When do we become tokens? And what is happening in France right now?

Between the Lines: Tokenism, Education Protests in France and the Question of Who Gets Heard

In the new episode of Between the Lines, Anja, Annina and Naemi talk about tokenism in higher education, the expectations placed on racialized people, and why diversity is still far from meaning structural change.

Then we turn our attention to France, where students are protesting against crumbling school buildings, a shortage of teachers and unequal educational opportunities. Young people from marginalized and racialized communities are particularly affected. What do these protests reveal about structural racism in the education system? Why is young people’s resistance often problematized more than the violence they are resisting? And what does all of this have to do with access to higher education, and with Switzerland?

As always, we end with three book recommendations: on digital sexualized violence, on feminist perspectives from Mexico, and on a Black doctoral student who fights back radically against racism and sexism.

⁠? Meena Kandasamy – Fieldwork as a Sex Object⁠ 
Annina recommends an experimental literary text about deepfakes, digital sexualized violence and how virtual attacks affect women’s real lives.

⁠? Dahlia de la Cerda – Reservoir Bitches⁠
Naemi presents 13 interconnected short stories about women in Mexico. With dark humour and uncompromising language, de la Cerda writes about violence, class, gender and survival strategies.

? Imani Thompson – Honey⁠ 
Anja recommends a dark, satirical novel about a Black doctoral student at the University of Cambridge who, caught between Afropessimism, academic racism and institutional hypocrisy, takes increasingly radical paths.

We also offer a glimpse into the making of Missing Chapters, our multilingual publication on racism at Swiss universities, which will be published by Limmat Verlag in spring 2027.

And we are looking forward to the reading with Sinthujan Varatharajah from Wo die Zeit stehen bleibt on 16 November at ƒome books in Willisau, moderated by Annina Mathivannan.

More information and tickets: ƒome books

01:14 – Back at Between the Lines: news from the project
03:22 – Missing Chapters: a book in the making
05:27 – Tokenism: visibility without structural change?
07:51 – Representation, expectations and emotional labour
11:20 – Why diversity also needs secure working conditions
13:44 – Education protests in France
19:17 – Racism, social background and access to higher education
22:11 – Police violence, protest and the role of Switzerland
26:07 – Solidarity and civil resistance
29:48 – Our book recommendations
35:14 – Reading at ƒome books and news from Missing Chapters

Between the Lines is a podcast by the project Undoing Racism – Bildungsräume transformieren at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Gender Studies (IZFG) at the University of Bern. We take you behind the scenes, discuss current social debates and ask how universities can become more anti-racist.

More about the project: https://www.gendercampus.ch/de/projekte/undoing-racism