Overview
Over the past 15 years or so, there has been increasing debate in Switzerland about how migration, racism and colonialism have shaped Switzerland and continue to do so. Postcolonial and post-migrant initiatives, projects and actors are collecting repressed memories, developing new perspectives on history and calling for historical injustices to be addressed. At the same time, these debates on the politics of memory are met with support, scepticism or even outright resistance from the public, authorities, institutions and mainstream society, depending on the context.
In collaboration with actors from research, art, activism, law and
contemporary witnesses, this project explores and develops participatory and performative processes and formats to activate repressed memories and traumas, express them publicly and make them socio-politically effective.
The framework for this is a public gathering lasting several days. In a collaborative process, various ‘cases’ of memory politics in post-migrant and post-colonial Switzerland will be examined and strategies for reparative justice developed through memory workshops, hearings, artistic interventions and workshops.
The project develops principles and concrete proposals for dealing with historical and structural violence in the context of migration, racism and colonialism, thereby contributing to the future of a diverse democratic society.
