“Self-Portraits and Boundaries – In Search of Belonging in a World in Crisis”

The 39th Annual Academy of the Catholic Academic Exchange Service opened yesterday in Bonn. Around 250 participants from some fifty countries will be addressing issues of identity, belonging, and exclusion in a world marked by political crises, social tensions, and global upheavals until Sunday (June 14).

In his opening address, Auxiliary Bishop Dr Dr Anton Losinger, the Bishop’s Representative for KAAD, emphasized the relevance of the topic. In light of global polarization, the drawing of new boundaries, and social tensions, he focused on the question of the prerequisites for peaceful coexistence. From a Christian perspective, identity must not be defined through exclusion: “Christian identity does not arise in opposition to others, but in relationship with God and with one’s fellow human beings.”

KAAD President Fr Dr Hans Langendörfer turned his attention to the ambivalence of belonging. Communities can provide orientation and cohesion, but at the same time they can also give rise to forms of exclusion. The Annual Academy therefore aims to examine both the prerequisites for successful community and the causes of polarization, resentment, and exclusion in contemporary societies. “Above all, however, we want to analyze how resentment and arrogance—extending to destructiveness, malice, and incomprehensible violence—form a toxic connection in the context of self-identification that excludes and marginalizes, thereby weighing down our present globally.”

KAAD Secretary General Dr Nora Kalbarczyk placed the question of identity and belonging within the context of KAAD’s international educational work. In light of global inequalities in access to education and academic exchange, KAAD sees its mission not only in awarding scholarships but also in facilitating access, encounters, and networks across national and cultural borders. With regard to the theme of the annual academy, she emphasized the relevance of identity issues in many social debates. “The search for belonging is one of the fundamental human experiences. This makes it all the more important to better understand the mechanisms of belonging and exclusion.”

Professor Barbara Schellhammer, Professor of Intercultural Social Transformation and Director of the Center for Global Issues at the Munich School of Philosophy, as well as Dr David Kaulem, Dean of the Faculty of Education and Leadership at Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare, Zimbabwe, opened the substantive discussions of the annual academy with their presentations.

Barbara Schellhammer approached the topic from a philosophical perspective. She described identity as a fragile balance between rootedness and openness, between down-to-earthness and cosmopolitanism. Problems arise both when people lose all sense of grounding and when they shut themselves off from everything foreign. “Identity, then, does not mean some kind of inner core that remains the same despite the changes of time. It is the fragile unity of its differences.” David Kaulem warned against viewing ethnic, national, or social differences as immutable facts. Identities can provide orientation and cohesion, but become problematic when they serve to legitimize exclusion or superiority. “Many people portray social differences such as ethnicities, nations, classes, castes, or social roles as something natural, eternal, or inevitable. Many self-images and the boundaries between them are based on this problematic notion.”

On Friday morning, five thematic forums will address different dimensions of belonging and exclusion. Discussions will cover the political dynamics of inclusion and exclusion, indigenous and ethnic perspectives on resources and recognition, social background and class identities, religion between community and separation, as well as contemporary discourses on masculinity.

Even in the run-up to the annual academy, KAAD’s specialist groups addressed the central theme from various perspectives. Discussions covered the psychological and linguistic dimensions of self-image and belonging, religious and social questions of identity and recognition, as well as the significance of natural resources as sites of community, conflict, and responsibility.
Before the annual academy concludes, events still to come include the international festive service and the presentation of the 15th Peter Hünermann Award from the KAAD Foundation to the Zimbabwean scholar Dr Locardia Shayamunda. With this award, the foundation honors her social and church-based work for justice and peace, as well as her commitment to the field of environmental sciences in Zimbabwe.