Tessera

Off University

@offuniversity.bsky.social

Self-organization of displaced and persecuted scholars. Visit us on offuniversity.org #universitywithoutborders #onlineseminars

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Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · last wk.

We are excited to announce 3 NEW COURSES in our 2026-27 WINTER SEMESTER starting in mid-October. JOIN US in sustaining spaces where learning, solidarity, and critical inquiry can continue despite violence and repression. SIGN UP TODAY! -> offuniversity.org/current-cour...

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We are happy to announce that the contributions to the Cities at War Lecture Series are now available as texts online: off.pubpub.org/citiesatwar offuniversity.org/contribution...

Contributions tothe Cities at War Lecture Series

Cities at War Lecture Series: Written versions of the lectures are published online and available through open access.

offuniversity.org

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

"Critical Peace and Civil Society,” led by @dr-ferda-fa.bsky.social is an interactive online lab examining how mid-level actors connect communities and decision-makers in conflict settings. ℹ️ offuniversity.org/current-cour... 🗣️ KURMANCÎ @rosaluxstiftung.bsky.social @humboldtuni.bsky.social

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Gender-based violence is structural, political, and contested. This course explores its dynamics in West Asia, from domestic abuse to conflict-related violence, while highlighting activism, survival strategies, and spaces of resistance across the region. ➡️ offuniversity.org/current-cour...

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

In our History Textbook Workshop we will have Elena Monke with us this week. She will explore how textbooks are built, using examples from her work in preschool pedagogy and children’s literature. Feel invited to join us 🕓 April 1st, 16:00 CET by signing-up now offuniversity.org/current-cour...

History Textbook Workshop

The History Textbook Workshop is an innovative online course designed for participants aged 14 to 25, which investigates the ways in which history textbooks reflect political, cultural, and ideologica...

offuniversity.org

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

What does it mean to live through historical rupture? This course explores war, displacement, and crisis through performance ethnography, using Playback and Documentary Theatre to transform lived experience into collaborative, research-based performance. Register: offuniversity.org/current-cour...

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Amid rising authoritarianism, can universities offer refuge and continuity for human rights defenders in exile? Join an interdisciplinary, practitioner-led course examining real-world strategies, networks, and challenges across global contexts. Register here: offuniversity.org/current-cour...

Exile, Activism and the University with Alexander Kalgin, Magnolia, 15.04.2026 - 22.07.2026, 6 ECTS

This course examines the role of universities as spaces of protection for human rights defenders in exile, focusing on how academic institutions can provide protection for activists. Today, authoritarianism is rising globally, and those who dare to contest authoritarian governments are often forced into exile. Traditional measures of human rights protection may not be sufficient. In this context, universities have the capacity to function as semi-safe spaces that offer resources, networks, and communities that allow human rights defenders to sustain their work.

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Check our our latest newsletter full of courses in this upcoming Spring Semester 2026: mailchi.mp/a5a93ce4d926...

The 2026 Spring Semester at Off University

mailchi.mp

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

We are happy to have Yadviha Lukashyk in our History Textbook Workshop. Her research explores everyday life on the Eastern Front during the First World War through photographic sources. Sign-up here: offuniversity.org/current-cour... #Universitywithoutborders

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

At a time of incessant wars, widespread mass displacement and rising authoritarianism, the dissemination of knowledge is under threat. Join us in sustaining spaces where learning, solidarity, and critical inquiry can continue despite violence and repression. offuniversity.org/current-cour...

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

We are inviting proposals for an online laboratory on the Memory of the Syrian War to be taught by scholars at risk. Check the details of the application requirements, what you should submit to apply and how here on the call page ℹ️ offuniversity.org/call-for-an-... 📆Deadline: April 13th, 2026

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 6mo ago

We are inviting proposals for an online course on War, Memory, and Gender to be taught by scholars at risk. Check the details of the application requirements, what you should submit to apply and how here on the call page ℹ️ offuniversity.org/call-for-cou... 📅 Deadline: April 13th, 2026

Call for Course Proposals on War, Memory, and Gender

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 7mo ago

In our History Textbook Workshop we have Daryna Zhyvohliadova with us to explore Ukraine’s history and culture through key artifacts, texts, and artistic works. You are invited to join this Wednesday, March 18th, 4pm CET. Just a quick registration here: offuniversity.org/current-cour...

History Textbook Workshop

offuniversity.org

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 7mo ago

There are only few places left in our History Textbook Workshop. Please write to (our proton mail account) mail@offuniversity.org until March 2nd, 2026 if you want to join us next Wednesday!

