colonialism

The German Catechism

For many, the memory of the Holocaust as a break with civilization is the moral foundation of the Federal Republic. To compare it with other genocides is therefore considered a heresy, an apostasy from the right faith. It is time to abandon this catechism.

Compa­ring Compa­ri­sons: From the “Histo­ri­ker­streit” to the Mbembe Affair

In the late 1980s, mostly German intellectuals discussed the question of the “uniqueness” or “comparability” of the Holocaust. In the Cause Mbembe, the fronts, the participants and the course of the discussion have changed fundamentally – but the political and ethical stakes remain the same.

The Colour of Coffee: Racism, Gender and Coffee Consump­tion in 19th Century Algeria

Today, coffee is consumed everywhere in the world. Despite its neo-colonial forms of production, it is a drink which brings people together, but the consumption of coffee in 19th century Algeria tells a very different story.

Deco­lo­ni­zing France – the Négritude’s radicalness

Léopold Sédar Senghor and Aimé Césaire are important founding fathers of Négritude, a literary and political movement opposing the exoticization of Africa. With their philosophical project, they aimed at liberating colonial and colonized thinking – in Africa and in Europe.