Projects

The project explored the life, work and legacy of Anton Wilhelm Amo (c. 1703–after 1753), the first known African philosopher at European universities, within a postcolonial framework. A digital audio archive made the voices and memories of scholars, artists and activists audible. The project produced audio features, workshops, translations and printed materials that connect historical sources with contemporary perspectives. The archive promotes knowledge exchange, cultural participation, multilingualism and accessibility, while raising awareness of colonial history and racism. All content was published freely accessible online, collaboratively curated, and serves as a resource for education, research and global engagement with Amo’s life and intellectual heritage.

Project results:

• Anton Wilhelm Amo – Places of Remembrance (Website)

The project documented the experiences of children with migrant backgrounds in German schools. Many of them encounter racism in their daily lives, which affects their well-being and academic performance. The project gave these children a voice and examined how a sense of belonging can strengthen their self-esteem and participation. Using a multilingual, self-developed AI interview assistant, conversations were conducted in the children’s preferred languages, complemented by personal video recordings and portraits. The resulting materials illustrate how children experience discrimination, develop resilience, and what they hope for from schools and society. The outcomes — a multilingual report, video interviews, and an accompanying poster campaign — were published under an open license.

Project results:

• zugehört … & zugehörig? Hearing voices. Freeing knowledge. Changing narratives. (Website)

Resilient Voices Visual Archive is a photography and storytelling project centered on queer BIPOC, women* in Berlin and Brandenburg. Too often left out of public records, their lives, activism, and cultural expressions were documented through 30–40 photographs paired with essays written by community members. The archive highlighted dignity, authenticity, and celebration, rejecting deficit-driven portrayals, while capturing oral histories, reflections on resilience, heritage, and queer liberation. Led by queer BIPoC with volunteer support, the project ensured self-representation and ownership. All materials were released under a Creative Commons license and shared on Wikimedia Commons, making them freely accessible for education, research, and public engagement. A Berlin launch invited both the community and the wider public to engage with these stories, creating a lasting resource of visibility, recognition, and legacy.

Project results:

• Resilient Voices Visual Archive (Website)

Rabelades Farm is a Black-queer-led agroecological project in Brandenburg, Germany, reclaiming and amplifying African Indigenous soil and water conservation techniques such as Fanya Juu, Fanya Chini, and half-moons. Sloped, erosion-prone land was transformed using these communal, low-tech methods during monthly BIPoC community actions starting March 2026. The project documented this transformation through short-form social media videos, long-form educational tutorials, and interviews with African practitioners, creating freely accessible knowledge. By highlighting African contributions to sustainable agriculture often overshadowed in Western narratives, the project centered marginalized voices and promoted community empowerment. Results include step-by-step guides, before/after land restoration footage, and increased visibility of Indigenous ecological practices, contributing to Free Knowledge and fostering skills and solidarity within BIPoC communities.

Project results:

• Fanya Juu, Halfmoon Bunds – African Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation Techniques (Video)

‘Maghreb Stimmen’ (‘Maghreb Voices’) is a project that documented the lived realities of people from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia living in Germany. The aim was to highlight the experiences of “Guest workers” (Gastarbeiter) and their descendants before the eyewitnesses and their testimonies are lost. Thematically, the project focused on racism, gender, social participation and class differences in order to shed light on the complex living conditions of the community. The project included personal interviews in German, Arabic (Darija) and Tamazight, as well as supplementary articles in a magazine. The content was published under free licences to enable broad access and promote intercultural exchange. This created a lasting collection of individual stories that strengthen understanding of the Maghreb community.

Project results:

• To be added

MigraMemory: Women of Change is a project that highlighted the experiences and social contributions of migrant women in Germany. At its heart were three short journalistic videos (German/Turkish/Kurdish) in which Serpil Temiz Unvar, Semiya Şimşek, and—where possible—descendants of Mevlüde Genç tell their stories themselves. The videos document powerful forms of resistance against racism and commitment to democratic participation beyond media reductions to affectedness or victimization. They were published under a free license, creating an accessible, multilingual resource for educational work, journalism, and community projects. The project focused on migrant realities, questioned dominant media narratives, and permanently anchored migrant knowledge in the public sphere. In collaboration with migrant self-organizations, content was created with the communities in order to preserve authentic memories.

