Are Germans in denial of their colonial past?
How much looted African art is in Berlin museums?
Should Berlin street names be “decolonised”?
Why are there still thousands of Namibian skulls in research centres across Germany?
What does it mean to be afrodeutsch?
How much racism lingers in Berlin today?
Why does Berlin have an Afrikanisches Viertel?
How can we move on to a post-colonial way of dealing with Africa?
These are just some of the questions we'll be exploring with our four inspiring guests at Exberliner's next Wednesday at Burger – coinciding with our September “Africa in Berlin“ issue. We look forward to a lively discussion.
Our guest panelists:
KATHARINA OGUNTOYE
Historian Katharina Oguntoye was raised in Heidelberg by her Nigerian father and German mother. Oguntoye co-wrote Showing Our Colours: Afro-German Women Speak Out and helped to bring the term afrodeutsch into the German vocabulary. She was a founding member of the Initiatve Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland. She heads the nonprofit intercultural network Joliba e.V.
JOSHUA KWESI AIKINS
Joshua Kwesi Aikins is a political scientist and PhD candidate at the Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology. His fields of research include Ghana's political institutions, the cultural and political representation of the African Diaspora, coloniality and the politics of memory in Germany as well as Critical Whiteness Studies. As a member of the Initiatve Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland and the Straßenititiave, he is involved in the ongoing struggle to decolonise and rename the streets of the German capital.
SATCH HOYT
Satch Hoyt is a renowned British-Jamaican artist based in Berlin. He makes sculptures and installations accompanied with sound as well as paintings and drawings. His work has been exhibited around the world from New York to Beijing. Recently, Hoyt has given tours and workshops on looted African art. He has a special interest in the looting of art from Benin by European colonial powers.
NICOLAI RÖSCHERT
A former student of Cameroonian Professor Prince Kum'a Ndumbe III at Freie Universität, Nicolai Röschert is a political scientist who decided to focus his work on Africa. Röschert is an active member of AfricAvenir, a NGO that seeks to reverses the terms of the charity equation between the West and Africa, by reforming our mental relationship to the continent. For example he's currently working on a campaign to commemorate the work and life of former Burkina Faso president Thomas Sankara, the “Che Guevara” of Africa, who was assassinated 25 years ago. He has just returned from Namibia where he was working with the NGO Alliance “No Amnesty on Genocide”, whose aim is recognition by the Germany of the genocide in Nambia during German colonial rule.
CONCERT: THE KALINBA ORCHESTRA
After the discussion, our musical guests Kalinba Orchestra takes to the stage!
The Berlin-based trio plays original compositions in traditional and modern African styles, including Afro-reggae, salsa, soul and sukus. Kilinba are the creators of the Afro-casa style, mixing Afro and Latin beats with rhythms from Casamance, the southern region of Sénégal.
Get a sample here:
THE INFO
When: 9pm, Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Where: Kaffee Burger, Torstraße 60, Mitte, www.kaffeeburger.de
Entrance: €3
RSVP to the event on Facebook!
September 20, 2012
Latest Comments
Africa in Berlin
Posted by Terry Muvanya Wischmann September 21, 2012 13:47:06