{"id":21661,"date":"2021-04-28T14:20:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T12:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/magazin\/artikel\/eine-welt-in-der-kolonialitaet-nicht-mehr-moeglich-ist\/"},"modified":"2024-02-16T14:55:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T13:55:16","slug":"editorial-colonialism-and-coloniality","status":"publish","type":"magazine-article","link":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/magazine\/article\/editorial-colonialism-and-coloniality\/","title":{"rendered":"Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"block block-html\">\n\t<aside class=\"container-fluid\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-xs-12 col-md-2 like-interactions\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\t<like :textbelow=\"true\"  nonce=\"3196f54373\" postid= \"21661\" post-title=\"Editorial\" count=\"3\"><\/like>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col-xs-12 col-md-8\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"copy\"><p itemprop=\"abstract\" class=\"intro\">Building palaces is a demonstration of power. According to the people behind the project, the partial reconstruction of Berlin\u2019s historic palace was an expression of the power to mend, to repair the urban fabric and the historical associations enshrined in the space it occupies. For many people today, however, the architecture represents a glorification of Berlin\u2019s imperial past as the capital of Prussia and the German Reich.<\/p><\/copy><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n\n<section class=\"block block-copy\" >\n    <div class=\"container-fluid\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row \">\n            <div class=\"col-xs-12 col-md-offset-2 col-md-8\">\n                <div class=\"box\">\n                    <div class=\"copy\"><p>In future, the Humboldt Forum, this newly fashioned space in the heart of Berlin, will be a place where people meet and debates are conducted, a place from where images of public life emanate. These processes will be influenced by the building\u2019s form and symbolism. The building\u2019s architecture, its name \u2013 a homage to the brothers Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt \u2013 and the objects that will be exhibited there from every continent bring a number of different histories into contact with one another: these are stories of power and knowledge, of education and culture that are a facet of the city of Berlin and have a global dimension too; stories of the proclaimed cosmopolitanism of the Humboldt brothers; stories of the cultures that have been gathered together under its roof, of the testimonies they bear and the paths that brought them there. These stories also link the Humboldt Forum to the injustice and pain inflicted across the centuries on people in many different parts of the world as a consequence of the power exercised by Prussians, Germans, and Europeans, the effects of which still reverberate today. The Humboldt Forum thus symbolizes not only power but also powerlessness \u2013 the loss of sovereignty over one\u2019s own body, one\u2019s own life, one\u2019s own past.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<section class=\"block block-copy\" >\n    <div class=\"container-fluid\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row \">\n            <div class=\"col-xs-12 col-md-offset-2 col-md-8\">\n                <div class=\"box\">\n                    <div class=\"copy\"><h3>Colonialism and Coloniality<\/h3>\n<p>So the reconstructed facades of what was once the residence of the Hohenzollerns represent more than an architectural achievement and a triumph of urban planning. They are a reminder of the historical conditions of the wealth they display, with inextricable links to one of the sources of this wealth: the exploitation of colonies and the people living in them. The history of the powers that once reigned supreme in this place is also one of colonial rule, of genocide \u2013 such as that carried out against the Herero and Nama \u2013 of the trade in enslaved Black people, and of merchants travelling the world, of armed militias, Christian missionaries, and explorers, and of men and women who plundered art.<\/p>\n<p>The collections in the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum f\u00fcr Asiatische Kunst and the holdings of the Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t have their origins in the colonial era and are based on colonial practices of collecting things and of producing and propagating knowledge. The objects from these collections presented in the exhibitions at the Humboldt Forum not only bear witness to the cultural history of many regions of the world but are also symbols of colonial continuities. A substantial portion of the objects were stolen from their owners by European travellers, missionaries, colonial administrators, and military personnel, who felt empowered by their position of authority or resorted to the use of physical violence. A good number were acquired too in the course of unfair trade relations, removed from their original contexts without regard for their social functions and significance in the community, or dug from the earth in illicit excavations. Based on colonial and racist ways of thinking, they were given external ascriptions, the power of which still shapes common ideas of the life and culture of the people to whom the objects belonged. The