Webinars & Meetings
In order to share practitioner experience and wisdom more widely, A World of Neighbours host Zoomcasts, drawing on grassroots practitioners and knowledgeable speakers to explore topics relevant to migration challenges in Europe.
UPCOMING ONLINE EVENTS
No scheduled events.
PREVIOUS EVENTS – WATCH RECORDINGS
The Language of Mutual Transformation
How we talk about each other in our public discourse structures our relations and the society as a whole. The status of Roma people as a national minority in Sweden is a case in point. In 2000, Roma people were recognized in national legislation as one of the country’s five official minorities, initiating an intentional process to counteract discrimination and vulnerability, and to insure the right to develop and maintain language and culture. The Roma Information and Knowledge Center in Malmo has created a model for such social transformation at individual, structural and discoursive levels. The aim: to create a new us that recognizes a unique you.
PRESENTERS
Mujo Halilovic is the manager of the Roma information and knowledge center in Malmö municipality. He has a background within pedagogics, intercultural education and international migration and has worked for many years with matters concerning a society with inclusive diversity.
Felix Unogwu is Program Manager for the Board of Education & Municipal Government of Malmo, Sweden, specializinginearly detection and prevention of radicalization in schools. He is member of the Practitioners Network of A World of Neighbours.
Ulrich Schmiedel is Lecturer in Theology, Politics and Ethics at the University of Edinburgh. The Deputy Director of Edinburgh’s Centre for Theology and Public Issues, he has written widely on political and public theology. Ulrich is the author of Elasticized Ecclesiology: The Concept of Community after Ernst Troeltsch (2017) and the co-author of The Claim to Christianity: Responding to the Far Right (2020), with Hannah Strømmen. He serves as Chair of the Academic Advisory Board of A World of Neighbours.
MODERATOR
Dirk Ficca serves as a senior advisor to the Archbishop and is director of the Practitioners Network for A World of Neighbours.
(Recorded June 10, 2021)
Research and Practice in Multi-faith Praxis
Research and practice may often seem positioned at opposite poles, having not much to do with each other. However, as the speakers of this zoomcast shows, that does not have to be the case. All three of them engage with multi-faith praxis on an everyday basis.
PARTICIPANTS:
Dr. Ulrich Schmiedel, Lecturer in Theology, Politics and Ethics at the University of Edinburgh, practice is at the center of public and political theology.
Dr. Kaia Rønsdal, an associate professor in. Leadership, Dialogue and Care in Plural Contexts at the University of Oslo, is concerned with practice informed research, thus keeping her academic work, both research and teaching in close connection to practice.
Dr. Karol Wilczyński, founder of Salam Lab – The Laboratory of Peace, applies acquired academic experience in his work as an educator, peace journalist and communication strategist.
MODERATOR:
Ryszard Bobrowicz, Chief Networking Officer in A World of Neighbours Practitioners’ Network.
(Recorded May 13, 2021)
Interreligious Engagement on the Path to Convivence
What constructive role can diverse religious communities play in the integration of migrants and minorities into the broader secular society?
PARTICIPANTS:
Matteo Bassoli, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua, co-founder of Refugee Welcome Italia.
Helena Hummasten, Islamic Relief Sweden.
Majbritt Lyck Bowen, Research Fellow at the Winchester Centre of Religion, Reconciliation and Peace. She is the lead investigator on the research project A Multireligious Approach to Integration.
MODERATOR:
Zachary Gallant is the Director for Development and Strategy for the Practitioners Network of A World of Neighbours. He has served as the Managing Director of the Integrationswerkstatt in Unkel, Germany, the only rural winner of the 2019 German Integration Prize.
(Recorded Jan 13, 2021)
Is Europe Closing the Borders?
The recent changes in migration policy being considered by the European Union are creating a path towards greater restrictions at a time when vulnerable populations are on the rise. The once welcomed elimination of the Dublin protocol is one example of what may now be unforeseen and potentially harmful consequences. What are the ramifications of these policy changes for the lives and aspirations of refugees and migrants and those who work on their behalf? How can the grassroots foster the political will needed to cope with these changes in a constructive way?
PARTICIPANTS:
Peo Hanson, Professor, Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society, REMESO, Linköping University.
Domenica Pecoraro, Kent Refugee Project Officer, Diocese of Canterbury, Church of England.
MODERATOR:
Ulrich Schmiedel, Lecturer, Theology, Politics and Ethics, New College – Edinburgh University. Deputy Director of Edinburgh’s Centre for Theology and Public Issues.
(Recorded Dec 10, 2020)
What Does Moria have to Do with Krakow?
Devastating fires in the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos have further stranded 13,000 refugees. In this webinar we will hear Sonia Nandzik working with ReFOCUS Media Labs, dedicated to equip asylum seekers with modern media skills. Yasir Akbari, student at ReFocus Media Labs together with Peter Kessler, Senior Communications Officer at UNHCR will give first-hand accounts from Lesvos.
We will also hear the story of how two individuals, Karol Wilczyński and Anna Wilczyńska, in Krakow, Poland, have been able to convince the city officials of Krakow to declare readiness to welcome displaced persons from Moria.
Does grassroots efforts hold the key to influencing the direction of Europe in coming to grips with this ongoing humanitarian challenge?
MODERATOR: Anna Hjälm, Director of the programme Interreligious Praxis for Peace – A World of Neighbours.
(Recorded Nov 18, 2020)
Backlash: Fear and Hatred in a Time of Covid-19
In times of intense societal stress, those perceived as ‘the other’ – such as foreigners, ethnic minorities, marginalized persons – are often the target of increased fear and even hatred. In this time of Covid-19, such stress is currently expressed in the form of negative narratives, punitive legal and social norms, and humanitarian indifference. What does solidarity look like in the face of such stigmatization and its devastating consequences?
SPEAKERS: Adam Ramsey, journalist and co-editor of openDemocracy UK and Đermana Šeta, Advisor on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims at OSCE ODIHR.
MODERATOR: Rebecca Lillian, Rabbi at Shir Hatzafon Synagog, Denmark
(Recorded Oct 27, 2020)