CommUNITY . *DECOLONIAL CITY WALK . MIT ZEWDI UND JOSHUA KEWSI AIKINS
19th MARCH | 1 PM – 4 PM | *DECOLONIAL CITY WALK | CommUnity – "INDELIBLE IMPRINTS OF COLONIALISM AND RESISTANCE"
Welcome to the rescheduled: Decolonial City Walk "Indelible imprints of colonialism and resistance" with Zewdi and Joshua Kwesi Aikins!
Like London and Paris, Berlin is a colonial metropolis - but unlike in these sister cities, this history is rarely officially acknowledged in the German capital. Yet the cityscape isevidently shaped by colonial history, anticolonial resistance and its many present day trajectories. Layers of history engraved in public space reveal important continuities from the colonial era to the National Socialist dictatorship and beyond. Colonial propaganda from the time of the German empire to the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich remains etched into Berlin’s cityscape.
Afrikanisches Viertel (African Quarter) is one of many sites across Berlin where German policies and perpetrators of enslavement and colonialism are commemorated. It is the largest ensemble of colonial commemoration in Germany: Subtle traces of crimes against humanity are etched into the cityscape, the contested history has given rise to counter memory - two of three street names honoring colonial perpetrators have finally been removed last year, the streets now honor Africans who resisted colonialism. This shift invites us to consider:
What does it mean to more fully account of colonialism from the vantage point of resistance? What does this mean for people of African descent today as we are both living racist colonial continuities and are also benefiting from (neo-)colonialsm as long as we live in the West?
This tour in the context of Black History Month invites People of African descent to engage this space as a lens that enables us to gain new perspectives - to celebrate resistance and ask some hard questions about our present. The event will be open for the PAD-Community (People of African Descent. The tour will be given in English!
Please register via Eventbrite here:
We're looking forward to see you.
Yours CommUnity x EOTO
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*This community event is designed as part of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024) and conceptualized as a space for people of African Descent. The event is hosted in presence as part of Black History Month 2023 by Each One Teach One (EOTO). We ask that this collective self-designation and the spaces associated with it be respected.
