Initiatives

Commission for Equal Opportunities (KfC)

The Commission for Equal Opportunities (KfC) is an advisory body of the Academic Senate that addresses issues related to equal opportunities, the Berlin State Anti-Discrimination Act (LADG), and the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG). The KfC supports the implementation and further development of the Critical Diversity Policy and consists of members of the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin).

CHAIRS: Prof. Mathilde ter Heijne / Dr. Melanie Waldheim
OFFICE: Valentin Mertes
EMAIL: DIVERSITY@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

Working Group Critical Diversity

The Working Group Critical Diversity was founded in 2016 by the Commission for Equal Opportunities (KfC) to develop a concept for diversity development at UdK Berlin. Members of various committees and status groups were involved in this process. The concept was developed in consultation with representatives of university management, different committees, and officers responsible for equality, diversity, and inclusion.

PART OF THE COMMISSION FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

Support Against Discrimination and Violence

The Support Against Discrimination and Violence provides assistance to people affected by (sexualized) discrimination, harassment, and violence, and offers referral counselling. Its task is to listen to affected individuals, take their experiences and individual needs seriously, and support them in finding appropriate forms of assistance.

The initiative works on the basis of the “Guideline for Protection Against (Sexualized) Discrimination, Harassment and Violence”, which came into effect on 29 June 2019 and is currently being revised.

CHAIR: Prof. Dr. Kathrin Peters
DEPUTY: N. N.
EMAIL: AGAINST-DISCRIMINATION@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

Council for Diversity and Equality

The Council for Diversity and Equality served from 2019 to 2021 as a platform for networking among various actors and groups working on diversity-related issues and anti-discrimination at UdK Berlin. It supported exchange, communication, and collective reflection on critical diversity development, as well as providing feedback during the development of a Diversity Policy for UdK Berlin.

NO LONGER PART OF THE ANTI-DISCRIMINATION STRUCTURE OF UDK BERLIN IN THIS FORM

Artist Training

Artist Training is a continuing education programme at UdK Berlin for artists at risk. It focuses on networking, strategic positioning, and professional development. The Artist Training Lab has been a workshop series within Artist Training since 2020. Developed in cooperation with UdK Berlin, it addresses structural discrimination in universities and supports networking and empowerment for students, researchers, and artists at risk. The project is also documented through a podcast.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Dr. Melanie Waldheim
EMAIL: ARTISTTRAINING-ZIW@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE — INSTAGRAM — FACEBOOK

Diversity and Anti-Discrimination Officer

The Diversity and Anti-Discrimination Officer works to promote anti-racism and intersectional anti-discrimination at UdK Berlin. The office provides counselling and support in cases of discrimination and violence and promotes an inclusive, discrimination-sensitive learning environment through workshops, monitoring, and consultation.

The establishment of this position is required by the Berlin Higher Education Act (BerHG).

DIVERSITY OFFICER: Alejandra Nieves Camacho
EMAIL: DIVERSITAETBEAUFTRAGTE@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE — INSTAGRAM — FACEBOOK

Office of the Women’s and Equal Opportunities Representatives

The Office of the Women’s and Equal Opportunities Representatives (full-time and part-time representatives and staff members) provides advice and support on issues relating to gender equality policy, career planning for women, sexualized and gender-based discrimination, gender-equitable support for early-career researchers and artists, gender-inclusive language, and balancing studies or work with care responsibilities.

FULL-TIME WOMEN’S AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES REPRESENTATIVE: Vanessa Wozny
EMAIL: FRAUENBEAUFTRAGTE@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE — INSTAGRAM — FACEBOOK

PART-TIME WOMEN’S AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES REPRESENTATIVES
WEBSITE

Officer for Students with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses

The Officer for Students with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses advises students on questions related to applications, reasonable accommodations, studying, and examinations.

OFFICER: Dr. Mareike Brlečić Layer
DEPUTY: Dr. Gudrun Lőrincz
EMAIL: BARRIEREFREI.STUDIENBERATUNG@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

Representative for Employees with Severe Disabilities

The Representative for Employees with Severe Disabilities advises employees with disabilities and participates in appointment and recruitment procedures.

