Through Each Other’s Eyes: Belonging and Encounter in Europe

What makes us feel that we belong, and what makes that sense disappear?
For more than a decade, the Bruno Kreisky Forum has revisited the question of belonging in Europe. The Vienna Conversations, launched in 2012, led to the publication Do I Belong? Reflections from Europe in 2017 and explored belonging as both a deeply personal experience and a political question: Who is recognised as part of a society? Who determines the terms of belonging? And how do we live with difference without requiring it to disappear?
More recently, the Forum hosted the Vienna workshop of the EU-funded Bridging Beliefs: Promoting Peace, Democracy and Inclusion through Interfaith Dialogue in Europe, in collaboration with the Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council, exploring how religious communities, schools, civil society and public institutions can move from individual encounters towards sustained cooperation.
*Through Each Other’s Eyes* explores these questions by beginning with individual experience.
Developed by KAICIID International Fellows based in Prague, Liverpool, Geneva, Bonn and Vienna, the project uses photography and short audio testimonies to explore feelings of belonging and non-belonging amongst people from different minority communities. Rather than asking anyone to speak on behalf of an entire community, participants reflect on what belonging – or the lack thereof – looks and feels like, and on the associated societal trends that their personal experiences point to.
At the launch in Vienna, a selection of photographs and audio stories will form the basis for a moderated discussion between interviewers, interviewees and practitioners working in the fields of education, peacebuilding and community life.
Together with the audience, we will explore what these experiences reveal about a sense of belonging in European cities: how memory, migration, education and public institutions shape who feels at home, and what kinds of practices and policies can broaden – or narrow – the scope within which people can feel a sense of belonging without sacrificing what is integral to their identity.

Vienna launch of *Through Each Other’s Eyes*, showcasing selected photographs and audio testimonies, followed by a moderated discussion with project participants and practitioners, and an exchange with the audience via breakout group discussions.

Introduction:
Basya garden stone, Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue

Speakers:
Eleonora Mura, works for Arigatou International, supporting the Ethics Education Programme, which focuses on interfaith and intercultural education to ‘Learn to Live Together’ using a transformative pedagogy for peace. Since 2020, Eleonora has been working at Arigatou International’s Tokyo headquarters, where she is responsible for partnerships and institutional development.
Eleonora is a KAICIID International Fellow in the 2026 cohort.

Hannah Larn has over a decade’s experience working in the field of peace and reconciliation; she previously worked for the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation in community facilitation, empowering groups to take action towards peace in their own neighbourhoods. Her career path also took her to the United Nations headquarters in New York, where she encouraged decision-makers to take into account the perspectives of communities when designing policies that affect them.

Shireen Shihabi, BA, MA, Dipl.-Päd., teaches ethics and Islamic religious education at GRG 21, Franklinstraße 26, in Vienna, and contributes to the DiaRU project at KPH Vienna/Lower Austria. Her master’s research at the University of Vienna examined how education for democracy is addressed in Austrian secondary school curricula and in Islamic religious education, with a focus on freedom, equality, tolerance and political education.

Imam Khasif Janjuna, studied Theology and Modern Languages. Following professional experience in Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the Ivory Coast, he was officially appointed to the Czech Republic in late 2019 and elected President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community there in 2020. He serves as both Imam and President, combining spiritual leadership with community engagement. He is also a guest lecturer at universities and schools, serves as chaplain to several embassies, and founded the Unity Football Cup in 2024, bringing together people from different cultural, religious and social backgrounds through sport.

Moderation
Antonia Baumgartner, Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue

Through Each Other’s Eyes: Faith, Belonging and Encounter in Europe is supported by KAICIID, through its International Fellows initiative.