Historiography and Migration: Explaining the Present through the Lens of History

Time: - 1:00 PMDate: Location: 201 Moses Hall

Discussions about migration have dominated the public discourse in Germany since the “refugee crisis” of 2015. There is a growing acceptance of empiric data on migration, collected by research institutions like the IMIS at Osnabrück University. On the other hand, the public discourse – including from the government – is getting more emotional and often denies proven facts and figures.
After a short introduction of recent German history, Paul Voerkel will analyze several statements made by German Government´s representatives about migration and refugees. He will show to what extend those statements contain arbitrary affirmations, and he will contrasted those with findings and information provided by well-regarded historians.

Paul Voerkel is a visiting professor at UERJ University and at the Brazilian branch of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Rio de Janeiro.