In the third symposium of the Colonial Repercussions event series, titled “Planetary Utopias – Hope, Desire, Imaginaries in a Post-Colonial World,” Nikita Dhawan (Professor of Political Theory and Gender Studies), together with these two eminent figures and other internationally renowned scholars, activists and artists will rethink new visions of a postcolonial future.

The curator Nikita Dhawan: “Reimagining postcolonial futures, requires a move beyond the belief that undoing European colonialism would be sufficient to usher in a world without injustice and oppression. This confronts us with the problem of postcolonial oppositional criticism: whom and what should this critique be directed against? What should be the grammar of this critique? How are we to overcome the acute paralysis of will and sheer lack of vision? Does the world in which we live make postcolonial utopias implausible to imagine?”

With: Sara Ahmed, Nadje Al-Ali, Kader Attia, Gina Belafonte, Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, María do Mar Castro Varela, Angela Davis, Nikita Dhawan, Nadia Yala Kisukidi, Rirhandu Mageza-Barthel, Rahul Rao, David Scott, Alya Sebti, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Antonio Y. Vazquez-Arroyo, Rolando Vázquez and Françoise Vergès.

With the Colonial Repercussions event series, the Akademie der Künste examines the structures of colonial power relations, which continue to impact on science, art and society today. Since January 2018, three symposia, each lasting two days, address the blind spots of the colonial legacies during lectures, panels, performances, artistic interventions and workshops.

Reprocessing colonialism means bearing a visionary moment for the future of Europe. The primary focus of this event series is the question as to the legacy of European colonialism still being tangible today: how does it have an impact on Europe and the rest of the world? How can traditional power structures be broken down and the associated fear of relinquishing powers be overcome? And what would a society look like that evolves creatively based on diversity and not based on white, hegemonic traditions of knowledge?

In addition, the C& Center of unfinished business reading room of the international online platform for African perspectives on art, Contemporary And (C&), will offer throughout the entire event series in the foyer of the Akademie building on Pariser Platz literature on colonial legacies.

Symposium III “Planetary Utopias – Hope, Desire, Imaginaries in a Post-Colonial World” is a cooperation with the Goethe-Institut.

Colonial Repercussions is a joint event series by the Akademie der Künste and the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb.

In English. 
Free admission—first come, first served

Detailed programme available at: www.adk.de/colonial-repercussions

Akademie der Künste
Pariser Platz 4
D-10117 Berlin
Germany