Critical Social Inquiry 0248 - German Colonialism Revisited

In 1884/85 German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck convened the notorious "Berlin Conference," marking Germany's entry into colonial politics and inaugurating a period of heightened colonial expansion by European powers. One legacy of this so called "Scramble for Africa" is the collections of artifacts, images, sounds, and human remains which were assembled for the Ethnological Museums in Berlin. The City of Berlin is now planning to transfer these collections into a new "Museum of World Cultures," the "Humboldtforum," to be opened in 2019 in a reconstructed Prussian Palace in the historical center of Berlin. But what kind of symbolism is being created when the ethnological collections which are, to an overwhelming extent, the result of looting during colonial times, are shown behind a Prussian facade, Prussia being the architect of German colonialism? In order to raise these questions and to stimulate a public debate about German colonialism, several artists/activists have recently revisited the colonial archive in a decidedly decolonial approach. This course will introduce students to fundamental scholarship on Germany's colonial history, and to heated trans-African debates that have been sparked by the project "Berlin Palace - Humboldt Forum". In a series of case studies, we will then critically discuss artistic interventions (from African, European and Afro-European perspectives) as they trace Germany's colonial entanglements in what is today Namibia, Togo and Cameroon.

Power, Community and Social Justice Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research Students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.