The Dialogue forum ‘The (Non-)Presence of Whiteness in the Museum’, with Peggy Piesche, literary scholar and cultural scientist, is part of the series “Dekoloniale Einwände gegen das Humboldt-Forum” (Decolonial objections against the Humboldt Forum), an event in collaboration with AfricAvenir.

The conceptualisation for the Humboldt Forum at the Berlin Palace publicised to date, refers to the origins of the “cabinet of wonder” at the Berlin Palace, where “rarities” and “curiosities” were collected and exhibited. However, the future viability of such museum concepts is highly controversial. For not only was the museum the treasure chest of the empire, but it also had a share in the formation of colonial-racist notions. Peggy Piesche will be considering the question of how Germany‘s culture can be decolonized. With the Humboldt Forum, a museum with the purpose of communicating “knowledge about the world” is emerging in the centre of Berlin. But who is telling their history here? And which audience is this narrative addressed to?

Peggy Piesche is a Black German literary scholar and cultural scientist born and raised in East Germany. She has published extensively on racialisation and Black images, colonial history and collective memory. Piesche is the editor of “Mythen, Masken und Subjekte. Kritische Weißseinsforschung in Deutschland”, among other publications. Since July 2013 she teaches at the Academy of Advanced African Studies at the University of Bayreuth, her research focus being ‘Future Africa and Digital Diaspora’.

This discussion is part of the campaign ‘No Humboldt 21!’ and will be realised in cooperation with ABI, the Initiative of Black People in Germany (ISD) and Adefra e.V. – Black Women in Germany, as well as with the friendly support of the Berlin State Office for Development Cooperation (Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit).

6 December, 7 pm

at August Bebel Institut
Müllerstr. 163
13353 Berlin

admission by donation

www.africavenir.org