Afrofilm Screening #3 I Diasporic Realities

Thursday, December 17th, 2020, 7.30pm

**The screening will take place online!**

Welcome to the third screening of Afrofilm & Diasporic Realities!

Afrofilm is a self-organised monthly screening of films telling the lives and experiences of African and Afro-descendant people from various geographical locations.
We will be showing films for us by us, which means that the screening is for a closed audience of African and Afro-descendent people.

There is a lot to know and learn from all of us and we think that films are a relevant and efficient way of making this possible.

Join us for the screening of Denise Ekale Kum seasons short film tetralogy to then end the evening with a discussion round to share and create knowledge on Black realities we weren’t yet familiar with and not least to connect with each other.

WINTER SOLSTICE (2014, 6:43min)
A young man wakes up in the middle of the forest, disoriented, lost. Overwhelmed by fear he finally runs away. But then after a short time steps, loud and heavy, can be heard at his heels… Winter Solstice shows and interprets fear, which is directed against oneself, controlling dreams, behavior and being.

NATSU NO TAKARAMONO (ENG: Treasures of the Summer, 2017, 14:40min)
A little Black girl moves through the uniformed crowds of the megacity Tokyo. She wanders through parks and temples, presses her nose against the window pane of a pet shop, and goes to the sea at dusk. And every now and then she bows down and picks up glittering fragments of the discarded from the floor. For her silent wandering follows one goal – to regain a treasure that was thought lost.

RESPRINGENDO (2019, 25:36 min)
Suza, eighteen, lies between textbooks on jazz music, dirty laundry and French fries and doesn’t want to go outside. Her once beloved guitar, an inheritance from her father, is now a symbol of her inadequacy. But isolation is a challenge, when you are besieged by a hysterical mother, a cunning blackmailer as best friend and a strange old guy screaming insults in front of the window of all places.

Denise Ekale Kum is a self-taught filmmaker from Berlin who has lived in Cameroon, Brazil and Japan. In addition to visually powerful music videos, Denise is currently working on the completion of her seasons short film tetralogy and on her first feature-length film project.

This screening will take place online.
Please register via: afroscreening@tutanota.com

Find more Information about the Afrofilm screenings on Instagram: @afro.film.


This event takes place in cooperation with the project #CommunitiesSolidarischDenken.


Online Presentation „The Living Archives”

Credits: bureau zanko

Thursday, November 19th 2020, 6pm

 

The Living Archives is an online platform, which will primarily be used to document, archive and make available knowledge and content, that is generated within BIPoC communities. Integrating and referring to this knowledge, the platform will also be used as a learning space for these communities. In this event the project The Living Archives will be presented to the public for the first time.

We are looking forward to welcoming words by Peggy Piesche (Federal Agency for Civic Education, Germany – Diversity, Intersectionality and Decoloniality  – D.I.D.) and two keynote talks by Fatima El-Tayeb (University of California, San Diego) and Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez (Justus-Liebig-University, Gießen) and a panel discussion with Arike Oke (Black Cultural Archives, London), Tayo Awosusi-Onutor (RomaniPhen Archive, Berlin), and Nicola Lauré al-Samarai (historian, author, curator) within the framework of this presentation.

The aim of the project is to capture and make accessible content and knowledge generated within BIPoC contexts in past and present. xart splitta understands The Living Archives as a “Resistant Knowledge Project” (Patricia Hill Collins). Archiving and documentation is therefore seen as a decolonial act – concepts and practices of archiving are redefined in terms of their colonial, racist, and heteronormative context of origin and used as a medium of “counter-narration”.

The first content for the site will be provided by the ongoing work of xart splitta as well as by texts, conversations and content that was created in the context of the project “Passing it On”. A project that was carried out by xart splitta in 2019 by  Nicola Lauré al-Samarai and Iris Rajanayagam; and in the context of which the idea for the online portal was born. The website will however remain a work in progress and we are looking forward to the collaboration with a variety of individuals and communities in the further development of The Living Archives.

Programme

6:00pm: Welcoming words: Peggy Piesche (Federal Agency for Civic Education, Germany – Diversity, Intersectionality and Decoloniality  – D.I.D.)

6:15pm: Presentation The Living Archives with Iris Rajanayagam and Juliana Kolberg (xart splitta)

6:30pm: Keynote talks by Fatima El-Tayeb and Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez

7:15-8:45pm: Panel discussion with Arike Oke, Tayo Awosusi-Onutor and Nicola Lauré al-Samarai. Moderation: Iris Rajanayagam

This event will take place online and will be held in spoken English and German.

Pls. register by November 17th, 2020 at: contact@xartsplitta.net

The access information to the event will be sent out on November 18th, 2020.


