11 January 2018

Colonial Repercussions/Koloniales Erbe
Event Series kicks off in January
Symposium I: “(Post-)Colonial Injustice and Legal Interventions”
26 and 27 January 2018, Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz

Under the curatorship of Wolfgang Kaleck (General Secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, ECCHR) and Karina Theurer (ECCHR) international legal experts will join the two-day opening conference on 26 and 27 January 2018 to discuss the colonial crimes of the European states and the question of reparations.

The evolution of international law is closely intertwined with the colonial history of the European states: exploitation, expropriation and genocides. The guiding principles of the law back then, such as sovereignty and the equality of states, were interpreted in such a way that they could legitimise the colonial crimes.
The first symposium of the “Colonial Repercussions” event series is supposed to be a resonant space for postcolonial criticism of the law. It traces how violence has been rendered invisible and injustice was made effective law. Do these structures persist until today in terms of development policies, financial systems, and asymmetrical trade relations? Do human rights act in the guise of a Trojan horse or do they have emancipatory potential? Why is there neither redress nor payment of reparations for the colonial crimes committed by the European states?

The programme includes talks and panels with Antony Anghie, Christian Bommarius, Williams Chima, Luis Eslava, Kranti LC, Gesine Krüger, Christophe Marchand, Mnyaka Sururu Mboro, Ester Muinjangue, Makau Mutua, Obiora Chinedu Okafor, Bernadus Swartbooi, Celine Tan und Liesbeth Zegveld and others. Artistic works like the jazz performance by the Congolese author and Junge Akademie fellow Fiston Mwanza Mujila, the video work by the Brazilian artist Ayrson Heráclito “O Sacudimento da Casa de Torre” (2015) and the Akademie member Marcel Odenbach “Im Schiffbruch nicht schwimmen können” (2011) reflect on the global ramifications of decolonialisation in today’s society.

With the Colonial Repercussions/Koloniales Erbe event series, the Akademie der Künste examines the structures of colonial power relations, which continue to impact on science, art and society today. From January to June 2018, three symposia, each lasting two days, will address the blind spots of the colonial legacies during lectures, panels, performances, artistic interventions and workshops.
Reprocessing colonialism means bearing a visionary moment for the future of Europe. The primary focus of this event series is the question as to the legacy of European colonialism still being tangible today: How does it have an impact on Europe and the rest of the world? How can traditional power structures be broken down and the associated fear of relinquishing powers be overcome? And what would a society look like that evolves creatively based on diversity and not based on white, hegemonic traditions of knowledge?

The scholar for cultural studies Nana Adusei-Poku focuses on the cultural production of the black diaspora as a criticism of hegemonic concepts of identity during a second discursive platform at the end of May 2018. At the third symposium scheduled to take place at the end of June 2018, Nikita Dhawan (Professor of Political Theory and Gender Studies) will compose, together with renowned international theorists of postcolonialism, the utopian potential of a future society.

In addition, the C& Center of unfinished business reading room of the international online platform for African perspectives on art, Contemporary And (C&), will offer throughout the entire event series in the foyer of the Akademie building on Pariser Platz literature on colonial legacies.

Colonial Repercussions/Koloniales Erbe is a joint event series by the Akademie der Künste with the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb.

Event details
Colonial Repercussions/Koloniales Erbe
Symposium I “(Post-)Colonial Injustice and Legal Interventions”
In cooperation with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), 26 and 27 January 2018
Symposium II “Performances of No-thingness”
26 and 27 May 2018
Symposium III “Planetary Utopias – Hope, Desire, Imaginaries in a Post-Colonial World”
23 and 24 June 2018
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin; 24 June: Hanseatenweg 10

In German and English
Free admission; reservations recommended: ticket@adk.de
Detailed programme at: www.adk.de/colonial-repercussions
For Tweets to this event series: #colonialrepercussions and #decolonize

Press photos available at www.adk.de/de/presse/pressematerial.htm