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As part of our macht.sprache. project, we dealt in depth with concepts related to race and gender. For this, it was necessary to understand how linguistic discrimination works and that it is part of discriminatory social structures. Here we present 4 books (3 written in German, 1 in English) that have shaped our thinking about concepts and terminologies around race and gender.
more...Representations of dis/ability run through the literature of every era. It seems to be a particularly useful narrative device for writers who address colonial contexts and their consequences. At the same time, depicting dis/abled characters allows these authors to question the social and potentially colonial construction of dis/ability.
more...The editors of poco.lit. share their favorite books of 2021 – four novels and one book of non-fiction by five incredibly talented writers.
more...After the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, a debate emerged amongst scholars about whether postcolonial studies could provide appropriate tools of analysis for post-socialist or post-Soviet situations and experiences. People voiced different views on the so-called applicability of postcolonial theory and status in the post-Soviet zone.
more...In cooperation with the Goethe-Institutes in North-Western Europe, poco.lit. hosted an online discussion about disability and/in translation. Khairani Barokka and Amy Zayed shared valuable insights. This is an overview of the discussion spanning particular terms in relation to disability, pragmatic suggestions for translators and the connection between disability justice and anti-colonialism.
more...The Humboldt Forum in Berlin has been a controversial point of discussion for what seems like forever. The debate about this addition to the urban and cultural landscape of Berlin has revolved around a number of issues, including the history of the site, the cost of the project, and not least the objects to be exhibited there. It is this last point that is of particular interest to us at poco.lit., since the Forum is set to be the new home for Berlin’s ‘non-European’ collections.
more...In 2019, Yasemin Altınay founded the Literarische Diverse publishing house. In this interview with poco.lit., she offers insights into her work, talks about her motivation and the challenges of the literary industry.
more...Anyone who wants to do a quick translation is probably happy to fall back on technological aids once in a while: Google Translate, Linguee or DeepL are widely known by now. But machine translation can prevent linguistic progress or the successful establishment of non-discriminatory language. Translation programmes draw from already existing texts – and these are far from being free of discrimination. That’s why we’re excited that our macht.sprache. project will be able to develop an integration with existing translation websites to support gender-sensitive translation with the help of the Prototype Fund.
more...Acknowledging colonial brutality should not be a choice dictated by what additional sins a German person can or cannot “bear” about their past, but rather one that considers the consequences of said brutality in the Global South.
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