Cologne is one of Germany’s renowned centers for art and media and one of the foremost cities consistently promoting its diversity of lifestyles and its rich (and at times troubled) history of migration and multilingualism.

To complement the thematic focus of this Summer School guided excursions to explore local museums, such as Rautenstrauch-Joest – Cultures of the world, and practical explorations in teams with advanced students from Cologne are planned. Participants will visitand significant quarters of the city, such as Mülheim, Ehrenfeld and Eigelstein and consider commemoration projects such as Stolpersteine/Stumbling Blocks will accompany the academic program and offer insights into German culture and public German media history.

The hosting chairs would like to take this opportunity to invite renowned voices to contemplate “Diversity and Minorities in Germany” in a Public round table, which is not only open to Summer School participants, but opens the doors to Cologne’s public. This special event will take place on October 2, eve of ‘Tag der deutschen Einheit’, reunification day.

To round out the topic of exploration of reunification and cultural trajectories participants will take a trip down memory lane and move into a vintage indoor glamping site located in Bonn for the final weekend of their stay. Bonn is the former capital of BRD, where we will visit ‘Haus der Geschichte’, Germany’s foremost museum dedicated to German history since 1945. They will also get to know the Bundeskunsthalle, where we will again broaden the perspective beyond Europe and visit the exhibit “California Dreams – San Francisco. A portrait”.