Be calm and poised – and don’t get too personal, you do want people to take you seriously, don’t you?

In academia, there’s a kind of behaviour we’re supposed to adhere to. Especially women and people of colour may feel particularly pushed to ‘compensate’ for not being eminent, male, white professors. How many of us have – consciously or unintentionally – taken up mannerisms that do not fit our personality at all, but make us seem more ‘respectable’ somehow?

But what if you flat-out refuse to play by these rules? In its second Masterclass, Rebellious Teaching presents two prominent, provocative academics, Madita Oeming (teaches & researches Porn Studies at the University of Paderborn) and Lady Bitch Ray (rapper with a PhD in linguistics). No tweeds for them – only tweets. They are outspoken online and offline, not afraid to get personal and frequently, whilst hilarious, catalyse socially relevant debates that are widely discussed on social media and in the press.

In our second Masterclass, moderated by Rebellious Teaching founder Nausikaä El-Mecky, Lady Bitch Ray and Madita Oeming will discuss the advantages and challenges of refusing to put on a typical academic ‘mask’: We will discuss the freedom but also the friction this can cause – ways of dealing with criticism and prejudice – and how to remain resilient and open at the same time.

The Masterclass is there to inspire, to provide tools and courage to try out new ways of being – and discover new possibilities as an educator. After all: the way we are influences our teaching immensely.

Date Thursday, 28th of January 4 – 5 p.m. CET

Participation The free event will take place digitally in English via Zoom. Registration is required: diejungeakademie.de Limited places are available. For more information, join the Rebellious Teaching Community on Facebook: facebook.com/groups/606963743552493

Dr Reyhan Şahin aka Lady Bitch Ray Dr Reyhan Şahin, also known to many as "Lady Bitch Ray", is a scientist, former rapper, performance artist, fashion designer, education consultant and author. She studied general linguistics, German language and literature and sex education in Bremen and received her doctorate in linguistics in 2012 on the system of meaning of the Muslim headscarf in Germany. Her dissertation "The meaning of the Muslim headscarf" is the first comprehensive study in this field and was awarded the German Study Prize in 2013. She is currently researching the topics of the alt right, racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and gender. She also conducts hip hop research as a hobby. In 2012, she published her feminist pamphlet "Bitchsm" (VS-Verlag /Panini Books), in which she dealt with intersectional (queer) feminist topics such as Islamic feminism, hip hop and feminism in Germany at an early stage and related them to her own biography. Her most recently published books are: "Yalla, Feminismus!" (9/2019 Tropen/Klett Cotta) and "Lady Bitch Ray über Madonna" (04/2020 Kiepenheuer&Witsch)

Madita Oeming Madita Oeming graduated from the University of Goettingen with an M.A. in American Studies. Already with her Master’s Thesis “Moby’s Dick,” Madita entered the field of Porn Studies, within which she is now pursuing her Ph.D. project at the University of Paderborn on „Porn Addiction – America's Moral Panic of the Digital Age.“ She has taught porn classes at various universities, has published in the Porn Studies Journal and given numerous porn talks at national and international conferences. Striving to change the public conversation about porn, Madita actively communicates her work to audiences outside of academia: she has written for Missy Magazine and VICE Germany, has done multiple interviews with German and US mainstream media outlets, and is an avid twitter user. On top of that, Madita has also established close ties with the porn industry, has collaborated with queer porn icon Jiz Lee, for example, and was a jury member for the 2019 Pornfilmfestival Berlin. She strongly believes in building bridges.

Nausikaä El-Mecky Nausikaä El-Mecky leads the project Rebellious Teaching at Die Junge Akademie to which she was elected as a member in 2017. She is tenure track professor in History of Art & Visual Culture at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, specialising in attacks on art – from iconoclasm to self-censorship – in historical and contemporary settings, particularly investigating the unexpected and self-contradictory aspects of the limits of creative freedom. She is also dedicated to developing artistic and innovative approaches to teaching and science communication, from creating immersive environments to participatory experiments. After obtaining her PhD in Art History from the University in Cambridge in 2013, she held postdoctoral fellowships at Humboldt University Berlin and Heidelberg University before starting her current position in Barcelona in 2018. She was awarded the Maria Gräfin Award for original contributions to the humanities in 2017 and won a Stifterverband / InnoSci FutureLab fellowship in 2020 with Rebellious Teaching.