Off University@offuniversity.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Enthusiastic about history and between 14 and 25? Join our History Textbook Workshop to learn how and by whom history is written, engage with history textbooks from different parts of the world and understande the uses of history in political narratives. ℹ️ offuniversity.org/call-for-par...

Academy of Social Science @the-academy.bsky.social · 8mo ago

WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM, HOPE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY 20 February, 16:00-18:00 Lichthof Ost, Humboldt University, Berlin This talk, moderated by Alice von Bieberstein, will introduce the Academy of Social Science, its research communes, and the Journal Democratic Modernity.

Academy of Social Science @the-academy.bsky.social · 7mo ago

JIN JIYAN AZADÎ HÊVÎ JI BO SEDSALA 21'EMÎN 21.02.2026 16.00-18.00 Komel Berlin (Residenzstraße 53-54, 13409 Berlin)

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 8mo ago

In the next-to-last session of our lecture series Cities at War, we are welcoming Aimal Formolly speaking on "Spatial Justice and Everyday Resilience: Navigating Post-Conflict Urbanism in Kabul". Join us on January 28th, 4pm CET time: offuniversity.org/current-cour... #universitywithoutborders

This lecture examines the lived experiences of Kabul’s residents amid the enduring legacies of conflict, emphasizing the intersections of spatial justice, social cohesion, and participatory urban planning. By integrating gamified urban design models with ethnographic insights and geospatial analysis, it outlines pathways for strengthening resilience, equity, and collective memory in fragile urban environments.

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 8mo ago

We are a partner of the universities in #Rojava. Our thoughts and solidarity are with the students and scholars in the region who are facing escalating violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions. Please read this statement of solidarity here: drive.google.com/file/d/1aEdK...

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Scholars and students at the universities in Rojava are part of our Online Lecture Series Cities at War. Their education is disrupted, they had to flee the approaching violence and now live under deteriorating and dangerous conditions. Stop the War now!

Off University@offuniversity.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Join the third session of our Cities at War Lecture Series: "Kobanê — Between The Ashes of War and The Dawn of Reconstruction" by Aras Hiso this Wednesday at 4pm CET. You can visit our website offuniversity.org/current-cour... for more information and registration.

Kobanê — Between The Ashes of War and The Dawn of Reconstruction by Aras Hiso - Cities at War Lectures Series - 3, 05.11.2025, 16:00 CET

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Off University@offuniversity.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Join the third session of our Cities at War Lecture Series: "Teaching 300 Metres Beyond the Border" by Luqman Guldivê this Wednesday at 5 pm CET. You can visit our website offuniversity.org/current-cour... for more information and registration. #universitywithoutborders

Teaching 300 Metres Beyond the Border by Luqman Guldivê - Cities at War Lectures Series - 3

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Join us for Batoul Yassine and Mariam Bazzi's lecture "From Archiving to People-Centred, Heritage-Led Urban Recovery. The Cases of Gaza and Nabatieh" this Wednesday, January 21st at 4pm CET. -> more offuniversity.org/current-cour... #universitywithoutborders Thanks to @urbanstudiesfoundation.org

This lecture advances the argument that urban recovery can start during war in many forms and practices, one of which is the act of archiving. Archiving the city does not only preserve but also enable the emergence of multiple narratives through unarchiving, a process that disrupts and re-organizes the archival collection, leading to the formation of future imaginaries tied to the recovery of sites of urbicide. This proposition is explored through two cases: Gaza, Palestine, and Nabatieh, Southern Lebanon, where a team of the Beirut Urban Lab has engaged in planning amid complex conditions of war.

Urban Studies Foundation @urbanstudiesfoundation.org · 9mo ago

⏰ Reminder: Urban Urgencies funding call now open There’s still time to apply for the Urban Urgencies grant from the Urban Studies Foundation — supporting rapid, collaborative research on pressing urban challenges worldwide. 🗓️ Deadline: 23 March 2026 (23:59 UTC). 🔗 ow.ly/FUIn50XGtgz

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We are happy to welcome Nevin Soyukaya this week in our Lecture Series "Cities at War". She will speak on "Diyarbakır/Suriçi: Conflict and Urbicide as the Erasure of Collective Memory" on January 14th at 4pm CET. register here -> offuniversity.org/current-cour... #universitywithoutborders

Dating back to the 5th millennium B.C., Diyarbakır is one of the rare urban centers where the evolution of urban history and the cumulative layers of the past can be observed in all phases up to the twenty-first century. Between October 2015 and March 2016, however, this deeply layered urban fabric was violently disrupted. Following declarations of self-governance in twenty Kurdish cities, intense armed clashes broke out between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and Turkish state security forces, involving heavy weaponry leading to widespread urban destruction.
This paper examines the dynamics of armed urban conflict and the subsequent practices of urbicide through the case of Diyarbakır’s historic core, Suriçi. It analyzes the socio-spatial consequences of this violence, with particular attention to its erasure of historical layers, transformation of the urban fabric, and displacement of local communities.

