Kulturaustausch: Special issue on Mexico

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Photo: Ole Witt for KULTURAUSTAUSCH

Personal history | North Korea

Fleeing North Korea

Choi Song Hui served as a loyal soldier in North Korea’s army, but then fled across the border river. She now lives in Seoul where she continues to fight for human rights in her home country

By Choi Song Hui 11/04/2024
Photo: Atikah Zata

Flying visit | Indonesia

Spinach or football?

Things are getting tight for small farmers in Indonesia’s capital. The rapid growth of the infrastructure makes them fear for their fields

By Atikah Zata 09/07/2024
Market vendor Raúl Ramírez Florido (65) in Coyocán in Mexico City can really get into a rage when you talk to him about politics

Photo: Miguel Tovar for KULTURAUSTAUSCH

Vox pop | Mexico

Mexico’s fourth transformation

Mexico’s outgoing president launched extensive social reforms, and his successor Claudia Sheinbaum promises to continue his work. What has changed so far? A snapshot of the prevailing mood in Mexico City

By Paula Mónaco Felipe 09/07/2024
Exhausting and dangerous: commuting in Mexico-City

Illustration: Daniel Barreto

Notes and observations | Mexico

A journey into the heart of Mexico City

The average “chilango”, or resident of Mexico City, spends around one and a half hours a day on public transport. An essay on getting from A to B in the Mexican capital

By Mateo García Elizondo 09/07/2024
Photo: Mauricio Sierra

Indigenous rights | Mexico

“We need to be loud every day”

Born into a rural Indigenous community, Eufrosina Mendoza Cruz was hardly destined to pursue a political career. Yet, she championed the rights of Mexican Indigenous women, becoming both an activist and a member of parliament. A conversation about self-determination and perseverance

Interview with Eufrosina Cruz Mendoza 09/07/2024
Illustration: Victoria Villasana

Women’s rights | Mexico

He said, she said

Brutal violence against women is not uncommon in Mexico. The writer Gabriela Jauregui has collected quotes from perpetrators in court, creating a harrowing poem

By Gabriela Jauregui 09/07/2024
Illustration: Victoria Villasana

Women’s rights | Mexico

Women’s rights on the agenda

In Mexico, there’s often a gap between women’s rights on paper and in reality: Violence against women is rampant, many girls fall pregnant, unpaid care work is mostly on women’s shoulders. Five feminist activists take stock: what has improved, what still needs to be done?

09/07/2024
Paulina Sotomayor performs as a solo musician under the name ‘Pahua’

Photo: El Rey de Aragón

Pop culture | Mexico

The sound of Mexico

Paulina Sotomayor sang in a mariachi band for years, but today she mixes electro with Mexican folk music, cumbia, conga and afrobeats. This is her personal playlist to celebrate female empowerment

By Paulina Sotomayor 09/07/2024
A harvest worker picks avocados for export

Photo: Axel Javier Sulzbacher

Environment | Mexico

Avocados: The green gold rush

The global appetite for avocados is generating big bucks in Michoacán. Behind the scenes, criminal groups illegally clear forests and steal municipal water for cultivation. The risks are large but the benefits remain in the hands of a few

By Heriberto Paredes Coronel 10/28/2024
Revered since Aztec times and a Mexican national icon today, Axolotls are struggling to survive in the wild

Collage: Julia Neller, Photos: Getty Images

Biodiversity | Mexico

The incredible transformation of the axolotl

The iconic axelotl has fascinated Aztecs, scientists and became a meme. But is that enough to bring it back from the brink of extinction?

By Andrés Cota Hiriart 09/11/2024
Photo: Arlene Mejorado

Gender roles | Mexico

“It’s okay to be flamboyant if you’re macho”

The Texan Mexican artist José Villalobos focuses on the clothing of Mexican Norteño culture. It’s extravagant and camp but is also seen as the epitome of masculinity

Interview with José Villalobos 09/14/2024
Photo: Marcus Ingram/Getty Images

Pop culture | Mexico

The Peso Pluma phenomenon

Peso Pluma fills stadiums with a mix of traditional Mexican sounds and international pop. His songs about drug violence and love trigger strong emotions among fans and critics alike

By Dahlia de la Cerda 11/01/2024
These young women had been kidnapped by a group of Boko Haram members as young teenagers. Today they live in freedom in Maiduguri

Photo: Getty Images

Conflict | Nigeria

Schools under attack

For ten years, Boko Haram has been kidnapping people in northern Nigeria, including countless schoolchildren. But why are authorities so powerless?

