Ulrike Wieland
Visiting Toronto Metropolitan Univeristy
Spring 2023
Ulrike Wieland is Project Manager at the think tank Bertelsmann Stiftung. This German foundation designs and executes projects to promote social change and serve the public good. Ulrike is part of the foundation’s program “Democracy and Social Cohesion” and is responsible for the field of integration and living together in diversity. Recently, she has published a study comparing how migrants and native Germans feel about living together in Germany, and currently she is conducting another study that explores the population’s views on ethnic and religious discrimination in Germany.
Ulrike is a political scientist by training. Before she joined Bertelsmann Stiftung in 2017, she worked for seven years at the University of Muenster where she conducted research and taught classes in normative political theory on topics revolving around religious diversity in the public space. She earned her PhD in 2016. In her dissertation, she discussed different concepts of the secular state, drawing especially on Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor’s works as well as on postcolonial perspectives.
Research focus while a Fellow with CERC
Ulrike joins Toronto Metropolitan University for scholarly exchange as well as for learning practically about the ways in which the city of Toronto performs its motto “Diversity, Our Strength”. She starts from the insight that citizenship is key to creating an equal status and shared identity of all persons independent of their cultural or religious affiliation. Particularly, she strives to understand how immigrants are encouraged and supported to become new Canadians, e.g. by facilitating administrative processes and creating a positive emotional setting. Her aim is to find out how Germany could learn from the Canadian experience and to establish contacts for continued international exchange.
Publications and Reports
Living Diversity – Shaping Society: Bertelsmann Stiftung (bertelsmann-stiftung.de) (external link)
With Unzicker, K., and Vopel, S. (2018). Learning from the World: Good Practices in Navigating Cultural Diversity. (external link, opens in new window) Bertelsmann Stiftung Study 2018.
(2015). A difference in kind? Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor on post-secularism. (external link, opens in new window) The European Legacy, 20(2), 120-135.
(2013). Sisters in disagreement: The dispute among French feminists about the “Burqa Ban” and the causes of their disunity. (external link, opens in new window) Journal of Human Rights, 12(2), 145-164.