CONTACT PERSON: Inga Kleinecke
EMAIL: SCHWERBEHINDERT@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

Officer for Antisemitism Prevention

The Process Officer for Antisemitism Prevention is preparing the establishment of the position of an Antisemitism Prevention Officer with an intersectional perspective and will support the selection process for the future officer.

CONTACT PERSON: N. N.
PROCESS OFFICER FOR ANTISEMITISM PREVENTION: Dr. Michaela Conen
EMAIL: ANTISEMITISM-PREVENTION@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

AGG Complaints Office

The AGG Complaints Office is the formal complaints body under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG). Universities are required under the AGG and the Berlin Higher Education Act (BerlHG) to prevent discrimination and eliminate existing discrimination. Due to these legal requirements, the AGG Complaints Office at UdK Berlin is located within the office of the Chancellor and applies to all members of the university, not only employees but also students. Please note that anonymity is not possible in a formal AGG complaints procedure.

CONTACT PERSON: Dr. Ulrike Prechtl-Fröhlich (Chancellor)
EMAIL: KANZLERIN@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

Coordination Office for Intercultural Diversity

The Coordination Office for Intercultural Diversity, located at the International Office of UdK Berlin, serves as an interface with Intercultural Mentoring within Studium Generale. An open networking group on the topic of “Intercultural Diversity and Welcome Culture at UdK Berlin” was established in 2017. Regular networking meetings provide an important forum for discussion and for the culturally sensitive further development of UdK Berlin.

COORDINATOR: Sandra Bayer
EMAIL: SANDRA.BAYER@INTRA.UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

Student Initiatives

AStA Anti-Discrimination Department

The AStA Anti-Discrimination Department is a student representative body appointed by the Student Parliament (StuPa). It represents the interests of students affected by discrimination, provides counselling and mediation, and works together with actors involved in anti-discrimination work at UdK Berlin.

CONTACT PERSON: Feryal Djavadi
EMAIL: ANTIDISBERATUNG@ASTA-UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

AStA Department for Diversity and Equal Opportunities

The Department for Diversity and Equal Opportunities existed until 2022.

It was discontinued in 2022 due to tax repayment obligations of the AStA.

 

StuPa Committee for Anti-Discrimination, Intercultural Diversity and Empowerment

Since 2019, the Student Parliament (StuPa) has worked through committees that independently develop topics and bring proposals to the StuPa. The focus of the StuPa Committee for Anti-Discrimination, Intercultural Diversity and Empowerment is combating racism and classism within the parliament and at UdK Berlin. The committee works closely with the Committee for Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities as well as the Anti-Discrimination Departments.

CONTACT: —
EMAIL: STUPA-ANTIDIS@ASTA-UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

StuPa Committee for Equal Opportunities and Social Affairs

The StuPa Committee for Equal Opportunities and Social Affairs focuses particularly on combating sexism, promoting gender justice, and improving accessibility within UdK Berlin. The committee works closely with the Committee for Intercultural Diversity, Empowerment and Anti-Discrimination, as well as the AStA Anti-Discrimination Department. It advocates for gender equality and accessibility within the Student Parliament and throughout UdK Berlin.

CONTACT: —
EMAIL: STUPA-SOZIALES@ASTA-UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

Interflugs

Interflugs is a student-run, self-organized organization founded in 1989 that functions as a student office supporting various student projects. It is the longest-standing student organization at UdK Berlin. Interflugs works to make resources available to students and supports independent artistic and creative projects through infrastructure, advice, and collective exchange.

EMAIL: BUERO@INTERFLUGS.DE
WEBSITE

Common Ground

Common Ground is a student initiative founded in 2015 that supports prospective students and students at risk, particularly those with refugee experience. The initiative emerged as a response to the war in Syria and provides counselling, creative collaboration opportunities, and community support for disadvantaged newcomers. Common Ground supports students before and during their application process and acts as a mediator between prospective students and university initiatives. It creates opportunities for exchange, participation, and artistic collaboration while addressing issues related to migration and exile.