By Eromo Egbejule 11/11/2024
Avital Benshalom

Photo: Ali Ghandtschi

Shared society | Israel

“How do you keep a vision of peace without sounding naïve?”

Avital Benshalom runs the Hagar School in Be’er Sheva, where Jewish and Arab children learn together. How did the school continue its work after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza?

Interview with Avital Benshalom 09/12/2024
Photo: Ali Ghandtschi

Shared society | Israel

“I don’t want coexistence if I don’t have equality”

In Israel, the Jewish and Arab populations share a common everyday life, but currently the peaceful coexistence could escalate any moment. Mohammad Darawshe, Strategy Director of Israeli peace organization Givat Haviva, talks about emergency programs and damage limitation

Interview with Mohammad Darawshe 09/12/2024
Street market in Tambaccounda, Senegal

Photo: Djibril Drame

Photography | Africa

New African photography delivered to your inbox

With “Tender Photo”, Nigerian author Emmanuel Iduma has created a lively platform for visual art from around the continent

By Julia Stanton 09/08/2024
The exhibition “Unravel” was first presented at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. From fall 2024 it is on view at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Photo: Jemima Yong / Barbican Art Gallery

Art l International

A show of powerful textile art in Amsterdam

For a long time, textile art was belittled as a women’s craft. A new exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam shows the subversive potential of this art form

By Helen Jennings 10/27/2024
Katarína Kucbelová worked on her novel “The Bonnet” for more than two years

Photo: Dirk Skiba

Literature l Slovakia

The seamstress’s story

Slovakian author Katarína Kucbelová spent two years visiting the seamstress Iľka in a remote village. Her episodic novel “The Bonnet” talks about tradition and village life, hidden racism and the social exclusion of Roma people

Interview with Katarína Kucbelová 08/29/2024
DJ Lorence V performs in a club in Vietnam

Photo: Nhan Ngo

Club culture | Vietnam

Electronic sounds from Vietnam

Vietnamese club culture has long been dominated by expats and tourists. But in recent years, local collectives and DJs have increasingly become involved in the scene - and their engagement goes beyond music and parties

By Sivaraj Pragasm 08/29/2024

Issue II/ 2026

Defence

Defence now dominates conversations around strategy, law and political influence. But beyond the rhetoric are individuals and communities whose lives are shaped by violence—both those who suffer it and those forced to enact it. In such circumstances, how do people retain dignity and a sense of hope?

Issue I/ 2026

AI and culture

Artificial intelligence promises progress and new possibilities - while at the same time raising questions about who we, as humans, will become in the future. As tech giants vie for global dominance, we are searching for answers to the loss of control, shifts in power, and the question of a more just future.

Issue III+IV/2025

What will become of Syria?

The Assad regime has fallen: this news moved millions of people in December 2024. Since then, a new government has come to power in Syria and many sanctions have been lifted. However, the new leadership's terrorist past has aroused mistrust. After the brutal massacres of minority groups, the initial euphoria has evaporated— yet hope for a new beginning remains.

Issue II/2025

The End of the West

The end of the West is currently being conjured up everywhere, whether as a feeling of collective exhaustion or as a sign of a shifting world order. Is this justified? In this issue, we look at the crisis of the West from a global perspective and question our self-image

Magazine I/2025

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?

Issue II/2024

Indi-pendent

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

Issue I/2024

Broader horizons

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

Das Cover der Ausgabe IV/2023 von KULTURAUSTAUSCH. Auf dem Foto ist eine Gruppe Menschen zu sehen, die sich offenbar nahe stehen. Im Zentrum ein etwas älterer Mann mit kurzen grauen Haaren, um ihn herum gruppiert sechs junge Menschen.

Issue IV/2023

Inner circle

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?

Issue II+III/2023

Precious freedom

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?

Issue I/2023

Living on less

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!

Issue IV/2022

Fear of women

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

Issue III/2022

Are we running out of water?