Project results:

• MigraMemory – Leben ist Widerstand (Video, German)
• MigraMemory – NSU, Halle &Hanau: Zeit für selbstbestimmte Narrative (Video, German)
• MigraMemory – Die rassistische Brandanschlag Solingen 2024 (Video, German)

“Klang der Erinnerung – Pflege, Verlust und Musik in alevitischen Gastarbeiterfamilien” gave Alevi adults of the “first generation of Gastarbeiter children” space to share their family histories. Many cared for their parents until the end of their lives; these parents came from Anatolia, spoke Zazaki, had no formal schooling, and were unable to read and write. A recurring theme was Alevi music – often melancholic, sung in Zazaki, telling of separation, loss, and hard work. For their children, it remains a powerful anchor of memory that provides comfort and keeps a connection to their parents beyond death. Interviews, music recordings, and photographs documented these experiences and were published under a free license. A traveling exhibition featuring portraits, quotations, and QR codes linking to musical pieces makes this knowledge freely accessible for schools, associations, and cultural centers, highlighting the ties between biographical memory, cultural identity, and migration history. The project specifically explored the effects of caregiving, grief, and the role of music in the interviewees’ everyday lives.

Project results:

• Klang der Erinnerungen (Webseite)

This project documented the experiences of Vietnamese (half-)orphaned scholarship holders who came to West Germany in the early 1970s for vocational education but were forced to remain there due to the end of the Vietnam War, facing legal uncertainty for decades. Their stories, shaped by humanitarian organizations, German institutions, and South Vietnamese authorities, remain largely undocumented in Vietnamese-German diaspora history. As this generation ages, their memories risk being lost. As part of the project, interviews were conducted, archives researched and relevant institutions visited in order to shed light on the historical context. The results were published on a blog in Vietnamese, English, and German, under a free license, making this knowledge openly accessible. By preserving and sharing these accounts, the project contributes to Free Knowledge, amplifying marginalized voices and fostering understanding of migration, displacement, and the human impact of historical programs that shaped the Vietnamese-German community.

Project results:

• Archiving Vietnamese Orphan Scholarship Receivers West Germany 1971-1973 (Website)

In an era where visa and residency processes shape lives, this living archive illuminated the invisible geographies of migration and belonging. Collaborating with Berlin residents navigating temporary status, the project collected audio interviews, photographic portraits, letters, and informal documents to explore how prolonged limbo affects identity, time perception, stability, and well-being. The project presented these stories through a photo series, a potential photobook, site-specific actions, and a digital platform, allowing global access and participation. By sharing personal experiences behind bureaucracy, the project humanized statistics and fostered empathy, dialogue, and understanding. All materials were openly licensed, contributing to Free Knowledge by enabling anyone to access, share, and use these narratives, amplifying marginalized voices and offering insight into the emotional and social impacts of migration processes.

Project results:

• Archive of waiting (Website)

The project examined German and Chilean colonial history from a Mapuche perspective. In the 19th century, Chile and Argentina, with the support of German settlers, occupied Mapuche territories, while scientists transported skulls to Berlin for racist studies. The remains of the deceased have not yet been returned. Building on Tamara Liencura’s master’s thesis, the findings were presented in an accessible format: as a brochure in German and Spanish, complemented by archival research and photographs of relevant sites. The material was published digitally, made freely accessible, and is primarily aimed at Mapuche self-organizations as well as people aged 15 and older who are interested in critical perspectives on power.

Project results:

• Archive des Kolonialen Rassimus (Brochure, German)
• Archivos del Racismo Colonial (Brochure, Spanish)

Vietnamese restaurants are widespread in major German cities, but often only offer a limited selection of dishes that correspond to the German cliché of ‘Asian food’. This makes the actual diversity of Vietnamese cuisine and the cultural knowledge about it invisible. The project ’Have you eaten yet?’ is a project that made Vietnamese food culture in the diaspora visible in the context of colonial and migration history and deconstructed existing narratives. In a series of workshops, a collective tablecloth was created that documents personal stories and recipes in order to promote a self-determined food culture through the collection and exchange of individual experiences within the diaspora. The results were published on a website that serves as an ongoing collection of knowledge and experiences from the community, presenting them in various formats such as text, audio and video.

