Berlin, 10-11 October 2024
In early autumn, the Centre Marc Bloch, in collaboration with the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg, the University of Lomé, the Humboldt-University of Berlin and the Association des Historiens et Archéologues du Togo (AHAT), is organizing a symposium for young researchers devoted exclusively to new interdisciplinary approaches to writing the history of German colonization in Africa.
Colonialism, Restitution and Memory – Reflecting German Colonialism from interdisciplinary approaches and perspectives
The meeting will present the various facets and paradigms structuring a new way of looking at the colonial process from a number of angles, including: the problem of restitution of looted objects, art history and colonial photography, the memorial question, colonial revisionism and, by extension, colonial medicine. The colloquium, which will take place from October 9 to 11, 2024, will be directed by Prof. Martin VOGTHERR of the Technical University of Berlin.
In the process of rewriting the colonial past, it was necessary, indeed legitimate, to rethink German colonialism with narratives that would bring to light this forgotten past, or one hidden in so-called “silent sources ”. This imperative raises a number of questions that deserve to be addressed during the colloquium, namely: How can we rethink and reorient the paradigms of writing the history of colonization? What new challenges need to be met at a time when the question of the memory of the German colonization model is resurfacing? What new approaches are needed to reinvent and revisit the “undiscovered” aspects of artistic and photographic sources? Beyond these questions, other related issues can be addressed in parallel, for example: how are certain colonial images and photographs silenced, and what messages do they reveal? How do museum works, images of colonization and the remnants of the latter - through their representational and investigative dimensions - faithfully express themselves? In photography related to colonization (Cf. K. Azamede), colonial “subjects” on the one hand, and the “atrocities” of colonization on the other, raise a postcolonial gaze even though colonialism dates back several decades. Moreover, colonization remains part of the collective memory (of the former colonized as well as the colonizers), and its legacy still awakens relationships with colonial literature, travel literature, museums and monuments.
In this post-colonial context, this symposium looks at methodological approaches, giving the floor to historians and art historians, cultural studies specialists, sociologists and literary scholars, since colonization and colonial expansion also played a major role, not only in the secretive and sometimes violent looting of cultural and cultic objects, but also in literary and filmic productions that draw particular attention to looting, looted art and collections.
Lastly, the reductive approach of “pure” historical narratives could be more broadly extended to sociologists, anthropologists and jurists (it's clear that an ethnologist's view of the colonial process is more or less different from that of an economist or political scientist, given the diversity of fields in which colonization was involved); this justifies the need for cross-views and interdisciplinary approaches in the human and social sciences. The emergence of recent approaches to writing the history of colonization is no longer in question, as is the resurgence of the debate on restitution and reparation, including revisionism and colonial memory.
In order to create a space for open and international dialogue between academics, researchers and students who are working on German colonization or who have already devoted studies to the issue (not only from a historical-cultural angle, but also from an artistic, socio-anthropological or literary one), the Marc Bloch Center - in its mission to encourage research and scientific discussion, interdisciplinary by virtue of its binational character - has decided to provide through this colloquium a space for exchange and discussion that will be open from the morning of October 10. The Colloquium will also feature a richly varied program of international and enriching panels, and will close with a presentation by a leading figure on the subject.
The scientific and international program is open to anyone interested in the issues that will be raised during the symposium. To register (online and in person), please send an e-mail to the following address, with the subject line: Forum Marc Bloch, memorygermancolonialism@gmail.com, by September 28, 2024 at the latest. A return e-mail will be sent to you with access data (zoom ID/password) for those taking part online, and registration information for the Centre Marc Bloch, a few days before the start of the event.
The Centre Marc Bloch and its entire organization and research team look forward to hearing from you, and ask you to circulate this announcement to your respective institutions and interested colleagues.
Programm
October 9, 2024: Georg Simmel Room (3rd floor)
Visit the Centre Marc Bloch and chat with its managers. Meet and greet.
