On January 25 and 26, 2024, a research colloquium on police violence took place at the Philipps University Marburg to bring together different perspectives and researchers to discuss aspects, patterns, and findings on police violence in Germany as well as in other parts of the world. It was organized by Prof Dr Susanne Buckley-Zistel and Dr Mariel Reiss from the Center for Conflict Studies.
The first day began with the screening of the film Ultraviolence (2020) to a full room of TraCe members, students and staff as well as interested public. The award-winning documentary, directed by Dr Ken Fero, focuses on police violence in the UK. Victims of fatal police violence are portrayed and remembered, and their families are accompanied in their search and fight for justice.
The screening was followed by a discussion with Ken Fero, moderated by Dr Mina Ibrahim from the Center for Conflict Studies. In addition to asking questions about the art and design elements of the movie the audience had the opportunity to engage with Fero to discuss his experience while filming, as well as the personal motivation behind his work.
On the second day, the organizers officially welcomed the participants in the fully-occupied conference room. On the first of three panels, the presenters Laila Abdul-Rahman (Goethe University, Frankfurt), Dr Jan Beek (Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz) and Dr Halil Can (Technical University of Berlin) discussed different aspects of the connection between the internal structures of police institutions and police violence. The panel was moderated by Prof. Dr Susanne Buckley-Zistel.
The second panel was centred around police violence in the context of protests and racist police violence. Emmanuel Schlichter (Green Legal Impact) gave insights into the increasingly repressive police treatment of climate protests, and (Amnesty International) discussed human rights standards in the context of police interventions at protests. Biplap Basu (ReachOut Berlin) concluded the panel with a contribution on racialized policing and the use of excessive force in this context. The panel was moderated by Prof Dr Felix Anderl.
The third and final panel was moderated by Dr Mariel Reiss. The speakers focused on the perspective of people and groups affected by police violence. First, Assistant Prof Azadeh Akbari (University of Twente) gave an insight into her work on police and state surveillance in the context of women's rights in Iran as well as the resistance against this state-driven oppression. This was followed by the contribution of Dr Sonja John (Berlin School of Economics and Law) on the impact on the relatives who lost family members because of police violence. Dr Ariadne Natal (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt) concluded the panel with a presentation of her research on the influence of structural factors on police violence in Brazil and the Philippines.
The day was concluded by a last round of reflections by all panelists and the organizers. The various aspects and perspectives that were discussed during this research colloquium gave an insight to the complexity of influences and factors behind police’s excessive use of force and point to barriers as well as opportunities in tackling these issues. The exchange of researchers and activists brought together multifaceted perspectives; what remains is the need for more research on the topic as well as interdisciplinary knowledge production within and beyond the academic debates.
Please find the full program of the workshop here.