Project results:

• Hast du schon gegessen? (Website, German)

The project ‘Fragments of age(ing) in the migration society’ is a project that dealt with the social, economic and individual conditions for the dignified ageing of migrants and migrantised people in Germany. The focus was on the lived experiences and self-narratives of people with a history of migration, especially those affected by multiple discrimination. Based on the (working) biographies of migrant pensioners and those who will soon be one, the project examined what institutional framework is provided for them and what imaginations are still needed. It was not only about vulnerability, but also about strength and resilience: How do they tell their biographies in Germany, what role did migration play and what current issues concern them? The shared knowledge was made accessible via a website and serves as a gateway for intergenerational exchange.

Project results:

• Aging in a migration society (Website)

Clocking In, Dreaming On is a project that used various formats to address the realities of life and exploitative working conditions of food and grocery delivery workers in Germany. The project focused on drivers and delivery workers specifically in Berlin, shedding light on the precarious nature of their employment and the systemic problems that lead to their marginalisation which remain largely unexplored. Through a combination of podcasts, videos, exhibitions and online engagement, knowledge was disseminated in various accessible formats and under free licences. This approach aimed not only to document and preserve evidence and knowledge on this issue, but also to encourage civil society organisations, activists and trade unions to engage with and advocate for this issue.

Project results:

• Clocking In, Dreaming On (Podcast)

Hold the Line: Filipino Family stories of resistance generations apart is a call to the growing Filipino diaspora, who face exploitation and struggle in Germany, but who also need to address the exploitation and struggle back home in the Philippines, to draw strength from their legacy of resistance and embody the dreams of their ancestors. The project manifested the intergenerational history of Filipino resistance and what this means for young activists today. This was done by documenting family memories of the grantees during the People’s Power Movement in the Philippines, juxtaposing them with stories of young Filipino activists in Germany and exploring points of contact between these stories. The results are presented in visual essays that combine film/photography with archival materials and audio recordings of family stories, interweaving lived experiences with historical facts through a decolonial approach.

The project results will be published soon.

Visual images are an essential part of our development and our self-image. For Black people, photography plays a particularly powerful role: it shapes the way they are perceived and influences images in society. Historically, photographs have created stereotypes that have often not been sufficiently scrutinized. In a world where we are constantly surrounded by images through social media and our consumer behavior, it is more important than ever to address these issues. At The Seen but Unseen, a three-part video essay series provided access to and intensive engagement with the topic. Each essay explored a central theme of photography: the colonial gaze and its enduring influence, the (re)imagination of a new Black visual language and the role of photography as a tool for empowerment and resistance. The aim of the series was to explore these themes in depth and with sensitivity and to raise awareness of the impact of images on our perception and our lives.

Project results:

• The Seen but Unseen – Der koloniale Blick (Teil 1) (Video, German)

The project aimed to open up transgenerational and pluralistic paths of remembrance for Roma and Sinti in Samudaripen: Through visits to places of persecution and extermination of Roma and Sinti under National Socialism in Serbia and Jasenovac, the paths of life, suffering and death of ancestors of Roma living in Germany were researched and biographically analysed through community-based knowledge and memories on the historic sites. To this end, video interviews were conducted in Serbia with representatives of Roma self-organisations, the second generation of survivors, and today’s descendants, which were discussed in a digital workshop on knowledge transfer with Roma and Sinti*zze activists under the question ‘How to present plural memory of the Samudaripen?’. Parts of the knowledge and memory of Samudaripen were published under free licences as a contribution on the website of the Roma Antidiscrimination Network.

Project results:

• Romano Risparipe (Website, German)

Palestinian history and present are largely invisible in Germany, even though the largest diaspora community in Europe lives in Berlin. The knowledge that circulates about Palestinians is characterized by colonially charged terms, images, laws, norms and street names. This discursive violence not only overwrites their history, collective experiences of violence, resistance and solidarity, but also devalues and criminalizes Palestinian existence. In this project, a feminist Palestinian collective that has come together to archive Palestinian history in Germany continued its work and published a guide to archive work under free license as part of re-shape. In a series of workshops, important working methods, methods and ethical aspects of conducting interviews, but also of publishing interviews, texts and video material, were developed and recorded. The aim was to show what archiving practice can look like for the history of a marginalized community in the face of state repression.