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

Issue II/2022

Black and white thinking

How fairly do we all live together? Who has power, who is left on the sidelines? How do we deal with other people’s opinions? Our issue on culture clashes

Issue I/2022

Under the Earth

We plunder raw materials, build secret escape tunnels and dig up remnants of prehistoric times: There is much more happening under our feet than we realise. A journey into the underground

Issue IV/2021

Make it yourself

Around the world, people design and create things by hand. A magazine exploring why we make things ourselves – with instructions for making ten objects from across the globe

Issue III/2021

The new Poland

Judicial reform, freedom of expression, women's rights: Poland is rife with dispute and the issues strike the heart of democrcacy. A deep dive into a divided nation

Issue II/2021

The hunters and the hunted

Many animals are loved and worshipped by humans. Many more are cramped in factory farms. A magazine about the ambivalent relationship between people and animals

Issue II/2019

Issue II/2019

When do people feel guilty? And who gets to define what that is? A magazine with tales of perpetrators, victims and witnesses, about how we deal with injustice and the role of forgiveness

Heroes

Issue II/2018

The end of heroism has often been declared, but we are still in thrall to the notion of heroes. Who are our role models, what idols are adored around the world and why do we need them?

Earth, how are you doing?

Issue I/2018

People spend a lot of time mulling over how nature will look tomorrow. But the future of our planet is one thing above all others: Uncertain. But one certainty is how our world looks today. A snapshot.

High. About elites

Issue I/2015

Exquisite taste and good manners, influence, power and top positions: A themed issue about people who know more, achieve more, or simply have more, than others

The scam factories

Cambodia has become a hub for online fraud — often run by trafficked foreign workers forced into the trade

By Danielle Keeton-Olsen07/08/2026

Ramon Espinosa/AP

Humanitarian crisis | Cuba

“Cubans are being pushed to the limit”

Playwright Yunior García Aguilera sounds a warning about Cuba’s humanitarian crisis — and explains what it would take to finally spark political change

Interview with Yunior García Aguilera05/20/2026

Photography | Ukraine

War and a bit of peace

The Kyiv photographer Vic Bakin portrays Ukrainian soldiers at home, far from the front line, in his photographic work “Hell Was Full”

By Ole Witt05/07/2026

Junger Mann mit Brille schaut ernst Richtung Kamera — Foto: Ole Witt für KULTURAUSTAUSCH

In exile | Hong Kong

“I was threatened with ten years in prison”

The activist Ray Wong is fighting for democracy in his homeland Hong Kong from Germany.

Interview with Ray Wong Toi-yeung05/03/2026

Photo: Gundula Haage

Hunting with drones

In northern Georgia, Russian soldiers are pushing back the border. A few brave individuals are documenting the land grab on social media

By Gundula Haage04/29/2026

Photo: Koshkin Serhii

Culture wars | Ukraine

A question of guilt

The Ukrainian soldier and writer Artur Dron calls on Europe to stop publishing Russian authors during the war.

By Artur Dron04/29/2026

Photo: Amr Attamimi

Sunny to partly cloudy

The photo book “Photography from Yemen” changes the way we see a country torn apart by civil war. A conversation with editor Ibi Ibrahim

By Ibi Ibrahim04/08/2026

[Translate to English:] — Foto: Hannah Yoon

Society | India

Home alone

More and more people around the world are living alone. Have they embraced the ‘dolce vita’ – or merely succumbed to the dreary routines of late capitalism?

By Suraj Yengde04/07/2026

An illustration of Jeanne d’Arc wearing armour. — Visual: Julia Neller

Feminism | War

Who's afraid of Penthesilea?

The notion of women going off to war still strikes people as unnatural. But the truth is, women have been fighting since the dawn of our species.

By Morgane Llanque04/02/2026

Top-chef Dieuveil Malonga on his property in Rwanda. — Foto: Dieuveil Malonga

Food culture | Africa

Africa's culinary heritage

Raised in the Republic of the Congo, trained in Germany, and shaped by travels across the African continent, Michelin-starred chef Dieuveil Malonga draws on an eclectic biography to enrich his cuisine

By Dieuveil Malonga03/24/2026

Photo: B'Tselem

Human Rights | Israel

“The system is based on violence”

Yuli Novak heads the Israeli NGO B’Tselem, which campaigns for the rights of Palestinians. As a result, she is under increasing pressure in her home country.

By Judith Poppe03/24/2026

eine bunte Wand mit Bildern aus Textilien

Roma art | Poland

“Art and activism belong together“

Textile artist Małgorzata Mirga-Tas made art history in 2022 as the first Romani woman to exhibit at the Venice Biennale. How can Roma narratives be kept alive through art?

Interview with Małgorzata Mirga-Tas03/17/2026