Daring to Change Perspectives, Understanding Culture: Intercultural Workshop 2025 in Angermund

The 18 newly arrived KAAD scholars explored these questions at this year's Intercultural Workshop on 11 July at the Katharinenkloster Angermund under the direction of Miriam Rossmerkel and Santra Sontowski. The annual event is aimed at sponsorship recipients at the beginning of their stay in Germany and provides them with a safe space to reflect on their own arrival, share cultural experiences and explore key concepts of intercultural coexistence.

The TED Talk "The Danger of a Single Story" by Nigerian writer Chimamanda NgoziAdichie served as an inspiration. Her plea against one-dimensional narratives sensitised participants to the mechanisms of cultural perception and the need to understand difference as a resource.

Central theoretical approaches to culture were then discussed: for example, Clifford Geertz's understanding of culture as a "fabric of meanings", Remo Lago's model for the dynamic development of cultural identity and the well-known iceberg model, which illustrates how many cultural influences remain hidden beneath the surface – such as values, conflict styles or forms of communication. The metaphor of "cultural glasses" helped the participants to become aware of their own perception filters and to question stereotyping.

A particular focus was placed on the diversity of cultural references of each individual person, be it religious, linguistic, social or geographical. Experiences with culture shock, bi-cultural realities of life and the tension between the country of origin and the new living environment were discussed in open dialogue. It became clear that cultural affiliation is not a static concept, but often a growing connection to several cultural contexts at the same time.

The second part of the event focussed on practical questions about arriving in Germany: finding accommodation and rental contracts, waste separation, support in the event of discrimination, differences in hierarchies at universities and much more were discussed.

The workshop was characterised by a broad spectrum of impulses, methodological diversity and a feel for the dynamics of the group and thus made an important contribution to the intercultural orientation of our new scholars.