Negotiating memories of German colonialism: Reflections on current forms of non-governmental memory politics

Abstract

On the basis of two case studies – the media controversies over the question of maintaining or abolishing the N-Wort in children’s books and the renaming of a street in Berlin, the Gröbenufer, as May-Ayim-Ufer – this essay sheds light on recent negotiations of colonial memory and various manifestations of memory politics in Germany. It argues that as a result of political and social power struggles, activists of memory politics add to the preservation of the existing inappropriate rankings of horror and competition of victims. Thus, in in the long run, current non-governmental memory-political activities will turn out to be counter-productive, will undermine political goals that are in principle desirable and will prevent the emergence of politically more productive forms of colonial memory.