This session problematizes the notion of »innocence« in Western and predominantly white educational settings. Manuela Boatcă’s presentation raises awareness of the history of one of Germany’s oldest universities in Freiburg and its uncritical perpetuation of colonial thinking and epistemology. Scholar Julia Roth shows in her presentation the early entanglement of German finance and investment in colonialism within the Americas, exemplified by global motivations of the Welser company, while Quinsy Gario speaks about his activism against anti-Black racism in the Netherlands, within the »innocence« spaces of the arts plantations of modernity.
The panel is part of the kongress Be.Bop 2018 Black Europe Body Politics. A project of Art Labour Archives in cooperation with Studio Я / Maxim Gorki Theater and Autograph London curated by Alanna Lockward. Supported by Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb and ifa-Galerie Berlin (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) with friendly support by Danish Arts Foundation, Savvy Contemporary, Humboldt University Berlin, London College of Communication: University of the Arts London, King's College London and Tate Britain.