Humboldt Forum will not easily shed these trappings of coloniality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<section class=\"block block-copy\" >\n    <div class=\"container-fluid\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row \">\n            <div class=\"col-xs-12 col-md-offset-2 col-md-8\">\n                <div class=\"box\">\n                    <div class=\"copy\"><h3>A process of becoming<\/h3>\n<p>The feature \u201c\u2026 a world in which coloniality no longer has a place\u201d sets out to raise awareness of the existing structures of coloniality to be found in the Humboldt Forum and in its societal references, while looking for ways to change them. The continuous expansion of the dossier can be seen as a process that focuses attention on the ongoing traumas and injuries that colonialism causes in contemporary societies. In the process, it is important to accept the paradoxes that are a constituent element of the Humboldt Forum: that of being a place, for example, where the world is present even while many of its people feel themselves unrepresented by it.<\/p>\n<p>The utopian idea of a world in which coloniality is no longer possible grows out of a shared understanding of the conditions prevailing today, in which the (in)dependence of perspectives and structures are becoming visible and we can perceive a world in motion. This presents the Humboldt Forum with the task of becoming \u2013 in a sustained and increasingly collective process \u2013 a place that faces up to its own tangled involvement in global interdependencies. A place that offers space for dealing with the diverse manifestations of its own coloniality as well as the local, national, and global forms it takes. A place that allows the objects on display and the voices that speak from within it to be heard as counter-narratives to histories shaped by coloniality.<\/p>\n<p>It is to be one of many places in the world where people find ways to repair global relations and our collective capacity to live together. In the best case, it will not just be a p(a)lace but also a key to unlock these doors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<section class=\"block block-copy block-no-margin\" >\n    <div class=\"container-fluid\">\n\t\t<div class=\"row \">\n            <div class=\"col-xs-12 col-md-offset-2 col-md-8\">\n                <div class=\"box\">\n                    <div class=\"copy\"><h3>Introducing the editorial team<\/h3>\n<p>The editorial team for our online magazine \u2018&#8230;. a world in which coloniality no longer has a place\u2019 comprises representatives from all of the Humboldt Forum\u2019s stakeholder organisations. As an autonomous and independent team, we carry the responsibility for the magazine\u2019s editorial direction. This includes choosing the questions to be addressed within our theme of Colonialism and Coloniality, with or without reference to the Humboldt Forum, its stakeholders, or the social role of this institution. As an editorial team, we see it as our task to propose content and formats that fit within the framework of the magazine, and to provoke critical reflection. We welcome contributions which reflect a diversity of opinions and backgrounds. Employees of the Humboldt Forum and its stakeholders are also welcome to contribute. We will strictly decline any contributions with racist, sexist or otherwise discriminatory content.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Editorial team members:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Andrea Scholz is a curator for transcultural collaboration at the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum f\u00fcr Asiatische Kunst, of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.<\/p>\n<p>Brenda Spiesbach is a curatorial assistant for the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, where she is responsible for BERLIN GLOBAL.<\/p>\n<p>David Blankenstein is an exhibition research assistant for the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss.<\/p>\n<p>Irene Hilden is a research assistant at the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH) at the Humboldt-Universit\u00e4t zu Berlin. She was a member of the editorial team from 2021 to 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t    <\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The feature \u201c\u2026 a world in which coloniality no longer has a place\u201d sets out to raise awareness of the existing structures of coloniality to be found in the Humboldt Forum and in its societal references, while looking for ways to change them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":123324,"template":"","magazine-topic":[],"magazine-format":[277],"magazine-author":[],"class_list":["post-21661","magazine-article","type-magazine-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","magazine-format-editorial-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article\/21661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazine-article"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article\/21661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70106,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article\/21661\/revisions\/70106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=21661"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-format?post=21661"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-author?post=21661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}