5. The Invisible Migrant. The (Im)Possibility of Getting Behind the Iron Curtain of Western Academia as an Eastern European Academic

The imaginary Iron Curtain is still dividing Europe, and even the European Union is very much comparable to the wall of ice in Game of Thrones. It is so difficult to get behind it, even though not in the physical sense of the word. And once you are in, you are still considered a wildling without ‘proper’ schooling, someone people should, in the best case, be mindful of. I would like to be able to say that this caution and cultural superiority one is treated with stays outside academia, but that is sadly not the case.