EMAIL: ARTISTTRAINING-ZIW@UDK-BERLIN.DE
WEBSITE

AG Barriereabbau (Accessibility Working Group)

The AG Barriereabbau (Accessibility Working Group) at UdK Berlin is a student initiative working to dismantle structural and institutional barriers within the university context. The group’s work is based on the experiences of students, particularly those affected by ableism and other forms of discrimination. Its aim is to make this experiential knowledge visible, document it, and transform it into sustainable changes within the university.

Black Students Union (BSU)

The Black Students Union (BSU) was founded at UdK Berlin in 2024 to strengthen the visibility and interests of Black students and to create a space for exchange, support, and empowerment. The initiative contributes to combating discrimination and strengthens the representation of Black experiences and knowledge systems at UdK Berlin.

EMAIL: BLACKSTUDENTUNION@UDK-BERLIN.DE

WEBSITE

I.D.A. (*Intersectionality *Diversity Antidiscrimination)

I.D.A. (Intersectionality · Diversity · Antidiscrimination) was founded in 2020 by the AStA Anti-Discrimination Department. It was an autonomous initiative consisting of StuPa members and students from different disciplines who worked against discrimination. The initiative created a safe space for discussing political topics at UdK Berlin and collaborated with other university bodies.

I.D.A. was discontinued in 2022 due to tax repayment obligations of the AStA.

Ableism

Adultism

General Equal Treatment Act

Antisemitism

Xenophobia

Accessibility

Harassment

Gender Binary

Sex

Cisgender

Dominance Culture

Prison-Industrial Complex

Gender-Expansive

Gender

Gender Transition

Gender Expression

Gender Dysphoria

Gender Identity

Heteronormativity

Hormone Therapy

Institutional Discrimination

Inter*

Intergenerational Trauma

Intersectionality

Islamophobia

Classism

Colonialism

Culturally Argued Racism

Cultural Appropriation

Marginalization

Microaggression

Misogyny

Neurodiversity

Nonbinary

Patriarchy

Pronouns

Racism

Sex-Gender-Difference

Sexism

Sexual Orientation

Social Origin

Social Norm

Socioeconomic Status

Structural Discrimination

Xenophobia

Tokenism

White Supremacy

Whiteness

Xenophobia

Abolition

Accountability

Ageism

Agender

BIPoC

Colorism

Critical Diversity Policy (UdK)

Deadnaming

Doing Gender

Misogynoir

Queer

Safer Space

Social Justice

Trans*

Ende

Ableism

Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with differing physical and mental abilities and needs. It typically involves a negative assessment of a person’s body and mind due to skills and abilities, based on a supposed biological (physical and/or mental) norm of what an able-bodied, neurotypical person should be. Ableism can intersect with other forms of oppression such as racism and sexism. 

Adultism

Adultism is the discrimination found in everyday life and law based on unequal power relationships between adults, on the one hand, and children, adolescents, and young people on the other. 

General Equal Treatment Act

The General Equal Treatment Act (AGG), enforced since 2006, is the uniform central body of regulations in Germany for the implementation of four European anti-discrimination directives. For the first time, a law was created in Germany that comprehensively regulates protection against discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, gender identification, religion or belief, ability, age, or sexual orientation.

Antisemitism

Antisemitism is a belief system based on hatred/hostility towards or discrimination against Jewish people as a religious or racial group, Jewish institutions or anyone/anything that is perceived Jewish. Antisemitism varies over time and between cultures, with antisemitism intensifying in different historical moments.   

Xenophobia

Xenophobia names the hostility towards groups or individuals perceived as “outsiders” based on their culture. Xenophobic attitudes are often associated with hostile reception of immigrants or refugees who arrive in societies and communities that are not their homelands. Xenophobic discrimination can result in barriers to equally access socioeconomic opportunities, as well as ethnic, racial, or religious prejudice.

Accessibility

Accessibility names the extent to which a product, service, or environment can be used and accessed by as many people as possible. Inclusive accessibility therefore assesses the needs and desires of all possible people—including those who are neurodivergent or who have varying abilities—and incorporates these into its design and function. Changes to enable those with different abilities to have equal opportunity and participation are often referred to as accommodations.  

