Dealing with the Past, reaching the Future Conference in Berlin

Slightly off the track of this blog. But as it is in Berlin (home sweet home that I keep running away from) and looks extremely interesting against the background of the latest discussion about racism and its denial in Germany instigated by the publication of Guenther Wallraft’s newest undercover mission, i.e. like serious discussion … here’s an English language summary of the whole enterprise, here unfortunately only German is the response by Noah Sow, author of Deutschland Schwarz Weiss or Germany Black & White – sorry, German only. But the conference will be in German and English with simultaneous translation. – So if you find yourself in Berlin

International Conference

Dealing with the Past, reaching the Future

The role of historical memory and of cultural remembrance in societies dealing with dramatic transformations and, at times, traumatic pasts are numerous. In this conference, we will look at post-apartheid South Africa and reunified German society, how each country views itself, as well as the differences and similarities in their approach to interrogating and confronting the past.

The Afro-German dialogue looks at the politics of remembrance and current practices in the process of historical remembrance: How do we remember and how do we process these memories? What versions of the past exist and what versions are negotiated by society and the political arena? What role does the question concerning the future form or common vision of a society play in shaping today’s politics of remembrance? Representatives from the academic world, civil society, the media and culture will be discussing the potential for integration and reconciliation within the contemporary cultures of remembrance in South Africa and Germany.

Free Admission

German-English simultaneous translation

In cooperation with the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study

P.S. You can find a pdf of the complete conference programme here. And in case your interested in more things Afro German let me refer you to a blog that regularly announces all kinds of events and voices its opinion to a variety of issues: Black in NRW. (More up to date than I could ever be, me with the nose in the books,and eyes steadly focused on my pc here at SOAS library in London! And addmittingly the source of at least half of my info about Africa related events in good ol' Germany.)

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