The link to the website will be available from November 19th, 2020 onward at www.xartsplitta.net

The Living Archives is funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education/bpb.

 


Speakers
Arike Oke is the director of the Black Cultural Archives, in London. She has been working in the field of memory and heritage for over 15 years. She has been involved in the “Connecting Histories” project in Birmingham, UK and in the development of the archive of the “Wellcome Collection” and co-organised the first Black History Month in Hull. She is a board member of the strategic initiative “Unlocking Archives” of the National Archives, Richmond, UK and is a Fellow of the programme “Museums and Resilient Leadership” of the Arts Council England. https://blackculturalarchives.org/
Tayo Awosusi-Onutor is a singer, author, director, political activist, mother and lives in Berlin. She describes herself as Afro-Sintezza. She interprets her music in English, German and Romanes. She also lends her voice to film and TV as a dubbing singer and voiceover artist. Tayo studied German and Multimedia. She is a board member of RomaniPhen e.V. and a member of the IniRromnja. She deals with the topics education, history and the civil rights movement. In 2017 she published the documentary “Phral mende – Wir über uns. Perspectives of Sinti and Roma in Germany”. Tayo is also politically involved in various Communities of Colour. Further information can be found at www.tayo-online.de and www.romnja-power.de.
Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez is professor of sociology at the Justus-Liebig-University, Gießen. Her teaching and research focuses on issues of global inequalities and their local expression, particularly in Germany, Spain and the UK. She is also interested in (post)Marxist and decolonial perspectives on feminist and queer epistemology and its application in the fields of migration, labour and culture. She is currently working on affective labour/materialities, institutional racism, racist capitalism and the coloniality of migration. She is a member of the advisory board of “Wagadu. A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies” and the Research Group on Migration and Human Rights. She is also editor of the series Anthem Studies in Decoloniality and Migration.
Nicola Lauré al-Samarai is a historian and cultural scientist. Her areas of interest include Black and Diaspora studies, Critical Race Feminism(s), concepts of creolisation and poetics of relationship, and decolonising memory and cultural policies in the context of intersectionality and experience. She works as author, editor, mediator and curator. She was involved in the following projects, among others: Labor 89: Andere Perspektiven auf die Wendezeit (2019/2020), Grenzgänger*innen: Schwarze und Osmanische Präsenzen in der Metropole Berlin um 1700 (2018/2019), Decolonize ’68 (2018), conzepte. Neue Fassungen politischen Denkens (2010/2011), Homestory Deutschland. Schwarze Biografien in Geschichte und Gegenwart (2005–2012).
Fatima El-Tayeb is professor of literature and ethnic studies at the University of California, San Diego. In her work, she focuses on the deconstruction of structural racism in “colour-blind” Europe and centres resistance strategies among racialised communities. In addition to numerous articles, she has published UnDeutsch. The Construction of the Other in Postmigrant Society (transcript 2016), Anders Europäisch. Rassismus, Identität und Widerstand im vereinten Europa (University of Minnesota Press 2011) and Schwarze Deutsche. Der Diskurs um „Rasse“ und nationale Identität 1890– 1933 (Campus 2001).

In.Solidarity – Retrospectives, insights and perspectives on community collaboration

Friday, 20.11.2020, 10-17h

In this event, we will deal with the topic of solidarity from a cross-community perspective at various levels.

The topic will be looked at from a historical perspective as well as the current situation and possible visions for the future.

One focus will be on the resistant moment of cross-community solidarity. We want to understand this by means of historical entanglements as well as common and shared struggles. In this context, we will explore the question of what possibilities solidarity offers for dismantling power hierarchies and counteracting “divide and rule” mechanisms.

At the same time, we want to deal with power hierarchies and discursive voids within our communities and, in addition to collective memory/experience, also take into account specific (historical) experiences of individual communities. In this context we will deal with the topics of community building, media (under-/miss-) representation of communities, conflicts and marginalization(s), and (shared) knowledge production.

In an opening panel, Vanessa Thompson (European University Viadrina), Tayo Awosusi-Onutor (RomaniPhen Archive) and Ed Greve (Migrationrat Berlin) will discuss a review of the struggles of racialized communities in Germany and developments from the past 10 years until today.

In four subsequent parallel workshops, activists and scholars will have the opportunity to explore a dimension of cross-community solidarity.

Workshop 1: Comm.Unity Building – [Do you have a good idea for the German subtitle here?] – Moderation: Emine Aslan & ?

