Wrong passport stories are stories about what one calls ‘wrong’ passports, passports that
are ‘wronged’ by virtue of historical injustices and global inequality inflicted on a majority of
the globe by a minority. This minority now holds the ability to freely move, act, and exist
while withholding such freedoms from others. Arguably, one’s identity is at least partly
constituted by one’s passport. The passport determines the domain of linguistic, cultural,
socio-economic possibilities, with which one begins to establish oneself in the world. One’s
passport is ‘wrong’ if one’s domain of possibilities is unjustly restricted due to primarily
political reasons. It can be said that having a ‘wrong’ passport also means being limited
within one’s country of origin be it in terms of access to equal opportunities, or one’s rights.
Notably, however, the notion of the ‘wrong’ passport comes from outside the territorial
borders it is native to. In European academia, the matter of ‘wrong’ passports is often
brushed under the rug when organising events, conferences, publishing, or in hiring
practices where people with wrong passports simply do not make it to the conversation. In
addition, the wrongness of these passports is tied to the ‘wrongness’ ascribed to the
identities of such migrants who must comply, assimilate or suffer the consequences of being
‘wrong’. Hence, the challenges associated with being wronged for their passports are
notoriously familiar to migrant researchers who leave their countries in search for career
opportunities, education, or even a new home.

With the help of our speakers, we try to creatively curate some of these stories in a
workshop format. In this workshop, we bring together the ‘wrong’ passport stories in an
attempt to lend them visibility, know and understand them better, and think together on
how to change these inequalities.

You can also join this event online on Zoom:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/63915981304?pwd=NlpScVVyd3BtSDUzOXIxR2tPSXJzQT09

Meeting ID: 639 1598 1304
Passcode: 702026