Harassment

Harassment is undesired and non-consensual conduct that violates the dignity of another person. Harassment can often create intimidating, hostile, humiliating, or offensive environments, and can be based on someone’s sexual orientation, religion, national origin, disability, age, race, gender, and more. Harassment can take a variety of forms, including verbal, physical, and/or sexual. 

Gender Binary

The gender binary is the classification of gender into two distinct and opposite categories of man/masculine and woman/feminine. This belief system assumes that one’s sex or gender assigned at birth will align with traditional social constructions of masculine and feminine identity, expression, and sexuality. Assignment beyond the gender binary is typically viewed as a deviation of the norm. 

Sex

Sex refers to a person’s biological status and is typically assigned at birth, usually based on external anatomy. Sex is typically categorized as male, female, or intersex. 

Cisgender

Cisgender, or simply cis, refers to people who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. Cis comes from the Latin prefix which means “on this side of.” 

Dominance Culture

This concept, according to Birgit Rommelspacher, assumes that there is a system of hierarchies, rule and power in which the various racist, sexist, classist, and other forms of governance intertwine. In this interconnectedness, a dominant group maintains power, which is socially negotiated again and again. In a given society, the dominant group achieves their role by being perceived as pertaining to a majority of the population and having a significant presence in societal institutions. 

Prison-Industrial Complex

The prison-industrial complex (PIC) is a term that describes the complex and interrelated dependencies between a government and the various businesses and institutions that benefit from practices of incarceration (such as prisons, jails, detention facilities, and psychiatric hospitals). Based on the term “military-industrial complex,” PIC urges a more comprehensive analysis of how imprisonment is used in a society, noting all the interest groups that prioritize financial gain over keeping people out of prisons. 

Gender-Expansive

Gender-expansive is an adjective that can describe someone with a more flexible and fluid gender identity than might be associated with the typical gender binary. 

Gender

Gender is often defined as a social construct of norms, behaviors, and roles that vary between societies and over time. Gender is often categorized as male, female, or nonbinary. 

Gender Transition

Gender transition is a process a person might take to bring themselves and/or their bodies into alignment with their gender identity. This process is not a singular step nor does it have a definite end. Rather, it can include any, none, or all of the following: telling one’s family and social circles; changing one’s name and pronouns; updating legal documents; medical interventions such as hormone therapy; or surgical intervention, often called gender confirmation surgery. 

Gender Expression

Gender expression is how a person presents gender outwardly, most typically signalled through clothing, voice, behavior, and other perceived characteristics. Society identifies these cues and performances as masculine or feminine, although what is considered masculine or feminine varies over time and between cultures.  

Gender Dysphoria

Gender dysphoria refers to psychological distress that results from the incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. People of all genders may experience dysphoria at varying levels of intensity, or not at all. 

Gender Identity

Gender identity is one’s own internal sense of self and their gender. Unlike gender expression, gender identity is not externally visible to others. 

Heteronormativity

Heteronormativity is the concept that heterosexuality—romantic and/or sexual attraction between people of the “opposite” gender—is the normative or acceptable sexual orientation in a society. Heteronormativity assumes the gender binary, and therefore involves a belief in the alignment between sexuality, gender identity, gender roles, and biological sex. As a dominant social norm, heteronormativity results in discrimination and oppression against those who do not identify as heterosexual.   

Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy, sometimes called gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) or hormone replacement therapy (HRT), is the process by which sex hormones or other hormonal medications are administered. These hormone changes can trigger physical changes, called secondary sex characteristics, that can help better align the body with a person’s gender identity.

Institutional Discrimination

Institutional discrimination refers to prejudiced organizational policies and practices within institutions – such as universities, workplaces, and more – such that an individual or groups of individuals who are marginalized are unequally considered and have unequal rights. 

Inter*

Inter*, or intersex, is an umbrella term that can describe people who have differences in reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, or hormones that do not fit typical definitions of male and female. The asterisks (*) emphasizes the plurality of intersex realities and physicalities. 

Intergenerational Trauma

Intergenerational trauma refers to the trauma that is passed from a trauma survivor to their descendent. Due to violent and terrifying events—such as war, ethnic cleansing, political conflict, environmental catastrophe, and more—experienced by previous generations, descendants may experience adverse emotional, physical, and psychological effects. As the original sources of trauma are structured by forms of discrimination such as race and gender, intergenerational trauma also occurs along intersectional axes of oppression. For example, Black communities have brought to light the intergenerational trauma of enslavement. 
Intergenerational trauma is sometimes called historical trauma, multi- or transgenerational trauma, or secondary traumatization. 