Project results:

• Archivieren als kollektive Praxis – Ein Leitfaden des Palästinensischen Feministischen Archivs Berlin (Website, German)

Punch Up TV is a continuation and further development of the multimedia podcast Punch Up, which has been published by Newroz Çelik since 2018. While the podcast focuses on topics such as trans hostility, gentrification, police violence and social movements, re·shape supported the development of new content with more technical and editorial resources, improved audiovisual quality and reaching new target groups for marginalized knowledge. In particular, it increased the visibility of BIPOC trans people and focused on their perspectives and analyses. Over a period of one year, one audio interview and one video were published each month, with interviews being conducted with activists about their work and a (current) political topic. The project also brought together different social movements under the question ‘What are the conditions for functioning alliances?’.

Project results:

• Die Würde der Menschen wird jeden Tag angetastet (Video, German)

According to the Missing Migrants Project, 28,893 migrants have disappeared in the Mediterranean in the last ten years since 2014. These migrants are mainly Africans from sub-Saharan Africa, who have very different realities of life. While the media only reports on the disappearance of these people in the Mediterranean, there is usually no coverage of their survival and how they reach Europe and thus also Germany. The aim of the project was to archive the accounts of their challenging journeys, their everyday experiences with bureaucracy and racialisation in Germany, but also to document their resilience. The main aim of the project was to make the voices of the survivors from sub-Saharan Africa in the Mediterranean visible, as the media only ever reports on those who have disappeared and the survivors remain invisible.

Project results:

• Archiving the testimonies of the survivors of the Mediterranean (Podcast)

The project For the youth! For our future! Youth against racism and war! aimed to empower young people to capture and reflect on their social reality and environment through photography and video documentation. For this, workshops were held in advance to train young people in the areas of photography, videography, storytelling and documentation, as well as organizing events that highlighted existing political youth engagement on topics such as anti-racism and anti-militarism. The skills learnt were then put into practice: The young people documented the events, workshops and coexistence through photos and videos. The project showed how young people learn to live together in solidarity rather than in competition and division and that young people are able to critically and creatively reflect on and document their world.

Project results:

• Photos on Wikimedia Commons

Muriel Gonzales Athenas / Amdrita Jakupi

Many, especially queer, BIPoC individuals in the current urban environment of Cologne have limited or no access to spaces for developing decolonial and anti-racist perspectives. This project was part of an anti-racist neighborhood initiative in the Cologne district Südstadt. Muriel Gonzales Athenas and Amdrita Jakupi wanted to create a physical decolonial space for a network of BIPoC individuals who are active in various anti-racist, social, and political groups. This anti-colonial space in Cologne was intended to serve as a new and urgently needed platform for connection. The well-being of those involved in the alliance was at the forefront, with toxic performance pressure patterns of German activism being “interrupted” or transformed through an active practice that counters them, as well as through exchanges, discussion spaces, and shared analysis.

The project sought to experiment with, learn from, and disseminate methods of transformative justice within the community. The physical space was intended to facilitate ongoing exchange of experiences among the people who came together there. The space was meant to be a refuge, a place of safety and gathering, allowing activists to recuperate and regenerate. Intergenerational participation was encouraged, regardless of origin, sexual orientation, educational background, and other characteristics.

Project results: No project results published

Christopher Nixon
www.christopher-nixon.de

James Baldwin is considered one of the most significant African American writers. The recent translation of his works by dtv is currently receiving widespread acclaim among a broad audience in Germany. This ‘Baldwin Renaissance’ does not only involve Black writers, translators, and communities but also contributes to their individual and collective identity formation in the face of experiences of exclusion and racism that Baldwin’s novels, essays, and poems have long addressed.

Especially for Queers of Color, his works provided a window into a world where their experiences found language and form, offering hope for “Another Country.” His works brought visibility to an intersectional diversity of Black lifestyles, a diversity that was not always recognized by Communities of Color and Baldwin’s contemporaries. While global markets continue to exploit people for the profit of the Global North, we are experiencing a backlash in the post-Trump era and in the politically charged climate dominated by right-wing populism in Germany. This backlash primarily targets Queers of Color, making it once again crucial to listen to Baldwin’s admonishing and hopeful voice.

