In response to the Black Lives Matter protests in Basel and globally, the Centre for African Studies and the Urban Studies program at the University of Basel launch this website as a platform for listening and learning from all members of our university community. Our aim is to open a space for dialogue and critical introspection on individual and institutional racism and other forms of discrimination, as a starting point for strengthening our long-term commitment to advancing anti-racism, diversity and inclusion within and beyond the University of Basel. To this end, this website serves as a platform to share experiences and thoughts related to racism and discrimination and to discuss how best to foster anti-racism, diversity and inclusion.

Racial Profiling: Experiences, Effects, Resistance Claudia Wilopo, a PhD candidate at the Department of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Basel gives insight into results of the Collaborative Research Group Racial Profiling. Through interviews with different people affected by racial profiling, they were able to explore the diverse experiences and consequences of discriminatory police practices. […]

Franziska Schutzbach (Zentrum Gender Studies, University of Basel), Fork Burke and Myriam Diarra give a voice to women of African descent living in Biel. The portraits make manifest a great diversity of experiences and self-perceptions but also illustrate as a common threat the experience of racism in Switzerland. The book features contributions in German, English […]

George Floyd and Officer Derek Chauvin both worked for the Minneapolis Latin nightclub and both were in charge of keeping unruly customers under control but they never knew their paths would cross outside the club and their engagement as police and civilian would result in a disaster in America. In their encounter, Officer Chauvin knelt on Mr. Floyd’s neck while his captive choked repeatedly that he could not breathe. This would have qualified for standard police brutality which occurs in the field every day and this incident would have ordinarily not qualified as a disaster. However, the death of Mr. Floyd at the hands of his colleague night club worker has moved from a social problem of racism, police brutality and racial injustice into a sociological problem of racial murder which has impacted the whole world.

In an interview with the Tagesanzeiger, Tanja Hammel talks about colonial history and postcolonial Switzerland.

In an interview with Die Zeit, Elísio Macamo speaks about the Black Lives Matter movement and racism in Switzerland.

As a response to the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests, the students of the Master’s program African Studies issued a statement. As students in African studies at the University of Basel we cannot remain indifferent! The murder of George Floyd by police forces in the United States is yet another […]