This workshop will provide an opportunity to explore the strategies, opportunities and challenges of community building. The term “community” itself will be examined in detail. What does “community” actually mean for us as individuals or in our community-near/community-oriented work and how do we deal with the field of tension between external marking and self-positioning in the context of developing identity and belonging? We will ask how attempts at division and “divide and rule” mechanisms can be identified and counteracted. Last but not least, in the context of this workshop, the topic of “Safer Spaces” could also be addressed and the extent to which a critical view of this concept is important for successful and sustainable community building could be considered.

Workshop 2: Re.Presentation – Solidarity and Media Representation – Moderation: N.N.

This workshop will address the representation of certain communities in the media and the question why some communities are more visible than others and how under- or misrepresentation can be counteracted in solidarity. In this context, practical examples and options for action will be presented and discussed. What possibilities are there for setting common themes and making marginalized perspectives visible in media spaces?

 

Workshop 3: Know.Ledge – Knowledge Production and Knowledge Transfer – Moderation: Sarah Ahmed (Educationalist – University of Bremen)

This workshop will focus on cross-community and collaborative knowledge production and its transfer. In doing so, we want to deal with the following questions: Which cross-community knowledge bases already exist? How did they come about? How can marginalized perspectives and experiences irritate the dominant discourse? How can we write history(s) together without reproducing discursive dominance?

Workshop 4: Con.Flicts & Com.Petitions – Strategies for dealing with conflicts and competition – Moderation: Danna Bader (systemic consultant, supervisor, conflict consultant)

Even though communities are places where many of us can feel safe, these “spaces” are often also places where conflicts and competition take place. This applies both within specific communities and between different communities. The permanently increased stress levels caused by intersectional discrimination and social marginalization and the existential fears associated with this contribute to the fact that such conflicts and competition are additionally promoted. Added to this are supposedly or actually conflicting interests and priorities. In this workshop we want to deal with the topics of conflicts and competition.  How can conflicts be addressed without escalating? How can the potential of conflicts be used constructively? How can we be in solidarity despite these conflicts? And finally, to what extent is failure also necessary so that we can develop together as communities?

In a final panel the contents of the workshops will be brought together and ideas for alternative visions of the future will be exchanged.

Speaker/participants:

Program

10:00: Greeting Iman Attia (xart splitta) and … (ndo)

10:30-12:15 Panel discussion: “Common history – then and now…?

with Vanessa E. Thompson, Tayo Awosusi-Onutor and Ed Greve Moderation: Fatima El-Sayed (ndo)

12:15-13:15: Break

13.15-15:30: Start of parallel workshops

15:30-15:45: Break

15:45-16:15: Reading of the “Migrantenstadl”

16:15-17:00: Final panel: “Solidary Visions for Tomorrow” with Emine Aslan, …, Sarah Ahmed and Danna Bader. Moderation: Iris Rajanayagam (xart splitta)

Sarah Ahmed studied Islamic Studies and Arabic Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria, where she is a lecturer and researcher in the fields and interfaces of Black Feminist Studies, Critical Race Theories, Diaspora and Religion, with a special focus on racism criticism, migration research and Black Europe. Since 2020, she has been working as a research assistant at the University of Bremen in the Department of Education and Educational Sciences, where she also deals with the topic of racism and the question of identity and affiliation of BIPoC in short stories, poems, spoken word performances and in the form of video installations.

Migrantenstadl

For 9 years now Tunay Önder and Imad Mustafa have been thinking, writing, curating and designing together under the label migrantenstadl. Their work focuses on social undesirable developments, sometimes critically-analytically, sometimes Dadaistically-artistically: they counter current reports from the periphery, wordayntöffs and manifestos that design a post-migrant society from below, in which the perspectives of marginalized people are the main thing and not accessories.

Tunay Önder successfully got into debt with her studies in sociology, politics and ethnology and has since been working as a migrant worker between various parallel societies such as science, pedagogy and theater. Her main interest is in a migration society free of domination and how one can approach it by talking, writing and acting. At the last Wiesbaden Biennale in 2018, she curated and organized the Migrantenstadl as a 10-day happening;

Imad Mustafa was not quite as indebted. Likes Hip Hop and Umm Kulthoum, as well as political science and sociology. Worked as a freelance author and editor for various media. Currently lecturer and researcher at the University of Erfurt. Main research and work areas: Protest research, right-wing populism and racism, political Islam, Islam in Germany and German media.

Tayo Awosusi-Onutor is singer, author, director, political activist, mother and lives in Berlin. She calls herself Afro-Sintezza. She interprets her music in English, German and Romanes. She also lends her voice to film and TV as a dubbing singer and voiceover artist. Tayo studied German and Multimedia. She is a member of the board of RomaniPhen e.V. and a member of the IniRromnja.she deals with the topics education, history and civil rights movement.2017 she published the documentary “Phral mende – Wir über uns. Perspectives of Sinti and Roma in Germany. “Tayo is also politically involved in various Communities of Colour. further information can be found at www.tayo-online.de andwww.romnja-power.deDie.