An audio feature was therefore created that highlighted and reevaluated the intersectional ‘Black Queerness’ in Baldwin’s work. It also emphasized that queer Black individuals like James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, and Katharina Oguntoye shaped both the U.S. and Afro-German anti-racism movements. The audio feature includes interviews with experts and activists, archival material, passages from novels and poems voiced by actors, as well as sounds and musical pieces. These ‘fragments’ were assembled into a collage piece.

Project results: No project results published

Tú Qùynh Nhu Nguyễn / Sara Djahim

The project depicted the diversity and resistance practices and strategies of the first generation of migrants and refugees. The focus was on the idea that not only transgenerational traumas, but also resilience, knowledge/wisdom, will to live and joy are passed on. The blog Mondkuchen collected this previously invisible knowledge about survival strategies and everyday practices of resistance. Mondkuchen includes various formats, including written contributions such as essays, interviews and poetry, but also videos, photos and illustrations.

The project began as part of re-shape with the launch of the website, which is used as an open platform in the long term. It serves the communities to make common topics and different practices discussable, and expresses the appreciation and respect that these bodies of knowledge and those who came before us deserve.

Project results:

• Mondkuchen (Blog)

Xinan Pandan

Individuals affected by racism and/or migration experiences, disabilities, chronic illnesses, queerphobia, trauma, or abusive family backgrounds often have a heightened need for support, which is, however, scarcely accessible to them.

In this project, a freely downloadable workbook was developed in the form of an illustrated zine on the topic of support systems for marginalized communities in need of them. The workbook was intended to serve as a resource for input and methods to assist in building support systems. It was primarily aimed at individuals who may not wish to or be able to participate in workshops. The workbook included a combination of input, anecdotes, illustrations, examples, reflection methods, and writing tasks.

The focus lay on empowerment to address individual changes in agency and also on structural discrimination. Broader political solutions were called for to improve living conditions for all.

The aim was to promote empowerment, strengthen agency, deepen community connections, and enable marginalized individuals to lead fulfilling lives.

Project results: No project results published

Antonia Ramos Posto, Yolanda Justina Nina Becerra & Llanquiray Painemal Morales

Antonia Ramos Posto, Yolanda Justina, Nina Becerra and Llanquiray Painemal Morales have been working without support on the topic of making undocumented/illegalized or irregular migrant women visible in Berlin. As part of the project, they created podcasts that address the situation of these groups. The group had the opportunity to learn new tools and acquire technical skills to support their future political work. The collected interviews, information and audio files were compiled by the activists into podcast episodes and published on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts or similar channels.

Project results:

• Mujeres migrantes invisibles (Podcast)

Mino

Ethnography has been gaining renewed attention in the field of philosophy, and in academia more generally, as a way to engage directly with actors in marginalized communities. It is seen as an attractive alternative to making abstract theories based on problematic assumptions about them or relying solely on outdated literature. However, ethnography’s history and legacy as a method that has developed out of European colonialism used to construct and reinforce hierarchical notions of race and culture is often not addressed. The project aimed to publish sections of a master thesis that called for a critical examination of ethnography as a research methodology. The goal was to develop ethical practices for academics engaging with marginalized groups. The project emphasized the need to scrutinize the discipline of philosophy for its role in shaping concepts like race, which has been historically constructed for colonialist and racist justifications.

The funding supported the transformation of complex academic language into more accessible terms, making the content understandable to a broader audience. While the primary focus was on academic researchers and their interactions with marginalized groups, the project’s insights can be beneficial to journalists, artists, filmmakers, and others who aim to engage with marginalized groups in a critical and respectful manner. This entailed being wary of power imbalances and the possibility of exploitation.

Project results: No project results published

KARAKAYA TALKS

KARAKAYA TALKS (www.instagram.com/karakayatalks) is a media company that produces news and talk shows for German-speaking millennials and Gen Z individuals of color. The goal is to make marginalized perspectives in Germany visible, as these are often neglected in the media. Despite 27% of the German population being BIPoC, these communities are scarcely represented in the media, and if they are, it’s often in stereotypical contexts. The KARAKAYA TALKS team is composed of 100% multiply marginalized BIPoCs and primarily utilizes social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to disseminate content.

