Dominik Winkler M.A.
PhD Candidate
I am a PhD candidate at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies at the Free University of Berlin. I am a political geographer focusing on the negotiation of identities along spaces and borders. In my doctoral thesis on the political economy of solidarity, I analyze solidarities with illegalized migrants and its limitations.
In my bachelor studies at Humboldt University in Geography and Social Sciences I focused on political geography, as well as postcolonial and critical theory. In my master's studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in conflict studies, I explored approaches of political economy and discourse theory. In the final thesis I addressed the role of the Mediterranean in the construction of European identity.
In addition, I work as a communication and campaign strategist in political communication in Berlin.
The political economy of solidarity: (re)constructions of borders and illegalized migration.
The research examines solidarity practices in the context of illegalized migration and borders in Germany. It analyzes how different actors produce or subvert notions of borders and illegalized migration. Thereby, it examines how solidarity is positioned within it and what power dynamics are underneath – from markets and state power to humanitarian and securitized discourses.
Based on the theoretical approach of post-fundamentalist discourse analysis, solidarity is conceived as chains of equivalence. Solidarity is thus seen as a practice that constructs shared identities and affiliations between individuals and collectives in distinction to an non-essentialist "other". In interplay with critical border regime studies and new materialism, this research examines how processes of border construction shape and limit identities and solidarities.
2023:
"Rezension: Friederike Landau, Lucas Pohl, Nikolai Roskamm (eds.): [Un]Grounding Post-Foundational Geographies (2021). In: Geographica Helvetica."
Das Geschäft mit der Grenze – How NGOs, companies and research projects uphold, shape and profit from the European border regime (with Marita Fischer). In: Neues Deutschland.
„Feministischer Widerstand bedeutet auch gesellschaftliche Revolution“ – Interview with Rosa Burç about Kurdish perspective on the revolution in Iran. In: dis:orient
2022:
Helfen, ohne zu helfen – On the role of NGOs for solidarity movements in the context of neoliberalism and global inequality. In: Analyse & Kritik.
The political economy of bordering and the reproduction of borders in the case of Frontex. In: Human Geography (0).
The border as “other space”. In: International Journal of Cultural Studies 25(6).
Understanding the market of solidarity – Critical reflections on solidarity in border areas. In: dis:orient.
2021:
Fatales Wegschauen – Comment on the Pushbacks at the EU-border. In: taz, die Tageszeitung.
„We now know that the anti-corruption and anti-PA movement is alive” – Interview with a Palestinian activist on protests in the Westbank. In: dis:orient.
2020:
Europäische Bomben und Nicht-Europäische Bomben. In: Treffpunkt Europa.
2019:
Die Grenzen der EU. In: Treffpunkt Europa.