Talk
Colonialism and its Impact on Political Solidarity Today

with Dr. Emily Marker (Rutgers University) and Dr. Monica van der Haagen-Wulff (University of Cologne)

Fri, 11/22/2024
6:00 PM Goethe-Institut Washington

After the end of World War II, European nations promoted European unification as a “peace project.” What remained largely ignored was the obligation resulting from the colonial past of countries like Germany, France, and Great Britain. What kind of solidarity can be expected from the descendants of the colonizers – and those who were colonized? With its legacy of slavery, similar questions came to the forefront in the context of Black Lives Matter: Is there an obligation for white majority society to show solidarity to the descendants of enslaved people?

Dr. Emily Marker (Rutgers University) and Dr. Monica van der Haagen-Wulff (University of Cologne) will discuss the significance of historical injustices today – and how this plays out in the complex political environment we live in.
 

Double Exposure

What matters more: community or society?
Individual freedom or solidarity?
What constitutes a society based on solidarity?

These questions are of great urgency in these times. Polarization and division seem currently to be the tried and tested means of political discussion. Global migration is intensifying the discussion about who has what duties towards whom, who should show solidarity towards whom and who can be denied solidarity.

In discussions between German and US philosophers and experts such as Omri Boehm, Susannah Heschel, Jan-Werner Müller and Susan Neiman, the differences and similarities on both sides of the Atlantic will be debated when it comes to what holds a society together. All in-person events will be recorded and published as podcasts. Listen now wherever your get your podcasts!
 
Double Exposure is a project organized by the Goethe-Instituts North America in collaboration with the American Council on Germany and funded by the Executive Board of the Goethe-Institut.