"Asiatische Präsenzen in der Kolonialmetropole Berlin"

Asiatische Präsenzen in der Kolonialmetropole Berlin. Localizing Decolonialization – Dekolonialisierung lokalisieren

Kien Nghi Ha (Hg.) (2024): Asiatische Präsenzen in der Kolonialmetropole Berlin. Localizing Decolonialization – Dekolonialisierung lokalisieren. Berlin: Assoziation A. ISBN 978-3-86241-502-1, 200 pages,16,00€. Published in Mai 2024.

A film series and book publication as part of the DARE [Decolonize Anti-Asian Racist Entanglements] project.

In cooperation with Sinema Transtopia Berlin (bibak e.V.), korientation. Netzwerk für Asiatisch-Deutsche Perspektiven e. V. and the Department for Korean Studies at the University of Tübingen.

The project was supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe in the “Program for the Promotion of Contemporary History and Remembrance Cultural Projects”.

Based on the film series of the same name at Sinema Transtopia Berlin, this pioneering volume examines the almost unknown history of Asian presences in Germany using colonial-critical film analyses. The focus is on orientalizing German films from the Weimar interwar period. After the end of Imperial Germany, colonial-racist fantasies and ambitions were increasingly transformed into an imaginary coloniality. These film productions thrilled a mass audience. The film setting, but also its production and consumption, became a cultural colonial space. Their popularity is evidence of their social and historical significance. In contrast to the dominant perception, in which Berlin is celebrated as a world-class European cultural and film metropolis due to the “Golden Twenties,” the book focuses on decolonizing perspectives. In Eurocentric discourses, the fact, that beneath the surface of modern urbanity, the “wild cultural life”, which is characterized by colonial entanglements and exoticization, is systematically suppressed. The film works of Hito Steyerl and Philip Scheffner, for example, make forgotten layers and dimensions of the colonial metropolis of Berlin visible. The book expands the decolonial debate and focuses on anti-Asian racism and Orientalism.

With contributions by Anujah Fernando, Kien Nghi Ha, Merle Kröger, Yumin Li, Linh Müller, Tobias Nagl, Irit Neidhardt, Subin Nijhawan, Philip Scheffner, Gülşah Stapel und Hito Steyerl.

Praises for the Book

"This anthology provides a current and insightful look at colonial continuities in film history through anti-racist and decolonial perspectives. The in-depth investigations and conversations are not only fascinating for film fans, but also make an important contribution to the visibility of Asians and Asian Germans. While reading it was particularly interesting for me to recognize connections between Asian migration before 1945 and today's anti-Asian racism in Germany."

Lizza May David, artist, Berlin

"The studies and perspectives in this book shed profound light on anti-Asian racism. You will find starting points and models for the further deconstruction of racism, which has always been globally involved: Postcoloniality is not a distant relationship for Germany. A thrillling book!"

Prof. Dr. Ömer Alkin, Media Studies, www.oemeralkin.de

Media Reports

Fabian Tietke: Kinotipp der Woche: Kultureller Kolonialraum. Die Filmreihe „Asiatische Präsenzen in der Kolonialmetropole Berlin“ ergündet Topoi der Exotisierung im Weltmetropolengenre des Kinos. Die tageszeitung, 17./18.05.2023, S. 24.

Filmtipp im Checkpoint, Der Tagesspiegel, 09.05.2023.