The Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities Program at MSU awarded two Graduate Scholarships this year to Joseph Mandwee and Temilade Adegoke. Joseph and Tamilade have been admitted to the graduate program in German at MSU and will start this fall. As a Global Studies scholar, they will receive in their first year $2000 in financial support. Throughout their time at MSU, they will also be eligible for any graduate employment or funding opportunities offered through the Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities Program.
We congratulate them on this achievement and welcome them to MSU!
My research in the program is going to focus on German Anti-Arabism, xenophobia, and the current suppression of Arab voices and freedom of speech in the context of Western, neo-liberal hypocrisy (such as in regards to Palestine and state-sponsored support for apartheid, genocide, and colonialism). I plan to film a documentary in Bavaria next summer on these themes and to narrate the lived experiences of Arabs/Arab refugees in Munich from a psychological, sociological, and mainly political standpoint. This relates well to global studies because the project integrates two regions (Central Europe and the Arab World). It also explores the dynamic but controversial relationship, and Germany’s often abusive approach to the Middle East, both historically and currently, although claiming itself to be a beacon of human rights. The documentary will consist of interviews in three languages – Arabic, German, and English.
I am interested in investigating the dynamics of migration and the construction of ‘other’ identities, with a focus on the intersection of language barriers and cultural differences. My research will center on contemporary Germany, exploring how migration from Third World countries shapes the dissemination and adoption of the German language and how language, in turn, contributes to the construction of identity in Germany’s multicultural landscape.
