DÁ FALA

The next Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory meeting will be held in Lisbon on November 10-12, 2022. But why Lisbon?

Many archaeologists have been engaging with current debates on the decolonization of the discipline. However, very little has been said about the impact of these discussions in the field of historical and contemporary archaeology.

Is the decolonial movement changing the kinds of questions we ask? Our methods? There’s a lot to talk about and some of us will certainly bring it up in Lisbon.

Lisbon is one of the largest open-air museums of colonialism in Europe. Every corner will remind you of a past that is not past yet in the shape of a statue, a tropical tree, a pastry shop, a street name honoring some conqueror.

Like in many other towns across the continent, coloniality lingers on the streets, is embedded in our things, and shapes everyone’s lives. Many of us are questioning this state of affairs. No surprises here. Can we archaeologists do anything about this?

The event’s image was inspired by a story that tells a lot about contemporary discussions on the legacies of colonialism. In 2017, the city got a new statue honoring Jesuit António Vieira, known for his missionary work in Brazil and his eloquent sermons. Vieira was also known for standing up against the enslavement of Brazil’s indigenous communities while supporting the enslavement of Africans.

Statue of António Vieira. Photo by Rui Gaudêncio (Municipality of Lisbon)

Do you wonder why would anyone think of doing a statue like this in the 21st century? Many people asked the same. The statue became a focus point for decolonial demonstrations as soon as it was built. Right-wing extremists responded by occupying the plaza and threatening protesters.

More recently, an anonymous artist graffitied the statue with the word “Descoloniza” (Decolonize), painted hearts on the indigenous kids, and sprayed the priest’s body as if he was stained with blood.

The statue of António Vieira in 2020. Photo by Paulo Lourenço (Jornal de Notícias)

The graffiti were quickly cleaned. Yet, the artist’s powerful message stayed with us and inspired Nikola Krizanac to create this image for the CHAT conference.

Hope you’ll feel inspired too, and join us in Lisbon in November!

More informations here.

CAll:  “Afro-Futures in European Enclaves: Stories of Care Labor and its Space Making Powers”.

Recently selected for the Future Architecture Platform 2021. There must be a future where African European communities get the right to share, shape, and shake the cities and neighbourhoods where we live.
Bristol statue plinth recently changed after #BlackLivesMatter protest.
In her recent book, Olivette Otelle (2020) proposed the term ‘African European’ as “a provocation for those who deny that one can have multiple identities and even citizenships, as well as those who claim that they do not ‘see colour’.” Renowned historian and professor, she adds that this term is also an “invitation to rethink the way we use and read European and African histories and define terms, such as citizenship, social cohesion and fraternity, that have been the basis of contemporary European societal values.”  (Otelle, 2020, p.8)

With this in mind, we invite African Europeans to share their experiences in the context of the Future Architecture Programme in 2021, and be represented in a forthcoming exhibition and/or publication (digital/physical). Please email us a picture (from your phone) of a meaningful object or a place in the city you live(d), together with a short summary (50-200 words) of a story you would like to share, to the following email address: < africaneuropean2021@gmail.com >.  

Statue of black protester in Bristol plinth, later removed

AAH2017
6th to 8th April 2017
Session 39

 Women Artists and 20th-Century Authoritarian Regimes in Europe
Deadline for abstracts: 7 November

Convenors:

Márcia Oliveira, marciacoliveira@gmail.com
Maria Luísa Coelho, marialuisa.coelho@gmail.com

The European 20th century witnessed the proliferation of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, from Germany and Eastern Europe to the south of the Continent, in countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal. Different regimes led to different social, cultural and artistic interactions, which have indelibly marked Europe’s historical background as well as its present. The main question addressed by this session is in what sense the relationship between women’s struggles in the general context of the political struggle for democracy has framed women’s art and the way women artists have placed themselves and their practices in regard to such a tense dialogue. Papers are expected to examine women’s artistic and creative practices in different dictatorial contexts, from communist and socialist to fascist regimes, enquiring about the role feminism and particularly feminist artistic practices played in oppositional and revolutionary processes by addressing issues such as, but not limited to, censorship, civil rights and class struggle, the economy of desire, consumption, family, gender and sexuality, identity and representation. 
Points of debate may include: Have different struggles for democracy integrated women’s rights or have they otherwise neglected them? How have women artists placed themselves within these revolutionary processes in terms of political engagement and in terms of their artistic and creative output? Was there room for feminism and for feminist art in such ideological circuits? Transnational or comparative approaches are welcomed and encouraged.

webpage: http://aah.org.uk/annual-conference/sessions2017

A Maumaus, o Goethe-Institut Lisboa, a Akademie der Künste e o Institute for Comparative Modernities at Cornell University apresentam “Rethinking Cosmopolitanism Africa in Europe | Europe in Africa”

