Engaged Pedagogy across Borders: Intersectional Perspectives on Forced Migration, Discrimination, and Solidarity in the Educational Contexts of Germany and Turkey
How are forced migration, social power relations, and educational inequalities interconnected across national borders? What experiences of marginalisation and discrimination do children and young people with refugee backgrounds encounter in different education systems? And how can transnational exchange and pedagogical practices grounded in solidarity contribute to shaping educational spaces that are responsive to diversity and critical of discrimination?
The project Engaged Pedagogy across Borders examines the interdependencies and (dis)continuities of processes of marginalisation and discrimination experienced by children and young people with refugee backgrounds in the German and Turkish education systems, as well as in the context of European border policies and national regimes of belonging. From a transnational, comparative, and intersectional perspective, it analyses the interconnections between forced migration, discrimination, and participation in education. At the same time, it explores possibilities for developing transnational approaches to educational professionalism in societies shaped by migration.
The project builds on the study Voices of Civil Society Actors on Inclusive Education in Times of Forced Migration: Case Studies in Germany and Turkey, which was conducted at Sabancı University in Istanbul in 2019–2020.
Objectives and Knowledge Transfer into Practice
The project aims to advance intersectional and transnational perspectives on forced migration, discrimination, and solidarity in the educational contexts of Germany and Turkey. To this end, academic research is brought into dialogue with experiences from educational practice and civil society engagement. Particular attention is paid to critically examining educational inequalities and exclusion, and to exploring how educational institutions and pedagogical practices can be shaped to address discrimination.
A key component is transnational exchange among researchers, students, educational professionals, and civil society actors from Germany and Turkey. Through joint publication projects and practice-oriented formats, the project brings together diverse perspectives and develops impulses for transnational educational practice grounded in solidarity and a critical engagement with discrimination.
Funding, Project Leadership, and Duration
Funding: Partially funded by Stiftung Mercator
Project Lead: Prof. Dr. Ellen Kollender, University of Cologne
Cooperation Partner: Beril Sönmez, Anadolu Kültür, Istanbul
Project Duration: Since January 2020
Publications
Kollender, Ellen, and Marie Hoppe (submitted): From a Far-Off Country? The ‘Turkish Case’ as an Epistemic Vantage Point for Anti-Racist Teacher Education in Germany.
Kollender, Ellen, Diren Yeşil Sincar, and Saskia Terstegen (eds.) (forthcoming, 2028): Verwobene Rassismen in Schule im Kontext transnationaler Kriege, Konflikte und Flucht/Migrationen [Interwoven Racisms in Schools in the Context of Transnational Wars, Conflicts, and Forced Migration/Migration]. Special issue of Tertium Comparationis. Journal für International und Interkulturell Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft [Journal for International and Intercultural Comparative Education]. Waxmann.
Kollender, Ellen, and Beril Sönmez (eds.) (2026): Engaged Pedagogy across Borders: Intersektionale Perspektiven auf Flucht, Diskriminierung und Solidarität im Bildungsraum Deutschland–Türkei / Zorunlu Göç, Ayrımcılık ve Dayanışmaya Dair Kesişimsel Perspektifler: Türkiye ve Almanya Bağlamında Eğitim [Intersectional Perspectives on Forced Migration, Discrimination, and Solidarity in the Educational Contexts of Germany and Turkey]. Lüneburg/Istanbul: Königsdruck Printmedien. Access the digital publication on PubData.
Kollender, Ellen (2026): Intersectionality Enables Us to Glimpse the Obvious and Less Obvious Dynamics of Oppression. Practicing Intersectionality in Education in Times of Forced Migration: An Interview with Anna Carastathis. In: Kollender, Ellen, and Beril Sönmez (eds.): Engaged Pedagogy across Borders: Intersektionale Perspektiven auf Flucht, Diskriminierung und Solidarität im Bildungsraum Deutschland–Türkei. Lüneburg/Istanbul: Königsdruck Printmedien und digitale Dienste GmbH, pp. 78–85. Access the digital publication on PubData.
