The interdisciplinary research group on Narratives is interested in any social, political, artistic, practical, and theoretical implications pertaining to narratives of migration, belonging and politics of belonging.

By investigating settler, migrant, refugee, and Indigenous narratives we seek to identify alternative narratives that critically and constructively challenge Eurocentric notions of settlement, ownership, and identity. In order to foster a viewpoint of decolonized social belonging, we will question binary and place-based concepts of hybridity, diversity, integration, settlement and Indigenous belonging, as they appear in literature, film, and other media. Our aim is to discuss a set of criteria for a transformative aesthetics that renegotiates and changes political perspectives, and thus plays a crucial part in challenging collective core narratives in plural societies.

The Narratives research group was initiated in 2019 as part of Markus Hallensleben’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) research project on “Migration as Core Narrative of Plural Societies: Towards an Aesthetics of Postmigrant Literature,” but thrives to go beyond literary narratives of migration. We welcome students and scholars of all disciplines.

We meet every month throughout the Winter Terms, alongside organizing public talks and collaborative workshops.