An International Symposium 
February 2–3, 2013, 10–19h
Akademie der Künste
Pariser Platz 4
Berlin, Germany
Free admission – In English 
Simultaneous translation English/German
www.goethe.de/cosmo     www.adk.de

The two-day conference “Rethinking Cosmopolitanism: Africa in Europe | Europe in Africa” will revisit the intersection of modernity and decolonization. Focusing on the rise of a new international order in the mid-twentieth century and the insufficiency of the classic definitions of modernity, culture, art and politics, the conference will consider the consequences of the historical, cultural, and artistic entanglement of Africa and Europe within the notion of cosmopolitanism.
Cosmopolitanism is conceived here as a metaphor for mobility, migrancy, and co-existence with difference, in opposition to parochialism, xenophobia, fixity, and limited notions of sovereignty. Taking in account its anti-hegemonic and anti-homogenizing potential, cosmopolitanism is perceived as a pursuit of peace through the development of a strong sense of ethics and moral obligation towards other human beings everywhere. The conference will also look at the root causes and consequences of new migrations in Africa and Europe.
An important goal of the conference is to examine the practice of artists who can no longer be classified and located either inside or outside the ‘West,’ or as occupying an in-between space. In re-conceptualizing cosmopolitanism, even the apparently adequate notions of ‘European,’ ‘Western’ or ‘African’ art may no longer be helpful. This conference will consider more adequate definitions of current art practices and their respective ways of envisaging and defining their relationship to distinct, but unevenly connected worlds.
Berni Searle, Enfold from the 'Seeking Refuge' series, 2008. Courtesy of the artist and Stevenson Gallery. Photo by Tony Meintjes.
Program:
Saturday, February 2
Rethinking Cosmopolitanism and the Entanglement of Africa and Europe
Theoretical and Historical Implications
10h Opening Session
Johannes Odenthal | Welcoming Remarks
Joachim Bernauer | About the conference
Salah M. Hassan | Introductory Remarks
10:30h Europe/Africa, and Universal History
Susan Buck-Morss | Hegel, Haiti and Universal History: A Response to the Critics
Siegfried Zielinski | “Means & Seas”
Panel | Tejumola Olaniyan, Manuela Ribeiro Sanches
12:30h Artist Talk (I)
Bahia Shehab | Practicing Art in Revolutionary Times
13h Lunch Break
14:30h Dislocating Africa and Europe
Achille Mbembe | Provincializing France?
Manuela Ribeiro Sanches | Decolonizing Post-National Europe: Some Thoughts on Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism
Panel | Fatima El Tayeb, Jeanette S. Jouili
16:30h Coffee Break
17h Europe: From Modernism to Postcolonialism

Hans Belting | When was Modern Art? The Museum of Modern Art and the History of Modernism
Fatima El Tayeb | European Others: Whiteness and Racial Violence in Colorblind Europe
Panel | Susan Buck-Morss, Achille Mbembe
Sunday, February 3
Africa in Europe | Europe in Africa
Cultural and Artistic Practices and the Politics of Representation
10:30h Rethinking Cosmopolitanism: Cultural and Artistic Practices
Sandy Prita Meier | East African Cosmopolitanism as the Space Between
Tejumola Olaniyan | Cosmopolitan Interest Rates: An Itinerary
Panel | Elisabeth Giorgis, Salah Hassan
12:30h Artist Talk (II)
Berni Searle | On Cosmopolitanism, Xenophobia and Migration: An Artist’s Journey
13h Lunch break
14:30h Rethinking Cosmopolitanism: Visual and Performing Arts
Salah Hassan | Rethinking Cosmopolitanism: Is ‘Afropolitan’ the Answer?
Jeanette S. Jouili | Fashioning cosmopolitan citizens in Britain: Islam and Urban culture after Multiculturalism
Panel | Leonhard Emmerling, Peter Weibel
16:30h Coffee break
17h Curating Africa in Europe/Europe in Africa
Selene Wendt | Africa in Oslo: Bringing Afropolitanism to the Polar Circle
Elisabeth Giorgis | Re-thinking Ethiopian Modernism
Panel | Jürgen Bock, Elvira Dyangani Ose
19h Closing Session
Salah Hassan
The symposium is coordinated by Salah M. Hassan in collaboration with Joachim Bernauer and Jürgen Bock. It is organized by the Goethe-Institut (Lisbon) in collaboration with the Akademie der Künste (Berlin), the Maumaus School of Visual Arts (Lisbon), and the Institute for Comparative Modernities (Cornell University), with the support of Allianz Cultural Foundation.