Intersectionality

Intersectionality names the interconnected nature of systems of oppression and social categorizations such as race, gender, sexuality, religion, migratory biography, class and more. Intersectionality emphasizes how individual forms of discrimination do not exist independently of each other, nor can they be considered and addressed independently. Rather, addressing oppression should take into account the cumulative and interconnected axes of multiple forms of discrimination. 

Islamophobia

Islamophobia is a belief system based on hatred/hostility towards or discrimination against Muslim people as a religious or racial group, muslim institutions or anyone/anything that is perceived Muslim. Islamophobia varies over time and between cultures, with Islamophobia intensifying in different historical moments.

Classism

Classism is a term that describes discrimination based on the belief that a person’s social or economic status determines their value in society. Classism, as a form of discrimination and stigmatization, is based on actual or assumed financial means, educational status, and social inclusion. “Inferior” classes in the hierarchy are problematised and stereotyped, and often receive unequal access and rights within society. 

Colonialism

Colonialism is the control and dominance of one power over a dependent area or people. In subjugating another people and land, colonialism entails violently conquering the population, often including mass displacement of people and the systematic exploitation of resources. Beyond material consequences, colonialism also includes processes of forcing the dominant power’s language and cultural values upon the subjugated people, thereby effecting cultural, psychological, and intergenerational trauma. 

Culturally Argued Racism

Culturally argued racism is directed against people based on their presumed cultural or religious background. This form of discrimination can occur regardless of whether they actually practice one culture or religion and how religious they are (e.g. anti-Muslim racism and anti-Semitism). 

Cultural Appropriation

Cultural appropriation is the act of taking on aspects of a marginalized culture by a person or an institution who is outside of that culture, without comprehensive understanding of the context and often lacking respect for the significance of the original. Cultural appropriation, when promoting negative cultural or racial stereotypes, reproduces harm. Acts of cultural appropriation can often reveal power dynamics within a society: for example, a white person who wears a marginalized culture’s traditional dress is praised as fashionable, while a racialized person could be isolated from the dominant group and marked as foreign.  

Marginalization

Marginalization describes any process of displacing minorities to the social fringe. As a rule, marginalised groups are presumed to not correspond to the norm-oriented majority of society and are severely restricted in their ability to behave freely, have equal material access, enjoy public safety, and more.  

Microaggression

Microaggression names individual comments or actions that unconsciously or consciously demonstrate prejudice and enact discrimination against members of marginalized groups. As small, common, and cumulative occurrences, microaggressions can comprise of insults, stereotypes, devaluation, and/or exclusion. Microaggressions often negatively affect the person on the receiving end, affecting their psychological and physical health and wellbeing. 

Misogyny

Misogyny is a term for sexist oppression and contempt for women that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thereby maintaining patriarchal social roles. Misogyny can indicate an attitude held by individuals and a widespread cultural system that often devalues anything perceived as feminine. Misogyny can overlap with other instances of oppression and hate—such as homophobia, trans*-misogyny, and racism. 

Neurodiversity

Neurodiversity is a term that describes the unique ways each person’s brain structures function. The basic assumption of what kind of brain functioning is healthy and acceptable within a norm-oriented majority society is called neurotypical. 

Nonbinary

Nonbinary is a term that can be used by persons who do not describe themselves or their genders as fitting into the binary categories of man or woman. A range of terms are used for these experiences, with nonbinary and genderqueer often used. 

Patriarchy

Patriarchy is a social system whereby cis men dominantly hold positions of privilege both in public and private spheres. In feminist theory, patriarchy can be used to describe the power relationship between genders that favors male dominance, as well as the ideology of male superiority that justifies and enacts oppression against women and all non-normative genders. 

