Post-Empire
From the dismantling of former Western privileges to the construction of a new global hegemony: following what seemed to be a revision of the historical supremacy of Europe and the USA – in short, the »West« – as a consequence of post-colonial theory and practice, present-day political reality is taking a completely different turn. Recently, there has been much talk of a »new imperialism« that, running counter to all ideas of a virtualization or »deterritorialization« of power, ceaselessly generates new front lines and scenarios of subjugation. It is not often, however, that the viewpoints of those who really suffer from the effects of this imperial enterprise are taken into account.
So this edition of springerin looks once more at issues connected with neo-colonial claims to authority, but also at what the aftermath of this new imperial world order could look like. In one of his last articles, Edward Said, the recently deceased co-founder of the post-colonial discourse and an indefatigable critic of Western efforts to gain power in the Arab world, focuses on the »imperial perspectives« that continue to obstruct the view of an emancipatory notion of the world.
In addition to these questions, various European initiatives directed at reappraising the crimes and machinations of the old form of colonialism are discussed (Dierk Schmidt, Martin Reiterer). Image production in former European colonies is, however, also the focus of particular attention, as can be seen by the Bamako Photography Biennial (Mali) or in the films of the Cameroonian director Jean-Marie Téno,which all reflect a gaze turned back upon a Europe fraught with contradictions. Finally, the politico-cultural endeavours currently under way in Thailand serve as a clear example of how highly controversial claims ranging from globalization critique to self-assertion are being made in the often disregarded contemporary art scenes in the Asian region (Keiko Sei).
Whether in film landscapes, where the effects of the present imperial endeavours are becoming visible in a drastic fashion, or in the constant stream of presentations of non-Western art adapted for a Western audience – the configurations and scope of the »post-empire« are today being made manifest in many different cultural arenas.