(UN-) ABHÄNGIGE ANSICHTEN
Twice a year, we invite authors and other creative minds to present their books and discuss contemporary issues relevant to the cluster. This allows us to bring historical research into current public and socio-political debates.
Past Readings and Discussions
2024
2023
2022
15 February 2024, 17:00 CET
Reading and Discussion with Anne Haeming
The next reading and discussion will feature ANNE HAEMING, the author of Der gesammelte Joest: Biografie eines Ethnologen, published by Matthes & Seitz Berlin in 2023.
Join Pia Wiegmink and Jennifer Leetsch on 15 February 2024 as they query the author on the creative processes involved in writing about Wilhelm Joest, a nineteenth-century German ethnographer and traveller; the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne traces its origins to his private collection of over 3,500 objects.
The story of Wilhelm Joest is that of an explorer who, as a young man, had the privilege of traveling across all continents and turning his ethnological hobby into a career. ANNE HAEMING will give an insight into her critical, decolonial examination of Joest's collection items as well as travel and research reports, which helped shape German ethnology in the 19th century. Instead of a chronological order, Haeming chose a theme- and object-oriented approach for Joest's biography. This enables her to uncover and comment on contradictions and transgressions in Joest's and the colonial thinking and actions of the time. She emphasizes this approach with her transparent writing style, for example, by crossing out words with colonial connotations in original text excerpts. An important topic in the discussion will therefore be the question of the representation of Joest's life, i.e. the process and legitimization of biographical writing.
30 October 2023, 18:15 CET
Reading and Discussion with Mareice Kaiser
How much? What we do with money and what money does to us.
Money is a topic that often triggers feelings of shame and is talked about too little. For her book "How much? What we do with money and what money does to us," MAREICE KAISER had many conversations about money and gives an insight into the money stories and feelings of people who have either very little or very much money.
The journalist and mother, who financed the writing of her book in part through unemployment benefits, describes her relationship with money as toxic: "I'm ashamed of not having any money. I'm ashamed of having money."
What is the significance of money for educational opportunities, and how does one's degree affect one's income? Does the German education system cement the distribution of wealth? What influence do origin and gender have?
Join MAREICE KAISER for her reading and discussion with BCDSS Principal Investigator Karoline Noack and Jean-Pierre Schneider, Director of Caritas Bonn, about the dependency relationships behind the unjust distribution of money and how this could be overcome.
The event is a cooperation between the BCDSS and the Adult Education Center (VHS) Bonn.
7 November 2022, 18:15–21:00 CET
Reading and Discussion with Natassa Sideri
The young Greek playwright NATASSA SIDERI was awarded the first prize in a new competition for contemporary drama called "Mythos?!," which Regensburg Theatre launched in 2022 in cooperation with the National Theatre in Thessaloniki. Born in Athens in 1981, Sideri works as an author and translator. She wrote her first plays in English while living in London and Berlin. Sideri's award-winning play G E F E S S E L T ('Bound') tells the story of a man in financial distress who gradually falls into an increasingly brutal DEBT BONDAGE with his rich friends.
NATASSA SIDERI, who is also involved in the non-profit association "Work on Europe," wrote the text in 2015 during the most heated period of the financial crisis, amidst discussions about Greece's future in the European monetary union. It tells the story of Nephos, who is in debt and helps his friends Callios and Pyrra with renovation work. The audience witnesses how the situation changes and Nephos' FINANCIAL DEPENDENCE becomes the maxim of living together until he is deprived of his freedom.
Excerpts of the play will be read (in German) by BCDSS doctoral researchers Maja Baum, Lena Muders, David B. Smith, and Lukas Wissel. The discussion (in English) with NATASSA SIDERI will be kickstarted by BCDSS members Marion Gymnich, Professor for English Literature and Culture and BCDSS Co-Speaker and Principal Investigator; and David B. Smith, BCDSS doctoral candidate.
The multilingual event (German and English) is designed to particularly address the public, who are very welcome to take part in the discussion.
Watch what Natassa Sideri thought about the reading and discussion evening of her play BOUND ('GEFESSELT'),
organized by the BCDSS, at Bonn University, November 7, 2022.
Below is Act III, Scene 2 of her play BOUND ('GEFESSELT'), from Theater Regensburg (world premiere, June 2, 2022)
Reading & Discussion with Natassa Sideri
Scene 2 of Gefesselt, Natassa Sideri
4 July 2022, 18:15-21:00 CET
Reading and Discussion with Iris Därmann on "Undienlichkeit“
Cultural Studies scholar and philosopher IRIS DÄRMANN, Professor of Cultural Theory & Cultural Aesthetics at Humboldt University Berlin, presented two passages from her book "Undienlichket. Gewaltgeschicht und Politische Philosophie" that formed the basis of a lively discussion between Iris Därmann, BCDSS members and members of the public on the history of violence.
"Throughout history, resistance to violence, sadism and cruelty has comparatively rarely taken the form of open rebellion. Whether in the transatlantic slave trade or in the Nazi concentration camps, in the face of a lack of options for action, fear of death and disenfranchisement, the only way out was often to escape the grip of those in power through flight, sabotage, but also through abortion, infanticide, hunger strikes, self-mutilation and suicide. Iris Därmann outlines the history of violence of human service and enslavement and interweaves it with body politics and forms of resistance of unserviceability. In doing so, she sheds particular light on the role of European political philosophy as a procurer of legitimacy for transatlantic enslavement and the extermination of European Jews. The result is not only a bloody counter-history to the other master narratives of Western thought, but also a panorama of horror that even in moments of attempted self-liberation touches the limits of what can be endured, but which we must keep in mind if we want to understand the foundations on which our civilisation is also based." (Iris Därman)
The event was convened by:
Konrad Vössing, BCDSS Co-Speaker, Professor of Ancient History, University of Bonn
BCDSS participants:
Birgit Münch, BCDSS Principal Investigator, Professor of Art History, Vice Rector for International Affairs, University of Bonn
Christoph Antweiler, BCDSS Principal Investigator, Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, Institute of Oriental and Asian Studies, University of Bonn