Pronouns

Pronouns, or personal gender pronouns (PGPs), are the set of pronouns that an individual uses to refer to themselves and desires for others to use when referring to them. The list of pronouns is continuously evolving. An individual may have several sets of preferred pronouns, or none. The intention of both asking and using a person’s pronouns correctly is to reduce the negative societal effects for those whose personal pronouns don’t match with the gender identity that’s assumed by a cisnormative society. Using gender-neutral wording and terms to refer to groups of people (such as “folks,” instead of “guys”) are also inclusive steps that resist the gender binary and cis-normativity. 

Racism

Racism is the process by which systems, policies, actions, and attitudes create unequal opportunities and outcomes for people based on race. More than individual or institutional prejudice, racism occurs when this discrimination is accompanied by the power to limit or oppress the rights of people and/or groups. Racism varies over time and between cultures, with racism towards different groups intensifying in different historical moments.   

Sex-Gender-Difference

Sex-gender difference names the distinction between the concept of “sex” as a biological fact and the concept of “gender” as a product of cultural and social processes, such as socially constructed roles, behaviours, expressions and gendered identities.

Sexism

Sexism is the process by which systems, policies, actions, and attitudes create unequal opportunities and outcomes for people based on their attributed or supposed sex and the ideology underlying these phenomena. It is mostly used to name the power relations between dominant and marginalised genders within cisheteronormative patriarchal societies.

Sexual Orientation

Sexual orientation is the term that describes which sex or gender a person feels emotionally, physically, romantically and/or sexually attracted to.

Social Origin

Social origin describes the socio-cultural values and norms into which one is born, including factors such as environment, class, caste, education biography, and more. The values that accompany one’s social origin are constructed, but often have material impact that privileges or under-privileges certain groups and people. For example, someone whose social origin includes living in a Western country, inheriting intergenerational wealth, and having a consistently good education will increase their chances for a high-paying job as an adult. Their social origin must therefore be taken into account, rather than their inherent worthiness for such a job. 

Social Norm

A social norm is a shared belief in the standard of acceptable behaviour by groups, both informal as well as institutionalized into policy or law. Social norms differ over time and between cultures and societies. 

Socioeconomic Status

Socioeconomic status, usually described as low, medium, or high, is a way of describing people based on their education, income, and type of job. The values and norms assigned to each socioeconomic class are socially constructed but have material impact. 

Structural Discrimination

Structural discrimination refers to patterns of behaviour, policies, and attitudes found at the macro-level conditions of society. This discrimination of social groups is based on the nature of the structure of society as a whole. Structural discrimination is distinct from individual forms of discrimination (such as a single racist remark, which is a microaggression), though it often provides the contextual framework to understand why these individual instances occur. 

Xenophobia

Xenophobia names the hostility towards groups or individuals perceived as “outsiders” based on their culture. Xenophobic attitudes are often associated with hostile reception of immigrants or refugees who arrive in societies and communities that are not their homelands. Xenophobic discrimination can result in barriers to equally access socioeconomic opportunities, as well as ethnic, racial, or religious prejudice.

Tokenism

Tokenism is a superficial or symbolic gesture that includes minority members without significantly changing or addressing the structural discrimination of marginalization. Tokenism is a strategy intended to create the appearance of inclusion and to divert allegations of discrimination by requiring a single person to be representative of a minority. 

White Supremacy

White supremacy names the beliefs and practices that privilege white people as an inherently superior race, built on the exclusion and detriment of other racial and ethnic groups. It can refer to the interconnected social, economic, and political systems that enable white people to enjoy structural advantages over other racial groups both on a collective and individual level. It can also refer to the underlying political ideology that imposes and maintains multiple forms of domination by white people and non-white supporters, from justifying European colonialism to present-day neo-fascisms. 

Whiteness

Whiteness is a socially and politically constructed behaviour that perpetuates an ideology, culture, history, and economy that results in the unequal distribution of power and privilege favoring those socially deemed white. The material benefits of whiteness are gained at the expense of Black, Indigenous, and people of color, who are systematically denied equal access to those material benefits. 
On our blog, white is often written in small italics to mark it as a political category and emphasize the privileges of whiteness which are often not named as such, but rather taken for granted as the invisible norm. 

