What are your roots?

Feride Funda Gökçimen-Gençaslan studied German Studies, Linguistics, and Art History at Freie Universität Berlin and teaches literature and German as a foreign language in Zurich. She is chairperson and speaker of the Sufi Center Rabbaniyya, European Center for Sufism and Interreligious Encounter, based in Eigeltingen. Since 1995, she has been in training with the Naqshbandiyya Aliyyah Order (Istanbul-Turkey, Northern Cyprus), and as the Order’s representative, she gives lectures and leads events and workshops on Islam, peacebuilding, climate awareness, sustainability, and the prevention of violence and extremism. As an active member of various international and interreligious organizations, she participates in projects across Germany focused on intercultural understanding and awareness-raising with (inter-)religious content. Since 2019, she has curated an exhibition on the Naqshbandiyya Order for the Ethnological Museum at the Humboldt Forum Berlin and leads the monthly lecture series “The Treasury of Love – Mystical Dimensions in the Humboldt Forum” (since February 2023). She is also chair of the preparatory group of the Global Cultural Assembly, which has been in formation since 2022.

Fabiano Kueva, born in Quito in 1972, is a member of the collectives Películas La Divina (1992–1997), Centro Experimental Oído Salvaje (1996–2016), Laboratorio Solanda (2016–), and Global Community Assembly (2023–). His projects span museums, public spaces, and community contexts, including radio, satellite, and web broadcasts.

He has published several albums, books, and articles, and has participated in and organized academic events and international exhibitions across the Americas and Europe. His recognitions include the Radio Drama Award at the 3rd Latin American Radio Biennial (Mexico, 2000), the Paris Award at the 9th International Biennial of Cuenca (Ecuador, 2007), the New Mariano Aguilera Award (Ecuador, 2015), Best International Feature Film at the Chiloé International Film Festival (Chile, 2021), and an Acquisition Award at the 15th International Biennial of Cuenca (Ecuador, 2021).

He has participated in the 10th Havana Biennial (Cuba, 2009), the 2nd Montevideo Biennial (Uruguay, 2014), and the 56th Venice Biennial (Italy, 2015). Kueva has undertaken artist residencies at Apexart (New York), Villa Waldberta (Munich), Lugar a Dudas (Cali), and OBORO (Montréal). He was awarded a Prince Claus Fund Grant in 2010 and a Cisneros Institute – MOMA Artist Research Fellowship in 2024. He lives and works in Ecuador.

Achiles Bufure serves as the director of the National Museum and House of Culture in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Together with other curators and scholars, he co-curated the exhibition “Geschichte(n) Tansanias” at the Humboldt Forum.

Laibor Kalanga Moko is an anthropologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Hamburg. He was born and grew up in Oltukai, a Maasai pastoralist village in northern Tanzania. Laibor Kalanga Moko works on topics such as decolonization of museums, provenance research, restitution of cultural belongings and repatriation of human remains. He works with different communities in Tanzania, including his own, the Maasai, the Meru, the Chagga, the Hehe, and the Ngoni.

Augustine Moukodi is a Cameroonian writer-producer and independent researcher in colonial and post-colonial history. After studying management and administration, Augustine entered the world of audiovisual production with the aim of tackling sensitive social issues and promoting her research. She is president of the production companies Zili Jungle Studios and Racines Mboa, where she has been producing and directing historical and cultural film projects since 2012.

Her career includes the production of a children’s TV series, “Game Over Show”, broadcast in the Central African sub-region from 2012 to 2014. In 2016, her collaborative research on the German-Cameroon treaty led to the production of the Cameroonian historical TV series “Our Wishes”, directed by Jean Pierre Bekolo. In 2017, she exhibited this series at the Leopold Museum during the Vienna International Festival.

Deepak Tolange is a filmmaker, photographer and researcher from Nepal who is interested in innovation, history, culture, the environment, and social justice. Deepak Tolange completed his MA in Visual and Media Anthropology in Berlin thanks to a DAAD Masters scholarship (2014–2016). After graduation, Deepak worked in Germany and Tanzania as a freelance filmmaker and photographer for two years. Since 2018, Deepak has been working as a visiting faculty member at Kathmandu University, teaching Photojournalism and Film Production. His paintings, photography, and documentary films SHELTER (2013) and DUST (2016) received multiple awards.

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a visual artist, author, and public speaker whose work has been exhibited in public spaces, museums, galleries, and private collections around the world. His art is held in major institutional collections such as the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Humboldt Forum.

Diana Guzmán (Mirigõ) and Orlando Villegas (Majã Piria) live in Mitú, Vaupés, Colombia, and work at the Escuela Normal Superior Indígena Maria Reina. As teachers for Spanish and Indigenous languages (Diana) and sports (physical education (Orlando), they are strongly engaged in the implementation of Indigenous education, and Diana also runs a small community museum at the school with its own collection. Both are committed to preserving and promoting indigenous languages and culture in their traditional territory and have been in contact with the Ethnological Museum Berlin since 2014. As part of a long-term cooperation project, several collection visits and workshops have taken place, in Berlin, Mitú and Macucu, Orlando’s community of origin.