Latitude: Rethinking power relations

“Voice Versa– Two Languages, One Story”. A podcast by Deutschlandfunk Kultur and the Goethe-Institut.

In “Voice Versa”, a podcast by Deutschlandfunk Kultur and the Goethe-Institut, ten authors tell stories from a multilingual German society. Among them are Rana Rezaei and Sara Hoshyari.

Rana Rezaei

Writer

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Latitude on Air: Unsettling Power Relations

Monthly Radio Programme Latitude on Air

Latitude on Air broadcasts a two-hour radio programme once a month, in an online stream on this website. The broadcasts always take place on the last Friday of the month from 11 am to 1 pm. All previous programmes can also be accessed. The theme on 28th May 2021 is: “Decolonising Knowledge Production”.

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In Focus: Dealing with cultural objects from colonial contexts

Schlüterhof courtyard with a view of the Alte Museum and the Lustgarten

The Humboldt Forum “A Sign of Colonial Amnesia”

Due to the pandemic, the Humboldt Forum, which has only been accessible digitally until now, defines itself as a “place that links differences” and intends to deal intensively with the issues of colonialism in its programme work. The historian and genocide expert Jürgen Zimmerer takes a stand on what is probably Europe’s most controversial museum.

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A Very Bizarre Dialogue “How Do You Think Your Ancestors Got These?”

The demands for restitution of illegally acquired objects from colonial contexts back to the communities of origin are getting louder. George Gachara suggests there may be other alternatives to the seemingly endless negotiations.

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Barbara Plankensteiner on collaborative museum work

Controversial Collections African Heritage Held in Captivity

Freda Nkirote from the British Institute in Eastern Africa takes a critical look at the laborious back and forth on the restitution of cultural objects from Africa and calls for a paradigm shift in the debate.

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“Until we have a systematic database of the cultural goods that came to Germany from the colonies, we won’t be able to hold any proper debates about restitution, circulation and cooperation – or anything else. Fundamental research, with the former colonies as a starting point, is imperative.”

Albert Gouaffo, a professor of German literature and culture from Cameroon, about his involvement in the provenance research project at the Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich, more in the article “Your own consciousness is the actual judge”.

Tasiilaq (Ammassalik), Greenland

Cultural Heritage Repatriation in Greenland From a Tupilak’s Point of View

The restitution of material objects to its land of origin is a sensitive topic between European countries and its former colonies. In the case of Denmark and Greenland, thousands of objects have been repatriated. And yet, is the physical return of an object all that restitution implies, asks Magdalena Zolkos.

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