Xenophobia

Xenophobia names the hostility towards groups or individuals perceived as “outsiders” based on their culture. Xenophobic attitudes are often associated with hostile reception of immigrants or refugees who arrive in societies and communities that are not their homelands. Xenophobic discrimination can result in barriers to equally access socioeconomic opportunities, as well as ethnic, racial, or religious prejudice.

Abolition

Abolition is a term that names officially ending a system, practice, or institution. Rooted in 19th century movements to abolish slavery, present day abolitionism is often invoked to end the practice of policing and military and/or the interconnected carceral systems of prisons, refugee camps, detention centers, and more. For more, see the definition of prison-industrial complex). 

Accountability

Accountability is the obligation and willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions. In the context of social justice, accountability refers to the ways in which individuals and communities hold themselves to their principles and goals, as well as acknowledging the groups to which they are responsible. Accountability often requires a transparent process and continuous self- and collective awareness. 

Ageism

Ageism is discrimination or prejudice based on a person’s age, such as when skills and abilities are questioned and assessed based on one’s older or younger age. 

Agender

Agender is an adjective that can be used by persons who do not identify as any gender.

BIPoC

BIPoC stands for Black, Indigenous and people of color. A term that originated in the U.S., it is a self-designation intended to center the specific experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other racialized groups, who are severely impacted by systemic racial injustice rooted in histories of enslavement and colonialism, and to unite people and groups affected by racism. 

Colorism

Colorism is a term that describes the prejudice or discrimination favoring people with lighter skin tones over those with darker skin tones. This is especially used to describe the nuanced discrimination faced within a racial or ethnic group. 

Critical Diversity Policy (UdK)

The Critical Diversity Policy at UdK is a document whose intention is to emphasize and enforce the idea that differences in values, attitudes, cultural perspective, beliefs, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation, gender identity, abilities, knowledge and life experiences of each individual in each group of people should be considered and overcome within the university.

Deadnaming

Deadnaming is the act of calling a trans*, nonbinary, or gender-expansive person by their birth name, or an incorrect name, when they have changed their name as part of their gender expression. It is never okay or necessary to use a person’s deadname when they have changed their name, including when describing past events. If you deadname someone, take accountability by apologizing and commit to not doing so in the future. Take steps to know someone’s current name and commit to using it.   

Doing Gender

This sociological term focuses on how people observe, (re-)produce, and make gender relevant in everyday life. Rather than taking gender as an innate quality, the acts of “doing gender” emphasize how gender is a social construct that is prevalent in daily human interaction. 

Misogynoir

Misogynoir is a term, coined by Black feminist Moya Bailey in 2010, that describes the gendered and racial oppression faced by Black cis and transgender women (the latter sometimes referred to as trans*-misogynoir). Taking an intersectional lens, misogynoir examines how anti-Black racism and misogyny combine into a particular form of oppression and discrimination. 

Queer

Queer is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. It Is used for a broad spectrum of non-normative sexual and/or gender identities and politics. 

Safer Space

Safer spaces are intended to be places where marginalized communities can gather and communicate shared experiences, free of bias, conflict, or harm perpetrated by members of a dominant group. Recognizing that there is no such thing as a perfectly safe space for marginalized people under the current systems of our society, the term “safer” indicates the goal of temporary relief, as well as acknowledging the fact that harm can be reproduced even within marginalized communities. 
Examples of safer spaces created in organizations and institutions are queer-only spaces and/or spaces only for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. 

Social Justice

Social justice is a form of activism and political movement that promotes the process of transforming society from an injust and unequal state to one that is just and equitable. Social justice is rooted in the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities, and the fundamental right to feel psychologically and physically secure. Social justice therefore aims to change governing laws and societal norms that have historically and presently oppressed some groups over others. Social justice is not just the absence of discrimination, but also the presence of deliberate systems and supports that achieve and sustain equity along lines of race, gender, class, ability, religion, and more. 

Trans*

Transgender, or simply trans*, is an adjective that refers to people whose gender identity is different than the sex assigned at birth. Trans comes from the Latin prefix which means “across” or “beyond.” The self-designation is not an identity feature that automatically indicates whether this person identifies with a different gender, no gender or multiple genders. Thus, there are several trans* identities. The asterisks (*) emphasizes the plurality and fluidity of trans identities.