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KULTURAUSTAUSCH

Dossier

Informal living around the world

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Dossier

Mexico between resilience and a fresh start

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Dossier

Indigenous culture today

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Under a blue sky lies a rugged mountain landscape of light-colored stone. Three men are posing in the middle ground, a fourth is photographing them.

Dossier

Living in the desert

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Denise Pintsch is the editorial assistant for KULTURAUSTAUSCH. She makes sure that everything runs smoothly during the production of our printed edition. She has just returned from a trip to Naples and is very impressed by the city! Here are her current top picks:

Photo: Bas Losekoot
Family life | South Korea
The silent protest of women in South Korea
The East Asian country has a demographic problem: its population is ageing rapidly but many women have no desire to have children
By Hawon Jung04/30/2024

Ulrich Raulff

President, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen

A woman with large red earrings looks into the camera

Older woman with short gray hair looks friendly into the camera. She has blue eyes and wears a yellow blouse. She holds her hand on the back of her neck.

A middle-aged man stands in front of a simple background. He is wearing a short-sleeved shirt and glasses and is looking sideways into the distance.

Young woman with long hair piled on top of her head looks into the camera seriously..

Middle-aged man looks friendly into the camera. He is wearing a checked shirt, glasses and a cap and has a beard.

M’hammed Kilito

[Translate to English:]

Der Schriftsteller Saïd Khatibi sitzt vor einer Bücherwand auf einem Sessel. Er trägt ein dunkelblaues Hemd und Brille und schaut seitlich an der Kamera vorbei

Abdulrazak Gurnah

Irina Sherbakova

Mustafah Abdulaziz

Máxima Acuña de Chaupe

Roongtip Luilao

Mohamed Amjahid

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung

KULTURAUSTAUSCH’s editorial team works from Berlin, but our networks of authors stretch around the globe – to Lagos, Taipeh, or Bogotá, for example.

Would you like to get in touch, send us feedback or drop a message to one of our contributors?

Foto: Johnny Miller

Special

Informal Living

Around one billion people live in informal settlements worldwide. Stereotypes of these dwellings often reduce them to poverty and deprivation. How are the people living in these places really doing?

On the beach in Tijuana, a Mexican band dances with their feet in the water while playing their instruments. The men are wearing a dark blue shirt, black trousers and straw hats. They play a drum, a timpani and brass instruments. The border wall between Mexico and the USA can be seen in the background, protruding into the water — Photo: José María Cárdenas Camacho

Dossier

Mexico

Between resilience and a fresh start: Mexico is beloved by tourists but also struggles with inequality and rising violence. Will the new President Claudia Sheinbaum be able to usher in change?

In einer Allee — Photo: Luisa Dörr

Dossier

Indigenous culture today

Indigenous groups have long struggled to protect their traditional ways of life. Young activists are now building up international networks. Insights from a world that is being reshaped

Under a blue sky lies a rugged mountain landscape of light-colored stone. Three men are posing in the middle ground, a fourth is photographing them. — Photo: Solmaz Daryani

Dossier

Living in the desert

Dry, empty and hostile to life: the desert is etched in our collective imagination. But this unique landscape is often not what we expect

On a stony plateau, a group of people are sitting on several blankets under a tree. There are women, men and children of different ages. A little to the side, a boy dips his foot in a small stream. Mountains can be seen in the background. — Photo: Swinde Wiederhold

Dossier

Parents and children

Unconditional love and huge conflicts: few relationships are as emotional as those of parents and children. What connects us - and what have we always wanted to say to our parents?

View from a high vantage point over a modern city. Green plants can be seen in the very foreground, as if the viewer is standing in a park. In the middle ground rises a modern city center with many skyscrapers and a prominent high-rise tower. The sky shows an extremely dramatic cloud atmosphere between sun and darkness. — Photo: Franky Verdickt

Dossier

Voices from Taiwan

Taiwan is a key democratic ally in Asia for the West. But, looking beyond the looming threat from China, what makes this place unique and what do people in Taiwan dream of?

The outer wall of a one-story house is insulated with straw, there is no external facade. A ladder leans against the house, a middle-aged man steps out of the open door onto the dirt floor. He wears jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. — Photo: Antoine Bruy

Dossier

The limits of growth

The limits of growth have been reached, the climate crisis is real, the war in Ukraine is shaking up global politics. With the world in crisis mode, it's time to consume less!

A woman is standing at the open window, her face turned away from us, looking into the distance. She wears a black headscarf and a patterned outer garment. — Photo: Sayed Aman Sadat

Dossier

Women’s rights in Afghanistan

Since the withdrawal of NATO in 2021, women in Afghanistan have been stripped of their rights, freedom and dignity by the Taliban. In this dossier, they raise their voices!

