Der vermessene Mensch

At the end of the nineteenth century, idealistic ethnologist Alexander Hoffmann travels to Namibia. There he witnesses what is now seen as the first genocide of the twentieth century: the slaughter of the Herero and Nama people by the German colonisers.

A dazzling feature film that sheds light on the dangers of pseudoscience, in the form of a historical drama set at a time when skull measuring was still a scientific research method – and was even used to justify horrific colonial violence.

TALK Race does not exist. At least, not as a biological reality. However, race as a category created by Western colonisers and scientists still affects our world today. Science played a huge role in the creation and validation of racist ideas. One part of this was the study of Africans and the research on (and abduction of) human remains in countries like Namibia. How does the work of these Western scientists still affect our views on race today? And what is the most ethical way to handle the stolen remains – that are also still present in Europe? With Josias Tembo (Radboud University & HAN University of Applied Sciences) and Leonor Faber-Jonker (Universiteit Leiden). 

Other speakers to be announced soon.