Descendants and experts from the Kilimanjaro-region in Tanzania will talk about their trip to Leipzig to visit their ancestors (human remains), personal belongings, and objects taken from their homeland during German colonial rule and now stored in the Ethnographic Collection Saxony (SES).

The Chagga chief Mangi Meli had to hand over personal belongings on the day of his defeat by the German colonial army in 1893. These objects have been held in the GRASSI Museum’s object storage for over 100 years. Three skulls labeled as „Wachagga“ and headgear, shields and spears of slain warriors are in the collection.

How should the ancestral remains and objects be treated today? What should a process of repatriation and restitution look like? And how is this case reflected in the common position on restitutions of the African Union? What do the processes of repatriation and restitution mean for Leipzig and Saxony?

We will discuss these and other questions with our guests:

• Anael Moshi Meli (Descendant of Mangi Meli, Tanzania)
• Joseph Mselle (Chiefs Union Tanzania)
• Mnyaka Sururu Mboro (Berlin Postkolonial)
• Dr. Valence Silayo (University of Dar es Salaam, Department of Archaeology and Heritage,
  Tanzania)
• Léontine Meijer-van Mensch (Director of the Saxonian State Collections of Ethnography)
• Mohammad Okasha (Board Member of the Migrant Board of the city of Leipzig)
• Dr. Rudo Sithole (AFRIMUHERE, expert group for restitution of the African Union)

When: Tuesday, 21.11.2023 | 17:00-18:30
Where: Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst | Karl-Tauchnitz-Straße 9-11, 04107 Leipzig
Organizers: AG Postkolonial Leipzig, Re:telling DOAA, ISD

gefördert durch die Stadt Leipzig