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The following text has been machine translated from the German with no human editing.
The new fellows come from Japan, India, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Russia and Zambia. Following welcoming addresses by the state government and the university management, they will be received by these representatives and the management of the Käte Hamburger College at the Innovation Centre.
Annual Lecture: ‘The Broken Calabash – Repair in African Cultures and Literatures’
In numerous African cultures, this vessel is traditionally held in high esteem as a symbol of hospitality, life and community. A proverb warns that the calabash – and with it the community – will shatter if everyone goes their separate ways. But how can such a rupture be addressed when violence and historical experiences of slavery and colonialism have permanently shaken social and symbolic orders? The annual lecture, ‘The Broken Gourd – Reparation in African Cultures and Literatures’, will be delivered by Isaac Bazié, Professor of Comparative Literature at the Université du Québec à Montréal and a member of CURE’s Scientific Advisory Board.
Following this, the new fellows will present their research projects in German, English and French. Under the annual theme of ‘The Body’, they are examining cultural practices of reparation from various perspectives within the humanities and cultural studies. The Fellows’ original and highly topical research projects deal, amongst other things, with the representation of irreparable wounds in art and literature on the war in Syria, with discourses on reparation concerning the Khmer sculptures in Tokyo, and with curatorial practices relating to destroyed African cultural heritage. They are researching the issue of physical redress in Artaud’s radio works and in the cultural practices of European, Tunisian and Algerian prisoners of war from the First World War. Other projects focus on participatory theatre practices, choreographies and soundscapes in India and the Philippines, or on overcoming shame in Latin American family histories. Last but not least, they address the question of how Eastern European and Scandinavian cultures transform grief over irretrievable loss into hope and rehabilitation.
Following the short presentations, CURE invites you to a reception, which offers an opportunity to exchange ideas with the fellows and the research group’s team.
Admission is free. Registration is not compulsory, but it does help with planning. Please register at: kontakt@khk.uni-saarland.de
You can find the Microsoft Teams link for the webcast here.
Welcome to the new cohort of fellows:
Wednesday, 21 October 2026, at 6.30 pm
Saarland University, Innovation Centre A2 1, Seminar Room 3.05
Further information: https://cure.uni-saarland.de/veranstaltungen/kaete-hamburger-empfang-2026-2027/
For enquiries, please contact:
Anna Warum
Science Communication & Public Relations
Käte Hamburger Kolleg CURE
Tel.: +49 (0)681 302-3372
anna.warum@khk.uni-saarland.de
https://www.cure.uni-saarland.de
