The Namibian-German project "Decolonizing Together" invites you to an interactive post-colonial city tour in Göttingen on Saturday, 20 July from 1 to 3 pm. The meeting point is in front of the Stadtlabor on Wilhelmsplatz. Participation is free of charge.

Traces of colonial crimes are still visible in Göttingen today: the project group, which consists of three young people each from Namibia and Germany, invites interested people to take a look at the lasting effects of colonialism during the city tour. There will be artistic interventions at various locations in Göttingen that are connected to colonial history, interrupting the normality of the colonial past and present. A particular focus will be on historically significant people in the decolonial context and on the memory of the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama in Namibia (1904–1908) during German colonial rule. Following the city tour, there will be lectures at the Stadtlabor in Göttingen starting at 4 pm.

“With the city tour, we want to confront the people of Göttingen with the colonial history of their city. The effects of the crimes of German colonial rulers have become part of everyday life through monuments such as the South West Africa Memorial. We want to break through this normality and start a dialog on what an appropriate culture of remembrance in Germany and Namibia could look like," says the project team.

The "Decolonizing Together" project is being carried out in cooperation between Stadtlabor Göttingen, "Göttingen Postkolonial" and the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). The project partners in Namibia are the Ovaherero Genocide Museum and the Amaru Art and Community Center in Swakopmund. The project is financed by the "ASA Program" of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and to a small extent by the STP. The aim of the project is to develop new approaches in the post-colonial culture of remembrance in Göttingen and Swakopmund. Following a three-month stay in Germany, which ends at the end of July, the project team will work in Namibia for three months from mid-September.

The project team consists of:
Paulina Guskowski from Germany
Onesmus Katangu from Namibia
Beurencia Tjieripo Meituere from Namibia
Ningiree Kauvee from Namibia
Katharina Pfeil from Germany
Mariama Bah from Germany

You can reach the project team at decolonize-goettingen-swakop@asa-ff.de You can find more information about the project at: https://www.gfbv.de/en/information/topics/africa/translate-to-englisch-asa-projekt

Interviews available for editorial offices:

The project participants are available for interviews. If you are interested in an interview, please write to decolonize-goettingen-swakop@asa-ff.de.