Lecture by Hakim Abderrezak

On 4 June, Professor Abderrezak from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota gave a lecture on the topic ‘Images of the Mediterranean Sea: Misnomers, Misconceptions and Mystifications’. The Mediterranean specialist, who holds a professorship in French Culture and Literature at the University of Minnesota and is a visiting scholar at the Institute of Romance Studies during the summer term of 2025, focused his remarks on refugee and migration flows in the Mediterranean. A key focus was a linguistic critique: Hakim Abderrezak sought to critique common linguistic usage and media representations in the context of migration. He emphasised that the terms we use in connection with migration serve as instruments of power for the Global North, obscuring the perspective of migrants. At the end of his lecture, which also proposed alternative terms, the speaker presented some of his own artistic works, in which he attempts to come to terms with the humanitarian catastrophe through the medium of painting. A lively discussion concluded Prof. Abderrezak’s interesting and thought-provoking presentation.