The future of postmigration, Humboldt University

I was invited to speak on “The Future of Postmigration: International Perspectives” at “X Jahre Postmigration: Konflikte – Haltung – Empowerment” [Ten Years of Postmigration: Conflicts – Positioning – Empowerment], the 2025 annual conference of the Rat für Migration in Berlin.

Held at the Institute for European Ethnology at Humboldt University Berlin, the conference marked ten years of postmigration as a major critical framework and brought together leading scholars, artists, and activists to reflect on its past, present, and future. The panel included Ulrich Schmiedel (Lund University), Regina Römhild (Humboldt) and Moritz Schramm (University of Southern Denmark). In this context, I contributed a literary and cultural perspective to the discussion, reflecting on how postmigration travels across disciplines and national traditions, and on what remains at stake in using it as a critical concept today. The panel was an opportunity to insist on the importance of francophone materials in these debates, and on the ways literary and cultural analysis can illuminate conflict, plurality, and the shifting forms of belonging that shape postmigrant societies.