The event is being held in cooperation with the neuen deutschen organisationen in the framework of the project #CommunitiesSolidarischDenken and is supported by the Landesstelle für Gleichbehandlung – gegen Diskriminierung and Stiftung Mercator.

Please register for both days by 17.11.2020:

It is possible to register for both days as well as for one of them. Please let us know in which workshop you would like to participate when you register for the 20.11.

The event will be held online and in German. We will send the access information to all registered persons on 18.11.

Afrofilm Screening #1 I Diasporic Realities

Thursday, October 8th, 2020

**This screening will take place on-site and online!**

 

Welcome to the first screening of Afrofilm & Diasporic Realities!

Afrofilm is a self-organised monthly screening of films telling the lives and experiences of african and afro-descendant people from various geographical locations.
We will be showing films for us by us, which means that the screening is for a closed audience of African and Afro-descendent people.
There is a lot to know and learn from all of us and we think that films are a relevant and efficient way of making this possible.

Join us for the screening of Preta by Poliana Baumgarten and My Jewish Family by Yagi Taffere to then end the evening with a discussion round to share and create knowledge about Black realities we weren’t yet familiar with and to connect with each other.

Pls. note: Due to Covid-19 we can only admit a very limited number of people to the on-site screening. Please register via: afroscreening@tutanota.com

This event will take place in spoken English

Find more Information about the Afrofilm screenings on Instagram: @afro.film


This event takes place in cooperation with the project #CommunitiesSolidarischDenken.

It’s About Our Booties

Body empowerment for queer, fat, Black people/ Indigenous people/ People of Color, with disability/ies

August 2020 – October 2020

Here, it is all about your body!

In eight different workshops we will be offering eight different programmes for intersectional body empowerment. Together with the other participants you will be able to exchange experiences and develope strategies to relate to your physical self in a positive way.

Often, bodies that deviate from the cis-binary gender norm are subject to different kinds of discrimination and have hardly any access to body-related empowerment offers that consider them, let alone, center their perspectives and needs. Therefore, these workshops are all aimed at queer people, especially with regard to a non-cis-binary gender identification.

However norms and mechanisms of exclusion also exist within queer communities, since they too are mostly dominated by white, abled-body and slim beauty norms and thus have a certain (body) aesthetic. It’s About Our Booties creates spaces in which discrimination is considered from an intersectional perspective.

All workshops are free of charge. Nonetheless, if you would like to support our work we would be happy about every donation. Pls. find further information here.


What is there to consider?

Finding your workshop: This is about safer spaces! Please respect the space and carefully consider which workshop could be meant for you and which not. For example: Black people, indigenous people and People of Color can of course attend a workshop in which white people are also welcome. However, if you are not affected by racism, please respect the safer space and register for one of the workshops which are open to everyone.

Furthermore: We know that being fat can also intersect with disability/ies. We want to create space for all processes, identifications and positions, therefore fat and disabled are sometimes separated here. 

If you have any questions/uncertainties – please contact us!

The workshop series is generally aimed at people who (want to) break with a cis-binary gender identity. Trans*, non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid are some of the identities to be mentioned. However, the workshop serie is very open. We want to offer space in which gender can be thought, experienced, tried out and created outside the norm.

DGS (German Sign Language) -interpreters are available. Please let us know whether you will be needing translation into German Sign Language in your registration. 

All workshops will be taking place online.

Please register via contact@xartsplitta.net and tell us a little bit about yourself and how you position yourself, which workshop you would like to attend and what kind of support you may still need!

We are looking forward to your participation!


Pls. find the workshops here (the workshops are in chronological order, so do not get confused):

Workshop 1 – We are here to be alive! – With Ginnie Bekoe & Tsepo Bollwinkel – 15th & 16th of August 2020

Workshop 4 – We are here to be alive! – With Ginnie Bekoe & Tsepo Bollwinkel – 22th & 23th of August 2020

Workshop 2 – Do it the Body positiv Way! – With SchwarzRund – 5th & 6th of September 2020

Workshop 7 – Refraim Fat-Reclaim Movement – With Mäks – 12th & 13th of September und 3rd & 4th of October 2020

Workshop 6 – BLACK ENERGY – With Paula Azeviche and Ford Kelly – 19th & 20th of September 2020

Workshop 5 – Do it the Body positiv Way! – With SchwarzRund – 26th & 27th of September 2020

Workshop 3 – Do it the Body positiv Way! – With SchwarzRund – 10th & 11th of October 2020

Workshop 8 – Your Body_Your Sexuality! – With Nino Mar Seliz – 17th & 18th of October 2020