Perspectives

2020 "Shaping the Past" Fellow Thalia Fernández Bustamente writes about the impact Covid-19 has had on indigenous communities in Mexico and the challenges they are currently facing.

Future places of remembrance should be based on the wishes of those affected. To do this, we need flexible designs that change as people change, as Ulf Aminde describes.

Joel Garcia writes about his politization in East LA during the ’90s and how he created a platform for the Indigenous based on his experiences.

How do monuments shape the commemorative culture? How can they become places of participation? The project “Shaping the Past” of the Goethe-Institut, the Monument Lab and the Federal Agency for Civic Education brings together initiatives from North America and Germany.

Cheyenne Concepcion describes her project concerning the border constructions between U.S. and Mexico as looking outwards, towards the broader spatial conditions negotiated by borders.

Monument Lab Fellow Free Egunfemi Bangura describes the background, the current impact and the future of the Commemorative Justice movement she created.

Joel Garcia reflects on his time in Berlin, especially around the ways the formerly divided city offered a site to engage borders and monumentality in the U.S., and considers narratives of freedom and manifestations of white supremacy.

Alisha Wormsley’s "There are Black People in the Future" is inspired by afro-futurist artists and writers who highlight the need for Black people to claim their place.

The dancer and choreographer Trixie Munyama from Namibia speaks about forms of memory and the examination of pain, grief and rituals in dealing with the colonial past.

What should we do with colonial monuments and traces in the public space? Ever since the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent worldwide demonstrations in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement, the discussion about historic monuments has been rekindled. 

Achille Mbembe has been accused of anti-Semitism. The ensuing debate raises fundamental questions about the culture of memory and freedom of expression. An article by Michael Rothberg.
 

Cheyenne Concepcion considers her time in Berlin, especially the ways the formerly divided city offers a site to engage borders and monumentality back in the U.S. while inquiring about the (after)lives of border walls as sites to reckon with legacies of division.

Germany and the Germans brought unprecedented suffering to the world during the Nazi era. The way Germany dealt with its past is considered an example of a successful historical reappraisal. But does that really correspond to reality? How did the two German societies deal with National Socialism and the Holocaust after 1945?

Over the summer, we traveled to Berlin with members of Monument Lab's 2019 Fellows cohort for a research trip, meeting with memory workers, cultural organizers, and public space advocates, touring both prominent and grassroots sites of memory.