Postcolonialism: A Missed Opportunity | nd-aktuell.de

Another exhibition has been canceled, again there are disputes about postcolonial theory – or is it postcolonial studies or the “postcolonial movement” or simply “postcolonialism”? This time it’s about the exhibition “The Year 1983”, organized by the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD) as part of the series “Sequences: Intertwined Internationalisms”, which was actually intended to address colonial and post-colonial connections between Germany – especially the GDR – and Namibia.

The conflict appears to have been triggered by posts by curator Zoé Samudzi on social networks; However, there were obviously fundamental differences about the concept and some content of the exhibition.

It is not surprising that an exhibition that addresses the violent, genocidal past of German colonialism is causing controversy. Dealing with it and the discussion about it are currently inevitably placed in the context of the major discussion about “postcolonialism”. This has become more severe since October 7th last year, but has actually existed for a long time. It has been carried out particularly intensively – repeatedly fueled by new publications and ramified debates – since the Cameroonian historian and philosopher Achille Mbembe was rejected, who was supposed to open the Ruhrtriennale 2020.

The debates focus on statements about Israel and Palestine, but intellectuals, artists and projects that are actually primarily concerned with the violent history of German racism and colonialism are often left out. This was also the case with the exhibition “The Year 1983,” which intertwined colonial violence and postcolonial solidarity work in a complex way and sought to explore the difficult ambivalences and continuities of the German relationship with Namibia.

The centerpieces of the exhibition were to be two installations by the Namibian artist Tuli Mekondjo and the architecture and art collective Forensic Architecture/Forensis. Mekondjo wanted to juxtapose two German uniforms in her installation – the imperial uniform of the former colonial “protection force” and a GDR uniform, as worn by guerrilla fighters from the Southwest African liberation organization SWAPO. Both were embroidered with historical motifs that, according to the statement by curator Zoé Samudzi and the text announcing the exhibition, were intended to deal with motherhood, indigenous traditions and militarization. I can only assume that this would have enabled a complex examination of local practices of remembrance and the experience of genocide, apartheid and resistance, which would certainly be beneficial to the discussion about Germany’s colonial past and today’s responsibility.

Likewise, the exhibition was intended to contrast Forensic Architecture’s report with photos of a German officer who took photos of German military personnel in their free time and during rest breaks during their involvement in the genocide.

Forensis and Forensic Architecture undertook a reconstruction of the most notorious concentration camp during the Herero and Nama genocide: Shark Island (now Shark Island), a rocky island off the coast of Namibia. The two groups collected geological and archaeological data that provide a detailed overview of the structure and functioning of the camp, which is now covered by tourist infrastructure. The vast majority of inmates subjected to forced labor, torture, including rape, and medical experiments by the eugenicist Eugen Fischer died quickly of disease and starvation. Today the mass graves have disappeared beneath tourist sites and there is no local memory of the camp. The report can be viewed online on the Forensic Architecture website. Empirically saturated and with precise methodology, it calls for a responsible approach to the memory of the genocide – in Namibia as well as in Germany.

When we discuss such exhibitions, when we argue about postcolonial studies, we often forget what it is actually about: opening the space of discussion and stories – including about ourselves – to the perspectives of the “others”, those who often played an important role in the historical events and processes underlying these stories, but about which the stories are silent.

The conflict between Samudzi and the Dresden State Art Collections revolved, among other things, around her statement: “Germany only partially recognized the Nama and Ovaherero genocide.” The SKD contradicted that Germany had officially recognized the genocide in 2021 recognized as such. Samudzi, however, was referring to the criticism of the victim groups, i.e. official representatives of the Herero and Nama, that recognition of the genocide had to take place towards them and was not compensated with a payment of development aid to the Namibian government instead of real reparations to the descendants of the victims . In addition, the joint declaration signed by the German and Namibian governments distanced themselves from the fact that the “atrocities” of the German colonial period “would be described as genocide from today’s perspective.”

The real scandal lies in how unknown this criticism is, but also in general the memory of the genocide, its victims and their survival story in Namibia after the German colonial period in Germany, as well as how unknown the postcolonial connections between West and East Germany with Southern Africa are : While the Federal Republic of Germany (Franz Joseph Strauss enthusiastically led the way) maintained the best business relations with the apartheid government, the GDR was not always selflessly involved in solidarity work (for example, its own foreign exchange balance initially improved in trade relations with Mozambique) and did not reflect the racism of its own society ( which was particularly felt by the contract workers from Vietnam and Mozambique).

One can discuss postcolonial studies a lot and with good reasons and criticize the many different approaches that fall under this label. But you also have to talk about what the actual demand is: to confront the stories of “others” and explore what meaning they have for your own story.

The exhibition “The Year 1983” is such a missed opportunity to explore some little-known aspects of this shared, “intertwined” history. A general suspicion of anti-Semitism against “post-colonialism”, as currently formulated by left and right politicians, activists and intellectuals, is particularly helpful to those who want the urgently needed reappraisal of Germany’s colonial history as well as the confrontation with racism, migration and… want to block the exploitation structures of global capitalism.