Research at Off University
At Off University, our research primarily focuses on critical peace studies, gender studies, and academic freedom. We aim to rethink and redefine the role of universities in society. We support interdisciplinary projects that challenge traditional academic norms and promote emancipatory education. We also support art as a means of scientific research and knowledge production and, through our publishing platform, we facilitate the dissemination of research.
Research Areas
Peace Studies
The story of Off University began with signatures to a peace petition and the ensuing mass lay-off of scholars in Turkey. Our commitment to peace is our hope to contribute to peace-making with scholarly knowledge and to forge alliances between natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and the humanities to gain the necessary momentum to fight war.
Gender Studies
Gender Studies is globally a contested academic field and subject to de-funding, vilification and personal intimidation of its scholars and students. We seek to contribute to the educational offer in Gender Studies especially in languages other than English to keep this knowledge circulating. Together with scholars at risk of Gender Studies, we have offered 13 online seminars free and open to everyone.
Re-thinking the University
We love and hate the university! To make it a less hierarchical and more inclusive and democratic place with better working conditions for all scholars, we analyze the university as an institution and re-think it collectively. With our activities from outside of this institution, yet always in close cooperation, we seek to contribute to improvement.
Research Projects
The Journey of Kurdish Women to Berlin
Our project explores the migration experiences of Kurdish women through artistic research and storytelling. We document personal narratives that highlight displacement and identity by conducting in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and a theater workshop. The project fosters dialogue between the Kurdish region and the diaspora in Germany, using the Kurdish language as a bridge for connection. Outcomes include a piece inspired by these stories as part of our endeavour to connect with the Kurdish region and our peace network.
The project is funded by the VAHA programme and realised in collaboration with the partners from Diyarbakır.
Urgently Wanted:
Freedom of Research
and Learning
With our research we wish to explore imaginations and expectations of “freedom” of New-Berliners, who have experienced political repression and discrimination. Through a collaborative process with artist-educators who have migration experiences, two cohorts of 15 participants will create a video and a radio play, documenting their definition and expectations on freedom. These artistic outputs will be widely shared to spark discussions on the value of free and accessible education.
The project is funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).
Critical Peace Studies in Turkey
Picking up on Off University’s very founding theme, this project seeks to further explore ideas and practices in the field of Critical Peace Studies in Turkey. What do we mean by “critical”? How can we value different kinds of knowledge and work towards de-centering traditional perspectives on peace and conflict in Turkey? What should a future critical peace research agenda look like?
The project is funded by The Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung.
