Carolin Emcke (born 18 August 1967) is a German author and journalist who worked for from 1998 to 2006, often writing from areas of conflicts. From 2007 to 2014, she worked as an international reporter for . Her book ''Echoes of Violence – Letters from a War Reporter'' was published in 2007 at Princeton University Press. In 2008, she published ''Stumme Gewalt'' ("Mute force"), in 2013 ''How We Desire'' (German: ''Wie wir begehren''), in 2016 ''Against Hate'' (German: ''Gegen den Hass''), and in 2019 ''Yes means yes and...'' (''Ja heißt ja und...''). Carolin Emcke was honoured with several awards such as the
Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels in 2016, and a
Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...
("Federal Cross of Merit") in 2017.
Early life and education
Carolin Emcke was born in
Mülheim an der Ruhr
Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home ...
, North Rhine-Westphalia, the daughter of an Argentinian mother and a German father. She received her ''
Abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
'' in 1986.
She studied philosophy, political science, and history in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
, at the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
, and at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
.
Career
Emcke received her Ph.D. at Frankfurt under the supervision of
Axel Honneth with a thesis on collective identities. From 1998 to 2006 she worked for , often reporting from conflict areas such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, and Pakistan.
In 2003/04 she was a lecturer in Political Theory at
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
. From 2007 to 2014 she was a writer and international reporter for (incl. in Israel, West Bank, Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Haiti, US).
Since 2004 Emcke has moderated a monthly discussion series titled ''
Streitraum'' at the
Schaubühne theatre in Berlin.
In 2006 and 2007 she worked as an advisor to the
Hamburg Media School
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. Since 2014, she has been working as a freelance-writer and columnist for ''
Süddeutsche Zeitung
The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...
'' and ''
El País
(; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
''. She has served on the jury of the .
Emcke has held seminars and lectures on topics such as
globalisation
Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
, theories of violence, and
cultural identity
Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity (social science), identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, Locality (settlement), locality, gender, o ...
. In 2008 she published ''Stumme Gewalt: Nachdenken über die RAF'' ("Mute force: reflections on the Red Army Faction"),
a memorial to her godfather,
Alfred Herrhausen, who was murdered by the
Red Army Faction
The Red Army Faction (, ; RAF ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang ( ), was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970 and active until 1998, considered a terrorist organisat ...
on 30 November 1989. The work is aimed at encouraging dialogue between groups in societies, without violence, revenge, and disrespect. Emcke received the
Theodor Wolff Prize for the book.
In her 2013 book, ''How We Desire'', Emcke writes about a homosexual coming of age in the 1980s.
In January 2014, she conducted an interview with German football player
Thomas Hitzlsperger
Thomas Hitzlsperger (born 5 April 1982) is a German football executive and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, currently board member at Serie A club Hellas Verona.
In February 2019, he was appointed Head of Sport at VfB ...
about his coming out for .
In her essay ''Against Hate'' (2016), Carolin Emcke speaks out on racism, fanaticism, and anti-Democratic forces. The book was published in various languages. In her book ''Yes means yes, and...'' (2019) she explores, in the wake of #MeToo, how we should think and talk about desire and power, exploitation and racism.
Emcke gave the opening speech at the 2016
Ruhrtriennale, on the topic of translation.
She was awarded the
Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels on 23 October 2016 at the
Paulskirche, with a laudation by
Seyla Benhabib.
After
International Women's Day
International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...
in 2019,
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
featured her together with three other
feminists
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
.
Other activities
* Member of the Board of Trustees, Ernst Reuter Foundation for Advanced Study.
* Member of the Senate,
Leibniz Association
The Leibniz Association (German: ''Leibniz-Gemeinschaft'' or ''Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz'') is a union of German non-university research institutes from various disciplines.
Funding and Structure
As of 2020, 96 non-u ...
.
* Member of the Board of Trustees, Gerda Henkel Foundation (since 2018)
* Member of the General Assembly,
Heinrich Böll FoundationGeneral Assembly
Heinrich Böll Foundation.
Awards
* 2005: Political Book Prize of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation
Selected works
* ''Kollektive Identitäten: Sozialphilosophische Grundlagen.'' Campus, Frankfurt am Main / New York, NY 2000, (Dissertation Universität Frankfurt 1998, 360 Seiten); 2nd ed. 2010, .
* (The original letters were translated from English by Sebastian Vogel and revised for printing by the author.)
*
* ''Stumme Gewalt: Nachdenken über die RAF.'' S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2008, (with contributions by Winfried Hassemer and Wolfgang Kraushaar).
* ''How We Desire.'' Trans. Imogen Taylor. Text, Melbourne 2018. (Original: ''Wie wir begehren.'' S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2012, .)
* ''Weil es sagbar ist: Über Zeugenschaft und Gerechtigkeit.'' S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2013, .
* ''Against Hate.'' Trans. Tony Crawford. Polity, Cambridge 2019. (Original: ''Gegen den Hass.'' Essay. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2016, .
References
External links
*
* Carolin Emcke
Liberaler Rassismus
(in German) 26 February 2010
* Carolin Emcke
Ich bin es leid
(in German) 24 August 2012
* Carolin Emcke
Carolin Emcke über Homophobie
(in German) Interview TAZ 28. Januar 2014
* Carolin Emcke:
Flüchtlinge: Willkommen in Deutschland
', (in German) two articles in: '' Zeit-Magazin ''und'' Die Zeit'' 27 February 2014 and 7 March 2014
* Carolin Emcke
"Vom Übersetzen" – Festspielrede von Carolin Emcke
(in German) Speech at the Ruhrtriennale 13 August 2016]
* Carolin Emcke
Sacha Batthyany, Und was hat das mit mir zu tun?
(in German) Carolin Emcke in a discussion with Melitta Breznik and Hanspeter Flury, lesungen.net 13 September 2016
* Carolin Emcke
Anfangen
(in German) Speech at the Paulskirche 23 October 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emcke, Carolin
Harvard University alumni
Goethe University Frankfurt alumni
Yale University faculty
German reporters and correspondents
20th-century German journalists
20th-century German women journalists
21st-century German journalists
German columnists
German women columnists
German feminists
German LGBTQ rights activists
German LGBTQ journalists
20th-century German LGBTQ people
21st-century German LGBTQ people
Writers from Berlin
Der Spiegel people
1967 births
Living people
German women non-fiction writers
People from Mülheim
Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
21st-century German women journalists
Women civil rights activists