October 10, 2024: Salle Germain Tillion (7th floor)
9 :30-10 :15: Presentation of participants and opening lecture (Key note)
Prof. Martin Vogtherr
10 :15-10 :30: Coffee break
10:30-12:45 First Panel (I): “Reconstitution of the colonial traces and cultural history of Colonial rule”
Chair: Dr. Hélisenne Lestringant/ Centre Marc Bloch
Moderator: Chandra FEUPEUSSI / Université Cote d'Azur
MBOG IBOCK, University of Douala
THE HISTORICAL MEMORY OF THE YAOUNDE GERMAN MILITARY CEMETERY (1884-1912)
Éric NDAYISABA, ENS Bujumbura
On the traces of the German past in Burundi: History and memory of colonial heritage
KOUZAN KOFFI, University of Lomé / Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
The Governors' Palace in Lomé: an emblem of German colonization in Schutzgebiet Togo (1898-1914)
Clarisse NZEUCHIEU, University of Dschang
Female facets in Kamerun: redefining the actors of colonial violence, 1884-1915
12:45-13:00: Pause
13:00-14:15: Second Panel (II): “Colonialism, revisionism, and the processing of narratives in the culture of remembrance”
President: Dr. Romain Tiquet / CNRS (France)/ Centre Marc Bloch (Berlin)
FOGANG TOYEM, Humboldt-University of Berlin
Disease control in colonial possessions under German colonial rule (1890-1916): From medical discourse to colonial medicalization
Leo KEUTNER, Gerda Henkel Foundation (Düsseldorf)
The liquor question against the background of Togo's pre-colonial history
Fidel AMOUSSOU MODERAN/Gabriel IIYAMBO, Ruhr University Bochum/ University of Namibia
A German Horror Story, 1904-1912: Remembering the deportation of Nama/Herero in Togo and Cameroon
Rose Angéline ABISSI, Université de Douala
LES FORMES PROTESTATAIRES ENDOGENES ET LES RESISTANCES AU TRAVAIL FORCE AU CAMEROUN SOUS ADMINISTRATION ALLEMANDE (1884 -1914)
KWAMI AGBEVE, Université de Lomé
La rigueur allemande dans l'imaginaire des Togolais : entre nostalgie et aliénation
14:15-15:00 Lunch break and end of the day
October 11, 2024: Salle Germain Tillion (7th floor)
9 :00-10 :30 Third panel (III): “Restitution, art history and colonial photography“
Chairperson: Dr. Julie SISSIA /Centre Marc Bloch
JIE-JIE, University of Bertoua
Spoliation of cultural property from former German colonies in Africa The difficult issue of restitution: the case of the Bamoum throne in the Berlin Museum
MBENG DANG, University of Douala
The problem of reappropriating works of art from the German colonial period in Kamerun: the example of the Berlin Museum
Barbara TRAUMANN, Filmuniversität Konrad-Wolf (Potsdam)
[Früher] Film und der Restitutions-Eklat von 1925
KOKOU AGBANYO, Technische Universität Berlin/ Université de Lomé.
Deutsche koloniale Bauten und Ehrenmäler in Kolonialafrika: Überlegungen über die Bedeutung des Kulturerben in der Postmoderne
10:30-11:00: Coffee break
11 :00 - 14 :00 Fourth panel (IV)” Colonial revisionism and postcolonial representations of the Memory process”.
Chair: Dr. Pepetual MFORBE CHIANGONG / Humboldt-University of Berlin
Pascal ONGOSSI, Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena
That Africa! A postcolonial memory of the German era
Henry KAM KAH Henry/Lily METANGWE EBUNE, University of Buea
Debates in the Cameroonian Press about Restitution of Art Works to the Country
Ibrahima SENE, Universität Bayreuth
Voices from the African Diaspora and Petitions on the Colonial Legacy (2019-2023)
AQTIME EDJABOU, University of KARA
The centers of discursive dynamics of memories of German colonization in Togo
Anne D. PEITER, Université de la Réunion
Überlegungen zu erinnerungspolitischen Leerstellen bezüglich der deutschen Kolonialisierung Ruandas
14 :30-15 :30 “Final presentation and epilogue”: President of AHAT
Kontakt
memorygermancolonialism@gmail.com
