I contributed to a two-day exploratory workshop at the GRASSI Museum in Leipzig (22-23 September 2023) to discuss encounters of solidarity among migrants from different postsocialist and postcolonial backgrounds in ‘East Germany’.

The workshop was interested in unearthing forms of solidarity (political, conceptual, cultural, intimate) that formed despite and beyond geo-political and ideological lines of separation, racial repertoires and genealogies that have transcended nationalist projects.

My contribution focused on the solidarity encounters between the GDR and the African National Congress in the context of the Dakawa refugee camp set up by the latter in Tanzania. I showed that the GDR played a significant role in the camp’s construction alongside, but often in competition with, Western countries such as Finland, Sweden and Denmark. You can read a report on the workshop, including details of my paper on H-Soz-Kult.

This project was supported by the British Academy through the 3rd UK-Germany Frontiers of Humanities Seed Funding and organised by Mary lkoniadou (Leeds Beckett University), Aleksandra Lewicki (University of Sussex), Polino Manolova (University of Tubingen), and Tabea Scharrer (Leipzig University).