A Black East German Gaze Workshop

The arrival of the first Mozambican contract workers in the GDR was captured on film – but through a white, paternalistic and exoticising lens. Through interview material, poems and images from the personal archives of former contract workers, in this workshop we will explore the question of what interventions are needed to tell their stories in a self-determined way, without perpetuating those visual logics. During the workshop we will be joined by Dr Patrice Poutrus who will share insights on the (media) representation of contract labour in the GDR. (Maresa Nzinga Pinto)

Dr Patrice G. Poutrus has a PhD in history. He was born in East Berlin in 1961 to an East German mother and an East African father and grew up and was socialised in the GDR. After 1990, he studied history and social sciences at Humboldt University. To this day, his work focuses on flight and asylum in post-war Germany, the experiences of Black people in the GDR, and the memory of the end of the GDR and the transformation in East Germany.

The workshop is part of the series Black Stories in East Germany. Please register for the workshop series here.

In German.

The workshop takes place on 18. April from 10:00 to 17:00 and 19. April from 10:00 to 15:00.

Curated by Maresa Nzinga Pinto

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