By participating in re•shape, they aimed to both strengthen their presence on social media and continue producing content that is often overlooked in the mainstream media landscape. Additionally, they sought to understand the creation of Wikipedia articles, documenting their journalistically acquired knowledge and describing their work autonomously on Wikipedia. The program was designed to document missing knowledge about “media justice” and to correct distorted representations online about individuals from marginalized communities, for example, on Wikipedia. The entire initiative aimed to enhance the presence and representation of BIPoC communities in the media and independently document and disseminate their knowledge.

Project results: No project results published

Lee Modupeh Anansi Freeman / Farah Abdullahi Abdi

The TRAP$ Academy project is dedicated to formalizing and sharing knowledge within the Black Trans/GNC (Gender Non-Conforming) community. Established in 2021, TRAP$ is a grassroots organization created by and for Black/Afro-diasporic Trans and gender variant individuals. This community often faces marginalization within broader Black movements and invisibility within (white) queer movements. The Academy’s primary goal is to offer intersectional, critical train-the-trainer training to empower Black Trans individuals, addressing aspects of gender, race, class, power, and privilege.

The curriculum was crafted by Farah Abdullahi Abdi and Lee Modupeh Anansi Freeman, who are both diversity and inclusion consultants. The curriculum covers crucial topics such as asylum/migration, (trans)misogynoir, transphobia, colorism, and ableism. The program involved immersive workshops delving deeply into specific subjects and assignments that participants completed individually or in groups. The aim was to provide “formalized” knowledge in a safer, accessible environment. Participants were equipped with tools to connect formal knowledge with their own lived experiences, creating meaningful content that can be used for personal workshops.

The overarching objective was to validate participants’ lived experiences as valuable sources of knowledge. In the long term, the Academy aims to equip participants with skills that can offer them an additional source of income. Given that Black Trans individuals often face discrimination and difficulties accessing knowledge and traditional workspaces, the project emphasized the direct link between knowledge equity and financial empowerment.

Project results: No project results published

Lea Sherin Kübler / Lorena Richter / Rahul Rahman

The project “From Dreams and Traumas to Self-Organization and Resistance” aimed to promote situated knowledge in BIPoC communities by facilitating intergenerational conversations about self-organization, resistance, political practices, dreams and traumas. The focus was on translating past experiences into the present and learning from the struggles of older generations. The initiative addressed challenges in the transmission of experiences and practices in personal contexts by creating spaces for exchange that are often scarce. The project aimed to critically question hegemonic power structures of knowledge production through alternative narratives of (post-)migrant life in Germany. It aimed to make a practical contribution to knowledge sharing in BIPoC communities. The exchange of knowledge, both individually and collectively, was intended to create moments of self-empowerment and raise awareness of knowledge in the communities.

The conversations were recorded in small groups together with the project coordinators and archived in an open database after consultation and consent of the participants in order to make the knowledge accessible to everyone. The aim was to uncover shared experiences and different perspectives in BIPoC communities and to create a space for learning in solidarity and exchanging knowledge constructions.

Project results:

• From Dreams and Traumas to Self-Organization and Resistance (Zine)

Mandy Lan / Kim Gerlach

Wūpó is a library for the visibility of BIPoC healers in Berlin. With over 50 well-being practitioners (from acupuncture to Reiki and more) already registered, Mandy Lan and Kim Gerlach’s goal was to expand the library and collaboratively provide empowering tools from the community for the community. The focus was on particularly valuing body wisdom alongside cognitive intelligence. The project intended to work closely with various QBIPoC well-being practitioners from their directory to share insights that reconnect individuals with their bodies. Rather than offering short-term retreats or events, the project aimed to share integration tools that have lasting impact.

The project’s activities included:

1. Developing a free repository of knowledge, referred to as the “Wiki of Body Knowledge for QBIPoC.” This repository contains brief 2-minute exercises presented in video format.
2. Sharing “behind the scenes” videos that introduce each healer’s intentions and practices, providing a deeper understanding of their methods.
3. Establishing feedback loops to enable practitioners to adapt and grow in response to community needs, utilizing AI pattern recognition.

Project results: No project results published