International multidisciplinary conference, 25 to 27 May 2016

This multidisciplinary conference jointly organized by the Freie Universität Berlin and the Deutsches Historisches Museum and funded by the Einstein Foundation Berlin will explore social, economic, political, and cultural practices generated by African, Asian, and Oceanic individuals and groups within the context and aftermath of German colonialism.

Recent scholarship has shed new light on our understanding of the relationship between colonizer and colonized; the nature and complexity of "colonial governmentality"; the interplay between the colonial state and local institutions; and the connections between ideology, textual discourses, practices, and material dimensions. This conference is designed to contribute to the ongoing discussion of German colonialism with a fresh focus on the agency of those affected by German colonialism in Africa, Asia, and Oceania. By focusing on the history of contact, interaction, exchange, and mutual influence, this conference intends to contribute to current debates on transnational and intercultural processes and to highlight the ways in which the colonial period is embedded in larger processes of globalization, in particular the global expansion of capitalism, technology, and the Western legal framework.

Conference language

English

Venue

Zeughauskino at the Deutsches Historisches Museum

Registration

tagungsbuero@dhm.de

Programme

Wednesday, 25 May 2016

7 p.m.
Opening of the Conference
Alexander Koch, Deutsches Historisches Museum
Klaus Mühlhahn, Freie Universität Berlin

Keynote address
Colonies, Empires, Nations: A Twentieth-Century History
Prof. Frederick Cooper, New York University, USA

7.45 p.m.
Reception

Thursday, 26 May 2016

8.30–9.00 a.m.
Registration

9.00 a.m.
Address of welcome
Alexander Koch, Deutsches Historisches Museum
Klaus Mühlhahn, Freie Universität Berlin

9.15–10.45 a.m.   
PANEL I:
THE SOUTH SEAS
Moderation: Vincent Houben, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

The Legacy of the German Language in Papua New Guinea
Craig Alan Volker, James Cook University, Australia

Language Politics in German Colonialism and Their Postcolonial Effects
Stefan Engelberg, Institut für deutsche Sprache, Mannheim

10.45–11.15 a.m.
Coffee break

11.15 a.m. –12.45 p.m. 
PANEL II:
GERMANY
Moderation: Stefan Rinke, Freie Universität Berlin

An "Inclination Towards a Policy of Extermination" – Is There a Certain Style of German Colonial Rule?
Ulrike Lindner, Universität zu Köln

Material Memories of Empire: Coming to Terms with Colonialism in Germany
Britta Schilling, Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands

12.45–2.15 p.m.
Lunch break

2.15–4.15 p.m.
PANEL III:
EAST AFRICA
Moderation: Ulrike Lindner, Universität zu Köln

Culture of Remembrance in Tanzania
Audax Mabulla, National Museum of Tanzania

Political and cultural Recollections of the German colonial past in Rwanda
Damien Rwegera, Paris

"Schaffe schaffe, Häusle baue": German Business and Settlers on the Kenyan Coast since the 1960s
Nina Berman, Ohio State University, USA

4.15–4.45  p.m.
Coffee break

4.45–6.15 p.m.
PANEL IV:
CAMEROON / TOGO
Moderation: Britta Schilling, Universiteit Utrecht, Netherlands

Writing under colonial rule
Patrice Nganang, Stony Brook University, USA

Togo – A Permanent colonial model?
Gilbert Dotsé Yigbe, Université de Lomé, Togo

Friday, 26 May 2016

9.30–11.00 a.m. 
PANEL V:
NAMIBIA
Moderation: Nina Berman, Ohio State University, USA

Memorial Cartographies and Traveled Objects: Vestiges of Colonial Atrocities in a Namibian Landscape
Memory Biwa, University of Namibia

Monuments – And What Else? The Controversial Legacy of German Colonialism in Namibia
Werner Hillebrecht, Former Head of Archives, Namibia

11.00–11.30 a.m. 
Coffee break

11.30 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.  
PANEL VI:
CHINA
Moderation: Klaus Mühlhahn, Freie Universität Berlin

German Complex in Qingdao
Sun Lixin, University of Peking, China

Colonial Qingdao in Contemporary Chinese Writings
Lu Yixu, University of Sydney, Australia

1.00–2.00 p.m.
Concluding presentation and discussion

Mission Impossible?: Decolonizing Germany
Nikita Dhawan, Universität Innsbruck, Austria