Colonialism reloaded? The economy between power and history.
How did colonial exploitation work? What economic structures were created and which of them are still effective today? These and other questions will be explored in the workshop on colonial continuities in the local and global economic order.
The WS concept was developed in spring 2025 for students from year 10 onwards to shed light on the connections between colonialism, the economy and exploitation and is to be offered at EPIZ Berlin from autumn 2025. However, it can also be adapted for other groups (e.g. participants of the BUKO Congress).
After an introductory quiz on the topic of colonialism and the economy, we work with the "Connecting the Dots" timeline method developed by glokal. Using quotes from historical and contemporary personalities from the Global South and the Global North from several centuries, we address the topics of land ownership, exploitation of raw materials, import dependency and the climate crisis.
We are investigating the following questions:
- What is European colonialism?
- How do the economic structures of colonialism manifest themselves in different epochs and regions of the world?
- What resistance was and is there?
- What challenges does this pose for today's world?
- What opportunities are there at different levels to shape a fairer future for all?
Working on the topic using quotes from historical and contemporary personalities from business, politics and civil society makes it clear that capitalist economic structures are not a natural phenomenon, but are made by people. A unit on current civil society actors in the Global North and South also makes it clear how people are campaigning for fairer structures in the economy and thus encourages them to take action themselves.