The review – Can we talk about racism and colonialism without prior experience?
The Academy of Performing Arts Baden – Wuerttemberg created a performance that was at the same time a non-academic lecture. There is an iron structure on the stage, in front of which stands a lecturer telling the story of Portuguese colonialism. She is replaced by a group of actors who place themselves in the wings. Their speeches are interrupted by quotes about colonialism and racism. An important question arises in this part of the production: Are we, as “white Europeans”, qualified enough to talk about racism that we have never experienced? Or about colonialism?
I assume that we are divided into two groups on this issue. The one that says we have enough information and knowledge on the topic and we know. And then the other one that fortunately lacks experience of racism and the information does not enough fully cover the topic. Nevertheless, German students decided to complete this non-academic lecture.
The scene changes. We see the structure from the first part, but now it has the shape of windows of prefabricated houses. We were used to that before the pandemic. Now windows mean the platforms we live our lives on – we go to school, we work, we call and speak with friends in the evening. They have the same function in this case. There is a discussion within them. With everything that belongs to it. Silently, by interrupting the speaker, or a weak internet connection. The topic does not change.
It is followed by a composition that describes the history of colonialism and man’s greed in acquiring new territories, reading the memories of prisoners, an interview with a Portuguese composer. German actors are revealing more and more of the problems we face as developed European countries.
It is not difficult to answer the question of whether we are sufficiently qualified to talk about the problems that Africa or South America faced. Perhaps it is a bit hypocritical to count oneself member of a group that has not experienced racism on its own. The actors from the Academy of Performing Arts Baden-Wuerttemberg understood this. We need to talk about it. We may not have ancestors who were directly responsible for settling the areas they discovered. However, we are Europeans. We like to brag about that, don’t we? And unfortunately, this is also our heritage.
Dominika Dudášová (VŠMU)