Kollender, Ellen (2024): (De-)Thematisierungsweisen von Bildungsausschlüssen an der Grenze zur EU. Oder: Zum Schweigen über Rassismus im europäischen Grenzregime [(De-)Thematising Educational Exclusion at the EU Border, or: Silence about Racism in the European Border Regime]. In: Fritzsche, Bettina, Natascha Khakpour, Christine Riegel, Miriam Scheffold, and Stephanie Warkentin (eds.): Bildung im Kontext von Flucht und Migration: Subjektbezogene und machtkritische Perspektiven [Education in the Context of Forced Migration and Migration: Subject-Centred Perspectives and Critical Approaches to Power]. Bielefeld: transcript, pp. 213–230. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839463116-015.
Kollender, Ellen, Nil Delahaye, Birte Gooßes, and Beril Sönmez (2024): Engaged Pedagogy across Borders: A Written Conversation on Transnational Educational Approaches to Addressing Trajectories of Discrimination against Refugee Children in Germany and Turkey. In: Röhner, Charlotte, Jessica Schwittek, and Antoanneta Potsi (eds.): Transmigration und Place-making junger Geflüchteter [Transmigration and Place-Making among Young Refugees]. Opladen, Berlin, Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich, pp. 185–206. Read the chapter on JSTOR.
Çelik, Çetin, Mechtild Gomolla, Vasiliki Kantzara, Ellen Kollender, and Martina Loos (2023): Demarcating New Borders: Transnational Migration and New Educational Governance. Empirical Explorations in Greece, Turkey and Germany. In: Heinemann, Alisha, Yasemin Karakaşoğlu, Tobias Linnemann, Nadine Rose, and Tanja Sturm (eds.): Ent|grenz|ungen: Beiträge zum 28. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft [Un|bounded|aries: Contributions to the 28th Congress of the German Educational Research Association]. Series of the German Educational Research Association (DGfE). Opladen and Farmington Hills: Budrich, pp. 65–75.
Kollender, Ellen (2022): Zwischen Dekonstruktion und Reproduktion diskriminierender Schulkulturen: Kooperationen von Schulen und zivilgesellschaftlichen Bildungsinitiativen im Kontext von Flucht [Between Deconstructing and Reproducing Discriminatory School Cultures: Collaborations between Schools and Civil Society Educational Initiatives in the Context of Forced Migration]. In: Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung / Discourse. Journal of Childhood and Adolescence Research, 17(2), pp. 180–193. https://doi.org/10.3224/diskurs.v17i2.04.
Kollender, Ellen (2022): „Es ist eher so, dass wir miteinander konkurrieren“: Außerschulische Bildungsprojekte für ‚Geflüchtete‘ im Kontext von ‚EU-Türkei-Deal‘ und New Educational Governance [“It Is More a Matter of Us Competing with One Another”: Extracurricular Educational Projects for ‘Refugees’ in the Context of the EU–Turkey Deal and New Educational Governance]. In: Zeitschrift für erziehungswissenschaftliche Migrationsforschung [Journal of Educational Research on Migration], 1(1), pp. 25–41. https://doi.org/10.3224/zem.v1i1.03.
Kollender, Ellen (2021): Between Fostering and Outsourcing of Educational Justice: The EU–Turkey Statement and Its Impacts on the Education of ‘Refugee Children and Youth’ in Turkey. IPC–Mercator Policy Brief. Download the PDF.
Kollender, Ellen (2020): Bildung für alle – oder nur für einige? COVID-19 und Diskriminierung von „geflüchteten Kindern“ im deutschen Bildungssystem [Education for All—or Just for Some? COVID-19 and Discrimination against ‘Refugee Children’ in the German Education System]. In: FluchtforschungsBlog, Netzwerk Fluchtforschung [Refugee Research Blog, Network for Refugee Research]. Series: “The Consequences of COVID-19 for Flight and Refugees”, 30 July 2020. Read the article.
Kollender, Ellen, and Maissam Nimer (2020): Long-Term Exclusionary Effects of COVID-19 for Refugee Children in the German and Turkish Education Systems: A Comparative Perspective. IPC–Mercator Policy Brief, July 2020. Download the PDF.