Colonial and Anti-Colonial Thinking
From the Enlightenment to the 20th Century
23 June 2023
5th symposium in the series “Historical Judgement”
Venue: Pei Building (Ground Floor)
The fifth issue of the “Historical Judgment” series explores colonial and anti-colonial thinking in German history. What positions did Kant, Herder, and Hegel take on colonialism? What criticism was levelled at the German colonies in the colonial period? What critical engagement was there with colonialism under National Socialism? And what were the differences between anti-colonialism in East and West Germany before 1989?
At the symposium, historians, philosophers, political scientists, and sociologists will discuss these and other questions from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Participation
Participation is free
Conference Languages: German and English, Simultaneous translation
The symposium will be recorded and made available online later.
Programme
9.00-9.30
Registration
9.30-9.45
Welcome
Raphael Gross
9.45-10.30
KEYNOTE
“The Idea of a Colony is an Immoral One”: On Liberty of Man and the Critique of Colonialism
Benedikt Stuchtey, Philipps-Universität Marburg
Discussion
10.30-12.00
SHORT Papers AND DISCUSSION
Johann Gottfried Herder: Relativism, Historicism, and Critique of Colonialism
Chunjie Zhang, University of California, Davis
“European Savages”: Kant’s Defence and Critique of Colonialism
Thomas Khurana, Universität Potsdam
Hegel and German Colonialism
Susan Buck-Morss, CUNY Graduate Center, New York
What If Hegel Were, After All, Not All That Bad?
Elísio Macamo, Universität Basel
Moderation: Andrea Esser, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
12.00-13.15
Lunch Break
13.15-14.45
PANEL I
The Attempt to Give a Legal Foundation to an Illegal Act
David Simo, Université de Yaoundé I
Richard Wilhelm, China, and German Anti-Colonialism
George Steinmetz, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Discussion
Moderation: Gwinyai Machona, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
14.45-15.00
Coffee Break
15.00-16.30
PANEL II
Navigating Ambivalence: Colonialists in the Third Reich
Willeke Sandler, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore
“We Never Went to Europe as Conquerors”: Aspects of a Critique of Colonialism in Nazi Germany
Pascal Grosse, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Discussion
Moderation: Dagi Knellessen, Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum
16.30-16.45
Coffee Break
16.45-18.15
PANEL III
“Overcoming Bourgeois Eurocentrism”: Historiography and Anti-Colonialism in the Early Years of the GDR
Christiane Bürger, Universität Erfurt
Why and How Germans in the Old Federal Republic Criticised German Colonialism
Lora Wildenthal, Rice University, Houston
Discussion
Moderation: Naita Hishoono, Namibia Institute for Democracy, Windhoek
18.15
Closing Comment
Raphael Gross, Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum
Reception
The “Historical Judgement” event series is funded by Dr. Christiane and Dr. Nicolaus Weickart.
Historical Judgement. Magazine of the Deutsches Historisches Museum
The 5th edition of the Historical Judgement magazine will be published on the symposium.
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![Cover of the 5th “Historische Urteilskraft” magazine.]()
Publication
Historical Judgement 05. Magazine of the Deutsches Historisches Museum
In the current issue of the magazine “Historische Urteilskraft”, Susan Buck-Morss, Christiane Bürger, Pascal Grosse, Thomas Khurana, Elísio Macamo, Willeke Sandler, David Simo, George Steinmetz, Benedikt Stuchtey, Lora Wildenthal, and Chunjie Zhang explore colonial and anti-colonial thinking in German history. Their contributions begin with Hegel, Herder, and Kant, move to the Weimar Republic and National Socialism, and conclude with East and West Germany in the 1960s and 1970s.