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The first session in the Cities at War Lecture Series in 2026 will be given by Viktoriia Grivina on #Kharkiv is a Dream. Planning a Future During War". Join her timely talk on Wednesday, 07.01.2026 at 4 pm CET. offuniversity.org/current-cour... @urbanstudiesfoundation.org #universitywithoutborders

In 2022, Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine withstood months of relentless Russian artillery strikes that razed entire residential districts of the city, with its population dropping from 1.6 million to 800 000. A short Ukrainian counteroffensive in summer 2022 eliminated the fears of occupation. People started to return, and grand plans involving foreign architectural bureaus for rebuilding have appeared. But are we allowed to think of the future when Kharkiv continues to be attacked by drones, guided bombs, and missiles every day? During this lecture, I invite you to dream and think of the future of a war city with me.

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 9mo ago

You Can Rewrite History!

You Can Rewrite History! Learn How! Apply to participate in the History Textbook Workshop

offuniversity.org

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 9mo ago

This week we have Sarah Husein with a talk on "Water Practices in Conflict-Torn Damascus: Distressing Memories to Overlook or Coping Strategies for Climate Resilience" in our Cities at War Lecture Series. Join us December 17th, 4 pm CET. Everyone is welcome: moodle.offuniversity.org/course/view....

This lecture examines how decades of conflict have profoundly affected the daily lives of Damascus's inhabitants by limiting access to running water. The massive destruction of infrastructure during the armed conflict has exacerbated a water scarcity already evident at the turn of the century, forcing residents to reinvent everyday practices around water use. Drawing on NGOs reports, media accounts and testimonies of residents’ coping strategies, this lecture reflects on how memories of these coping strategies can inform future approaches to water management, both at individual and political levels, in a city marked by chronic scarcity and still bearing the scars of war.

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 10mo ago

We are looking forward to Naman Agrawal's lecture Beyond the Golden Walls: Memory, Survival, and Everyday Life in Jaisalmer’s Borderlands" in our Cities at War Lectures Series on 📅 10.12.2025 🕓 16:00 CET Join us here: offuniversity.org/current-cour... @urbanstudiesfoundation.org

The lecture examines how militarization, tourism, and cycles of violence shape everyday life in Jaisalmer, a city on India’s western frontier. By focusing on the strategies of adaptation and resilience employed by local communities facing displacement, heritage commodification, and the blurring of war–peace boundaries, it highlights the agency of ordinary people in sustaining memory and cultural continuity. Drawing on ethnographic insights, the session situates Jaisalmer within comparative discussions on cities negotiating survival amidst conflict and globalization.

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 10mo ago

We are looking forward to Shada Bokir's lecture "The Other War: Economic Occupation and Civic Resistance in Hadhramout" in our Cities at War Lectures Series on 📅 03.12.2025 🕓 16:00 CET Join us here: offuniversity.org/current-cour...

This lecture explores how the eastern Yemeni region of Hadhramout has become a frontline of a different kind of war, not through military confrontation, but through resource extraction, infrastructural collapse, and sustained foreign intervention. Deeply entangled in geopolitical competition and economic exploitation, Hadhramout has since 2021 experienced waves of protest fueled by electricity blackouts, inflation, and the collapse of public services. This unrest has unfolded in a region that is among the most resource-rich in Yemen, yet these benefits rarely reach the population.

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 10mo ago

This week in our lecture series "Cities at War": Emotional Landscapes of Ukrainian Cities in Times of War by Olena Kononenko and Oleksandra Nenko. 📆 26.11.2025  ⏰16:00 CET -> offuniversity.org/current-cour...

War leaves deep and visible scars on the urban landscape, but it also profoundly transforms how residents emotionally perceive their city. In this lecture, we will explore the concept of the emotional landscape and emotional places in wartime cities, and present the types of emotional places identified in contemporary Kyiv and Kharkiv.

Off University @offuniversity.bsky.social · 10mo ago

In our panel "Common Struggles, Unequal Terms." @ygmarshall.bsky.social, Aslı Vatansever and Felicia Kompio discussed the latest developments in US academia and what they mean for precariousness, abuse of power and academic freedom in Germany. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY00...

Common Struggles, Unequal Terms. Towards Fair Working Conditions for All Scholars

YouTube video by Off University

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