RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Berlin’s Colonial Legacies and New Minority Histories: The Case of the Humboldt Forum and Colonial Street Names in the German Capital
JF Monatshefte
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 99
OP 116
DO 10.3368/m.111.1.99
VO 111
IS 1
A1 Christiane Steckenbiller
YR 2019
UL http://mon.uwpress.org/content/111/1/99.abstract
AB This essay interrogates how temporary and permanent urban structures highlight, question, and challenge Berlin’s urban identity. Specifically, I argue that the city center offers a unique opportunity to make visible histories that are traditionally excluded in the master narrative of contemporary Germany centered around Vergangenheits-bewältigung and German reunification. In looking at the Prussian City Palace and the remnants of colonial street names, I examine how a coming to terms with colonial history might be able to increase the visibility of other marginalized and/or minority histories and communities, and strengthen the ties between them. Often it is because of the creative and long-term efforts of rigorous grassroots activism that the public is forced to confront such histories in the public space. Therefore I focus on local and regional organizations to highlight how such groups form translocal and transcultural alliances, and challenge uneven power relations in the urban landscape. (CS)