stayed: 20-26.05.2024

Ethel-Ruth Tawe is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, curator and creative researcher exploring memory in Africa and its diaspora. Image-making, storytelling, and time-travelling compose the framework of her inquiry. From collage to moving image, Ethel examines space and time-based technologies often from a speculative lens. Her burgeoning curatorial practice took form in an inaugural exhibition titled 'African Ancient Futures', and continues to expand in a myriad of audiovisual experiments. Ethel is recipient of the Magnum Foundation 2022 Counter Histories Grant-Program for her project 'Image Frequency Modulation', which was also recently selected for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2023 DocLab Forum and Black Public Media's BPM+ Fellowship. She is recipient of the 10x10 Photobook 2024 Research Grant for her project 'The Algorithms of Colonial African Photobooks’.

At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Ethel will produce an art piece responding to the program question: How can we use the unique insights and intersectional methods of Black feminism to respond to the complexities of the contemporary polycrisis?

Originally trained in neuroscience, Mazviita Chirimuuta is a philosopher at Edinburgh University who writes about the history of ideas behind the mind/brain sciences. Her book on colour vision and perceptual reality, Outside Color, was published by MIT Press in 2015. This was recently followed by a new book, The Brain Abstracted, about the ways that the theories developed in neuroscience are a vast simplification of the underlying complexity of brain, mind and body. She is currently doing research on the biological basis of cognition and the philosophical origins of the AI programme.

At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Mazviita gave a talk that examines the historical and social context of the invention of computers and AI, machines which, like all other machines, are designed to replicate specific forms of productive labour previously performed by humans or other animals. The process of mechanising thought – the reconfiguration of the concept of intelligence in such a way as affords performance of cognitive tasks by a machine – is akin to other forms of disenchantment that we see at the origin of industrialisation. This presents a challenge to claims for the equivalence of biological and machine intelligence and ultimately provides a reason to be doubtful that artificial general intelligence (AGI) is an imminent possibility.

Susan Arndt is Professor of Anglophone Literatures at the University of Bayreuth. After studying German, English and African literature in Berlin and London, she completed her doctorate on feminism in Nigerian literature and orature. After a period as a Research Fellow at St. Antonys College (Oxford), she taught and researched as a research assistant at the Humboldt University in Berlin, the Centre for Literary and Cultural Research in Berlin and the Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main. Her research on postcoloniality, feminism and intersectionality takes place within the framework of transcultural literary studies, with a focus on narratives of migration, diversity, whiteness and resistance.

At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Susan gave a talk about the longevity of racism’s white supremacy, while linking the AfD as fascist party to the völkisch racism of c19/20. in conclusion, she will talk about intersectional solidarity as a mode of intervention.

TONI HAASTRUP is Professor and Chair in Global Politics at the University of Manchester. She earned her PhD in Politics from the University of Edinburgh. With a keen focus on interdisciplinary approaches, Haastrup's research often engages the complexities of global politics, with particular attention to the intersections of gender, race, and power. Her work has not only advanced academic understanding but has also contributed to shaping policy and practice in addressing global challenges.
Beyond her academic work, she is also deeply committed to supporting the next generation of scholars, fostering a diverse and inclusive academic community. She is a founding member of the African Feminist Collective on Feminist Informed Policies (AfIP Collective).

At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Toni gave a talk “Is Feminist Peace within Reach?”.

Cassandra Ellerbe is a certified diversity/social justice and specializes in empowerment trainings for Black, migrant and refugee women of color. From 2011-2019 she served as a board member of Eine Welt der Vielfalt e.V. Berlin. She was an academic Fellow at the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies (2013-2014) and a network member of the Black Diaspora in Germany Scholars Project funded by the German Research Foundation (2010-2014).
Along with conducting workshops as a certified diversity trainer in the “World of Difference” method and intercultural communication, Cassandra is currently a guest faculty member at Bard College Berlin and she is a board member of Frauenloop. Cassandra currently also holds the position of Officer for Diversity & Inclusivity for the EU project YUFE: Young Universities for the Future of Europe at University of Bremen.
She earned her PhD in Comparative Cultural Studies/Anthropology at the University of Ghent, Belgium in 2006.

At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Cassandra conducted and lead a program workshop.

Emilia Roig is the Founder and Executive Director of the Berlin-based Center for Intersectional Justice (CIJ), a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting justice, equality and a life free from systemic oppression for all. Her experience growing up in a multiracial Algerian-Jewish-Martinique family in France shaped her commitment and passion for intersectional social justice. Emilia is a faculty member of DePaul University of Chicago's Social Justice Study Abroad Program and has taught graduate and postgraduate courses in Intersectional Theory, Postcolonial Studies, Critical Race Theory, Queer Feminism, and International and European Law at universities across Europe.
She holds a PhD in Political Science, a Masters of Public Policy and an MBA in International Law. Before her doctorate, she worked extensively on human rights issues at the UN in Tanzania and Uganda, at the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Cambodia and at Amnesty International in Germany - and decided to leave the field of "development" to focus on focus on social justice in Europe.

At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Emilia was the guest speaker for our Monastery Wednesday on “Creating the New Paradigm: deploying the full potential of the great transformation ushered in by Black Feminists”.

Shishani Vranckx is a singer, songwriter and guitarist with Namibian and Belgian roots, but she grew up mainly in the Netherlands. As a performer she has received numerous awards, including the 'Last Band Standing' (Namibia, 2012) and the singer-songwriter competition Mooie Noten (Netherlands, 2013). She was also a finalist in the Radio France International Discovery Awards (2014). In 2016, Shishani & Namibian Tales quartet won Best World Music Album from Netherlands with their debut album Itaala. She has performed internationally at events such as the Africa Festival in Wurzburg (Germany), Glastonbury Festival (UK), Lake of Stars (Malawi), and in numerous other countries. She is a founder of ARTNAM, advocating for the promotion of Namibian arts, and has written for the Bloomsbury Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Music of the World and other platforms such as Music in Africa. Currently she is project coordinator, musician and researcher in the UNESCO funded project 'Namibian Tales - Kalahari Encounters'.

Jennifer Christine Nash is the Jean Fox O'Barr Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies at Duke University within its Trinity College of Arts and Sciences.