Friedrich Dürrenmatt Guest Professorship

Friedrich Dürrenmatt Guest Professorship

Johny Pitts

© Jamie Stoker

‘The B-Side’; Bootlegs and the Subaltern

British essayist and photographer Johny Pitts will take over the Friedrich Dürrenmatt Visiting Professorship for World Literature in the spring semester of 2024. His weekly seminar at the University of Bern will focus on the cultural "B-side". The focus will be on art and artists from the social periphery - from the "underground".

Johny Pitts is an essayist and photographer, he works as a curator, journalist and radio presenter. The son of a black musician and a white steelworker, he grew up in Sheffield in the north of England in the 1980s. His highly acclaimed book Afropean (2019) was published in German under the title Afropäisch: eine Reise durch das schwarze Europa (2020) by Suhrkamp Verlag. On his journey to the black com- munities, Pitts observes the "Afropean" life experience in various countries. In a combination of reportage and cultural-critical essay, he explores "black Europe". Pitts has received several awards for his communication of Afropean experiences, including the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding and the European Network against Racism.

Other upcoming events:

  • June 07-09, 2024: Johny Pitts at the “Black Writers Festival” in Hamburg

  • June 20-23, 2024: Johny Pitts at the literature festival in Leukerbad

 

Talk at the Kuppelraum

«Antiracism: simply complex»

The B-side - from the underground to the mainstream

A collaboration between the Friedrich Dürrenmatt Visiting Professorship for World Literature and the Federal Department of Home Affairs' Centre for Combating Racism.

The boundaries between periphery and centre are becoming blurred. Creative forms of expression such as pirate radio stations, B-movies or disruptive actions by political movements have long been part of everyday social life. How do "subaltern" works and networks, which are often produced by marginalised people and communities - people with a history of racism and migration - become mainstream and offer an alternative history of Europe and Switzerland?

On 29 May at 19:00, author Johny Pitts (Afropean) and sociologist Anja Glover will discuss precisely this question in the dome room of the main building of the University of Bern.

Date: 29.05.2024
Time: 19:00 (admission 18:00)
Location: Kuppelraum, Main Building, University of Bern

Language: English

Please register here for the event.

Flyer (PDF)

Workshop: Textures and Spectres

Textures and Spectres; Black Europe and the B-Side

Johny Pitts, Author, Great Britain

Date: May 23, 2024
Time: 10:15 AM - 1:00 PM
Place: Room 216, Mittelstrasse 43
More informationen

Vernacular Lived Cultures

Vernacular Lived Cultures

Guest Talk by Nathalie Olah

When: Tuesday May 7th 2024, 10:15am

Where: University of Berne, main building, room 105

Public event, no registration necessary

Language: English

Flyer (PDF, 660KB)

Research Colloquium in Modern History

Black Phantoms: on documenting the ghosts of lost cultures

Johny Pitts will give a talk as a part of the “Kolloquium der Professur Neueste Geschichte”.

When: Wednesday 01 Mayi 2024, 4:15 PM –5:45 PM

Where: Unitobler, F-107

Flyer (PDF, 122KB)

Guest at the Polit-Forum

Guest at the Polit-Forum

The British essayist and photographer talks about the role of works from the cultural ‘underground’ and his impressions of Bern.

When: Tuesday, April 30 2024, 6.30 PM - 8 PM

Where: Polit-Forum Bern, Käfigturm

Language: English

Link to event registration

Flyer (JPG, 1.2 MB)

Auftakt-Veranstaltung: Afropean: Notes from Black Europe

Johny Pitts, Autor, Grossbritannien

Date: Monday, March 4, 2024
Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Burgerbibliothek Bern, Münstergasse 63

More Information

Seminar: «‘The B-Side’; Bootlegs and the Subaltern»

Jamie Stoker

Johny Pitts, essayist, Great Britain

Date every Tuesday, 20 February – 28 May 2024
Time: 10.15 AM – 12.00 PM
Place: Main Building, Hochschulstrasse 4, Seminarraum 105

More Information