The Global South Comes to East Germany: Theatre Africain’s tour of East Germany in 1951
2 Décembre 2019 – 16:00-18:00
Dans le cadre de la série de conférences « Diversité et civilité » organisée par le CCEAE et le IRTG « Diversity », venez assister à cette présentation donnée par Dr. Alan Maričić, chercheur indépendant en histoire et récemment diplômé à l’Université de Waterloo.
Voici un résumé de la conférence (en anglais) :
« In 1951, Theatre Africain, an African performance company based in Paris, included East Germany in their Eastern European tour. Their visit marked an early high point of cultural contact between the German Democratic Republic and the Global South. Led by the Guinean poet and choreographer Fodeba Keita, Theatre Africain toured Europe extensively, combining traditional dances with the message of African self-determination. Their East German hosts were eager to frame the African anticolonial struggle as congruent with the GDR’s own search for legitimacy and international recognition. Since the GDR had no diplomatic presence outside of the Socialist Bloc, cultural events such as this one formed a crucial plank in East Germany’s efforts to create connections with the wider world. The tour also served domestic propaganda purposes – presenting the GDR as an anti-racist and anti-imperial state, in direct opposition to West Germany. By using previously untouched East German archival sources and newspapers, this talk will reconstruct and contextualize an early episode in East German-Global South history – one that was riddled with ideological and practical issues ».
La conférence aura lieu à la salle Lothar-Baier, située au 5ème étage du 3744, rue Jean-Brillant.
Dans le cadre de la série de conférences « Diversité et civilité » organisée par le CCEAE et le IRTG « Diversity », venez assister à cette présentation donnée par Dr. Alan Maričić, chercheur indépendant en histoire et récemment diplômé à l’Université de Waterloo.
Voici un résumé de la conférence (en anglais) :
« In 1951, Theatre Africain, an African performance company based in Paris, included East Germany in their Eastern European tour. Their visit marked an early high point of cultural contact between the German Democratic Republic and the Global South. Led by the Guinean poet and choreographer Fodeba Keita, Theatre Africain toured Europe extensively, combining traditional dances with the message of African self-determination. Their East German hosts were eager to frame the African anticolonial struggle as congruent with the GDR’s own search for legitimacy and international recognition. Since the GDR had no diplomatic presence outside of the Socialist Bloc, cultural events such as this one formed a crucial plank in East Germany’s efforts to create connections with the wider world. The tour also served domestic propaganda purposes – presenting the GDR as an anti-racist and anti-imperial state, in direct opposition to West Germany. By using previously untouched East German archival sources and newspapers, this talk will reconstruct and contextualize an early episode in East German-Global South history – one that was riddled with ideological and practical issues ».
La conférence aura lieu à la salle Lothar-Baier, située au 5ème étage du 3744, rue Jean-Brillant.
Details
Venue
Montréal, Québec H3T 1P1 Canada + Google Map