Three people standing on a sheet of water. — Photo: Mustafah Abdulaziz

Dossier

Are we running out of water?

Without water, life on our planet would be impossible, but we are too careless with it. A dossier on the complicated relationship between humans and the big

Gitte Zschoch

Secretary general, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen

Photo: Noah Emrich

Photography | International

Twilight

In his digital travel miniatures, New York photographer Sam Youkilis documents the decline of our analog culture

Interview with Sam Youkilis01/22/2025

The rapper 19Tyger stands in the center of the picture looking into the camera and holds his hand next to his face while spreading his middle finger and index finger. He is wearing yellow-tinted sunglasses and a turquoise sports jacket. — Photo: Mai Sararporn

Music | Thailand

The Sound of Khlong Toei

The rapper Kasidech Saengjan voices the struggles of people in Thai slums. In this playlist, he gives his personal soundtrack to day-to-day life in Khlong Toei

By Kasidech Saengjan01/11/2025

Vetiver grass — Photo: Mittul Vahanvati

Solomon Islands | Climate change

"Nature-based solutions are for the long term"

Informal settlements in particular can benefit from nature-based solutions. Researchers Darryn McEvoy and Mittul Vahanvati explain how planting the right grasses is helping a community in the Pacific region

Interview with Darryn McEvoy, Mittul Vahanvati01/01/2025

[Translate to English:] Die Cidade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro in Brasilien — Foto: Cristian Lourenço/ Getty Images

Brasil | Favelas

No to scarcity and yes to power

Favelas are a hotbed of innovation. This is where the Expo Favela business trade fair comes in, working to showcase companies from Brazil's informal settlements

By Angelica Mari01/01/2025

Helon Habila stands behind an orange desk, speaks into a microphone and gestures to the side with his right hand. — Photo: private

Literature | Personal history

Living words

The writer Helon Habila grew up in Nigeria, later moved to the UK and now lives in the USA. In his books he revisits the people, places and politics he has experienced first-hand

By Helon Habila12/19/2024

Photo: Erberto Zani/Alamy

Action movies | Uganda

From Wakaliwood to Hollywood

The Ugandan director and producer Isaac Nabwana has made a name for himself with his bloody and humorous action films. His films are made on a tight budget in Wakaliga, a slum in the capital Kampala, is also known as Wakaliwood in a nod to Hollywood

By Isaac Nabwana12/16/2024

Illustration: Julia Neller

Informal Living | Port-au-Prince

A thousand ways to stay alive

Some 300,000 people live in Cité Soleil, the slum in Port-au-Prince in Haiti, a place of gangs, evangelical zealots and abject poverty. An essay by Lyonel Trouillot about the neighbourhood's history and the multitude of lives that have unfolded there

By Lyonel Trouillot12/16/2024

A crowd of about 60 people are standing on the steps in front of a beige building, waving many red and white Polish flags — Photo: NurPhoto / Getty Images

Press freedom | Poland

An uncertain future

After coming to power in 2015, the Polish PiS transformed public television in Poland into a propaganda machine. In 2023, the new Prime Minister Donald Tusk immediately set about restoring the independence of the state media. But the dismantling of democratic controls had been thorough

By Jacek Lepiarz12/09/2024

Die Favela Cidade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro erstreckt sich inmitten grüner Hügel in die Höhe — Foto: Getty Images; NaPorta; Camilla Florez

Economy | Brazil

How a trade fair is challenging cliches about favelas

Impoverished and criminal, that's the stereotype of favelas. But in reality, they are enormous business hubs. The Expo Favela trade fair is working to promote start ups from Brazil's informal settlements

By Angelica Mari12/09/2024

Photo: Mayar Attia

Language | Libanon

Boundlessly queer

For the first time, ‘The Queer Arab Glossary’ is a compilation of Arabic slang from the scene - from affectionate to derogatory. A conversation with the editor

Interview with Marwan Kaabour11/27/2024

Children play in the snow in front of corrugated iron huts in an informal settlement in Madrid — Photo: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/ Getty Images

Informal Settlements | Worldwide

“The first slums were in Europe”

Many people think of informal settlements as something that only exists in the Global South - but there are also slums in Europe. Geoscientist Monika Kuffer maps these areas all over the world, making the invisible visible

Interview with Monika Kuffer11/27/2024

Political advisor Arun Chaudhary wears black sunglasses, which he lifts slightly with his right hand. His eyes are covered by the dark lenses of the glasses — Photo: Ole Witt for Kulturaustausch

Politics | International

Politainment for all

Arun Chaudhary made a name for himself as Barack Obama's ‘First Cameraman’. Today, he advises political parties in many countries on their digital strategies. A conversation about the fine line between authenticity and spectacle

Interview with Arun Chaudhary11/27/2024