsuhu.wordpress.com/

Contact: Black Student Union wedeservetoholdspace@gmail.com

 

BIPOC Meetup “Kitchen Table Talks”

KITCHEN TABLE TALKS is a (virtual) safer space for Black students and staff members & students and staff members of Color at Humboldt University Berlin. We also collect  experiences of racism and other forms of discrimination anonymously. For more information see https://bipochuberlin.hotglue.me/.

Contact: existracismhuberlin@gmail.com

 

 

 

SPEKTRUM – a forum and third space for a living experience of diversity

 

This explicitly non-activist forum SPEKTRUM offers anyone who is affiliated with German-speaking academia and who seeks information, backup, networking, and hence reliable support within a safer (due to pandemic issues temporarily virtual) space, which is autonomous and works with a community agreement that ensures safety, a helpful platform. For anyone studying, teaching, and/or working in academic spaces and spheres, some words, specific situations, subject matters, and/or tasks might quickly become intimidating, difficult to digest, frustrating, annoying, and/or offensive. What usually follows are feelings of being hurt and then nowhere to go to at once. Others might be puzzled and also feel like being disqualified without understanding why this is. As a result, specific questions might start to dart across one’s worried mind, such as: How should I have reacted much better? Where did I go wrong? Where to get first aid? This is an emergency, what to do now? Will I experience this again, over and over?

The communication languages, for now, are German and English.

Contact/Sign up: s.p.e.k.t.r.u.m.divers@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

Literary Study Group English and American Studies

 

Is literature “organised violence committed on ordinary speech”? Can we really kill the author? And are you unwittingly writing a text whenever you go for a walk in your neighbourhood?

 

If these questions have made you curious: welcome to our Study Group! We’re two English students and our group is supposed to become a space in which everyone can enrich their understanding of literature and share their thoughts with likeminded people. 
We’d like this group to be an opportunity for you to explore literature - for discussion, for writing, and for developing skills for your further studies – without any academic pressure. We’re no experts either!  
At the end of the semester, we’d like each of us to produce an essay about a text and topic of our choice -  and this can be as obscure and experimental as we want. It’s all about trying something new. We’d even like to publish our results in one way or the other.
If you would like to join, please be aware that we will be reading at least one academic text for every meeting. Meetings will involve sharing your writing with the other members for feedback, and we are planning to share the final essays with the department at the end of the semester. You can of course participate within your capacity, which includes prioritising other obligations, but you probably won’t enjoy this activity if you already have a very busy schedule. 

 

If this sounds good to you, please drop us a line at constantine.helm@gmail.com and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
We’ll have our first meeting in the second week of November - we’ll be in touch with details, but it will most likely take place via Zoom. 

 

Looking forward to reading with you,
André & Konstantin