Enemy Encounters

In this episode Dr. Uri Rosenberg grants us a sneak peek into his forthcoming book "If you can’t beat them, join them': Millî Görüş’s view of 'the West' from entering Turkish politics until reaching power." In his conversation with Dr. Fabian Baumann, Rosenberg traces the shifting attitudes of the Turkish nationalist and Islamist movement Millî Görüş vis-à-vis "the West." From castigating the West...

In our tenth episode, Professor Sebastian Harnisch, Principal Investigator at the RTG 'Ambivalent Enmities' and Professor of International Relations and Foreign Policy at the University of Heidelberg, discusses the exfiltration of Nicolás Maduro by US armed forces. During his conversation with Dr Barend Noordam, Prof Harnisch contextualises the US intervention in Venezuela within the broader scope...

In the first episode of 2026, we welcome Urvashi Butalia, a feminist writer, historian, and Mercator Fellow at the RTG 'Ambivalent Enmity' to discuss the oral history of the Partition of India in 1947 and its violent impact on women's lives. During her conversation with Dr Fabian Baumann, she delves into the genesis and key findings of her seminal work, The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the P...

In this episode, Professor Paul Hanebrink of Rutgers University unpacks the history of the Judeo-Bolshevik myth and its echoes in today's political discourse. In conversation with our very own Dr Fabian Baumann, he traces the myth's "fungal" proliferation across interwar Europe, sheds light on its evolving uses and invocations, and examines its Cold War legacy. What constitutes this 'racial theory...

In our latest episode, Dr. Sara Castro, instructor at the US National Space Security Institute,  discloses the inner workings of US military intelligence. In her wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Barend Noordam, she discusses its emergence as a distinct field, her own career path from academia to intelligence and back, as well as her recent book "Mission to Mao: US Intelligence and the Chinese Co...

In our latest episode, Sou-Jie van Brunnersum, journalist and Mercator Fellow at the RTG 'Ambivalent Enmity', reports on her fieldwork and research in indigenous communities in Okinawa and Greenland. Though geographically far apart, both islands find themselves in zones of geopolitical friction. In her conversation with Dr Barend Noordam, Sou-Jie van Brunnersum discusses the militarisation of the...

In our fifth episode Dr. Fabian Baumann, postdoctoral research associate at the RTG Ambivalent Enmity, shares insights from his book “Dynasty Divided: A Family History of Russian and Ukrainian Nationalism” (Cornell, 2023), in which he analyses the motives behind national identity formation within a family that included both Ukrainian and Russian nationalists. In his conversation with Prof. Tanja P...

In this episode, Dr. Ana Yara Postigo Fuentes offers an insight into the EU-funded research project ARENAS (Analysis of and Responses to Extremist Narratives), which brings together scholars from various disciplines and civil society institutions. The project involves a cooperative examination of the ideological core, modes of dissemination and the impact on public discourse of extremist narrative...

While enmity in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all too familiar, attitudes towards Israel in the Arab world are more ambivalent than daily media coverage would suggest. In this episode, Prof. Johannes Becke interviews Tom Würdemann and Hussein Aboubakr Mansour about their work on Arab thought and politics. What perspectives on Jews and Zionism have Arab intellectuals developed over time? Is A...

In this episode, Dr. Lola Guyot shares her research findings on the Sri Lankan civil war and the particularities of enemisation in a diasporic context. What sparked the conflict between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government? How did the Tamil diaspora engage in the conflict? How can scholars undertake critical research in an antagonistic context? Tune in for answers.

In the first episode of Enemy Encounters, the speakers of “Ambivalent Enmity” give insight into the theories, methodologies and lived experiences that undergird the interdisciplinary research and training group. Why should we explore ambivalences of enmity? How have present wars shaped research? Which disciplinary perspectives best inform our understanding of enmity? Listen in for more.