Achille Mbembe

In 2018, Achille Mbembe was supposed to give a lecture on the theme of a «World Without Borders» at the Theater Spektakel. The lecture had to be cancelled due to travel and visa restrictions. This year, the author of «Critique of Black Reason» (2013) finally features in our programme: In his online-lecture, the renowned political scientist and progressive thinker of the postcolonial era will focus on reparative globalism and the possibility of thinking about a common world in the anthropogenic age. Are we capable of − or rather condemned to − become increasingly detached and distanced from each other? Can mankind continue to claim superiority, subduing and dominating «nature» and «the other»? In fact, the world has never been freely available to us. It is becoming increasingly clear that we can no longer treat it as we please. It has become crucial for us to develop a live vision of communities and organisms co-existing on this planet; sharing, repairing and preserving it. In his lecture, Mbembe focuses on Africa’s liberation from colonialism, arguing that it gives Africa an exemplary role in working for global co-existence. He will elaborate on thoughts from his latest essay «Brutalism», which soon will be published in German. (mr)