Maya Littlejohn

Some Final Thoughts on the Block 4 2017 #FemGeniusesinBerlin

Kai (Dylan)

Photo Credit: Dylan Compton

This podcast—led and produced by Kai Mesman-Hallman—provides some final reflections on the Block 4 2017 section of Hidden Spaces, Hidden Narratives: Intersectionality Studies in Berlin with Professor Heidi R. Lewis. Throughout the block, the #FemGeniusesinBerlin have taken walking tours, visited museums and cultural centers, and met with activists and artists in the city to conduct situated examinations of how the identities of marginalized people and communities in Germany (especially in Berlin)—such as Black Germans, Turkish Germans, migrants, refugees, victims of Neo-Nazi terrorism and police brutality, and LGBTQI communities—are constructed, particularly how these constructions are dependent on racism, heterosexism, colonialism, imperialism, and other forms of oppression. Additionally, we examined how these communities resist, reject, revise, and reproduce these narratives as they construct their own subjectivities.

Kai is a junior at Colorado College majoring in Psychology, and is originally from San Diego, CA. She is especially interested in consciousness and the ways our brains’ processing and collecting information can shape our beliefs and thoughts. She spends her free time with her dog and watching conspiracy theory videos.

Joining Kai in her discussion are Uma Scharf—a Baltimore, MD native and junior at Colorado College majoring in Neuroscience, and Drew Ceglinski—a Bath, ME native and junior at Colorado College majoring in Geology.

 

Block 4 2017 FemGeniuses in Berlin Podcast Index:
Click here to view a slideshow, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter to see even more pictures and videos!

“Jewish History & Culture Walking Tour” by Maggie Mehlman
“Das Verbogene Museum” by Anna Balaguer
“Interkulturelles Frauenzentrum S.U.S.I.” by Bridget O’Neill
“Women’s Perspective Walking Tour” by Caroline Olin
“Jüdisches Museum Berlin” by Britta Lam
“Jewish AntiFa Berlin” by Dylan Compton
“Berliner Unterwelten” by Atiya Harvey
“BlackBox Cold War Exhibition” by Karl Hirt
“Generation ADEFRA” by Maya Littlejohn
“Queer Berlin Walking Tour” by Judy Fisher
“Queer City: Stories from São Paulo” by D. Adams
“A Right to Mourn; A Right to Monument” by Maddie Sorensen
“The Spirit of 1968 Walking Tour” by Anabel Simotas
“Reframing Worlds: Mobilität und Gender aus Postkolonial Feministischer Perspektive” by Elsa Godtfredsen
“Queer@School” by Drew Ceglinski
“RomaniPhen: Rromnja Archiv” by Kendall Stoetzer
“Reflections on the Asian Diaspora in Germany” by Uma Scharf
“Street Art Workshop & Tour” by Wynter Scott

To read and/or listen to the finales and view the indices and slideshows for previous FemGeniuses in Berlin, click here. 

Street Art Workshop & Tour

Wynter (Judy)

Photo Credit: Judy Fisher

This podcast—led and produced by Wynter Haley Scott—examines our “Street Art Workshop & Tour” with Declan (tour guide) and Rob (workshop guide) of Alternative Berlin Tours. According to the tour company, “On this two-part tour, we take the back streets and discover some of the latest, greatest and oldest examples of street art, graffiti, and mural art in this famous capital of urban art. The street art tour component is a detailed look at local and international artists who have left their amazing art on the streets of Berlin.” Further, they note that all of their guides are “street artists/graffiti writers and experts on the scene and will show you some of the best stencil art, throw ups, mural art, hall of fame pieces, paste ups, tagging, ad busting, heaven spots, burners and installations, while teaching you who is behind the art and what their motivations are.” Finally, the tour concludes “in a former abandoned margarine factory in the district of Lichtenberg where you will get the opportunity to paint and receive instructions on various street art and graffiti techniques from both local and international artists. You’ll then get to make your very own canvas piece to take home with you as a memento of this truly Berlin experience!”

Photo I

Photo Credit: Wynter Haley Scott

Wynter Haley Scott is a senior at Colorado College, where she studies Political Science and Sociology. Wynter Haley is originally from Memphis, Tennessee, but came to the Colorado College because of its unique block plan. During her spare time, Wynter Haley enjoys reading books, watching Netflix movies, and playing with her puppy, Meela. This was only Wynter Haley’s second trip outside of the country, but she chose this class because she has always been interested in Germany’s rich and complex history.

Photo III

Photo Credit: Wynter Haley Scott

Joining Wynter Haley in her discussion are Anabel Simotas—a New York City native and sophomore at Colorado College majoring in History, Political Science, and Classics, and Maya Littlejohn—a Brooklyn native and junior at Colorado College majoring in Race, Ethnicity, & Migration Studies.

NOTE: The photo credit for the featured image also belongs to Wynter Haley Scott.

 

Generation ADEFRA

Littlejohn

Photo Credit: Maya Littlejohn

This podcast—led and produced by Maya Littlejohn—examines our session with Peggy Piesche, Maisha Eggers, and Katja Kinder of Generation ADEFRA. In the mid-1980s, a group of Black women activists were brought together in Berlin by self-described “Black lesbian mother warrior poet” Audre Lorde (1934-1992) and inspired to found the initiative ADEFRA: Black Women in Germany. Additionally, historian and founding member Katharina Oguntoye “points to the complexity of the task of not only bringing together previously relatively isolated Black women in Germany with their sometimes very differently developed vital interests, but also to keep them together in the long run.”

Picture I

Photo Credit: Maya Littlejohn

Maya Littlejohn is a junior at Colorado College majoring in Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies and minoring in Political Science. She’s originally from Brooklyn, New York. During her free time, Maya is involved in the President’s Council and works for Attorney Jarrett Adams at the Innocence Project. On her good days, you’re likely to find herin a sunny spot sketching and binge watching MSNBC.

Picture II

Photo Credit: Maya Littlejohn

Joining Maya in her discussion are D. Adams—a Memphis, TN native and junior at Colorado College majoring in Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies, and Atiya Harvey—a Washington, DC native and a senior at Colorado College majoring in Feminist and Gender Studies.

NOTE: The featured image photo credit also belongs to Maya Littlejohn.

 

CORRECTION: Farbe bekennen: Afro-deutsche Frauen auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte (Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out) was co-edited by Katharina Oguntoye, May (Opitz) Ayim, and Dagmar Schultz.

 

Das Verbogene Museum

This podcast—led by Anna Balaguer—examines the Women Photojournalists in Europe 1914-1945: Wartime and Adventure exhibit at Das Verbogene Museum (The Hidden Museum). Das Verbogene Museum, founded in 1986, “is the only existing institution world-wide whose programme focuses on the public presentation and academic appraisal of women artists from past centuries, or of those who are no longer working within the art world.” According to the museum, it’s mission “is to publicise the life’s work and biographies of women artists who have fallen into obscurity for various reasons.”

Anna Balaguer is a junior at Colorado College majoring in Classics and minoring in Philosophy and German. She lives in Boulder, Colorado and has a younger brother named Jack and a little dog named Sox. She’s been staying in Northern Germany for the past three months, and is excited to explore Berlin. She enjoys running, reading, and hiking in her free time.

podcastphoto1

Photo Credit: Anna Balaguer

Joining Anna in her discussion of the exhibit at Coco Coffee are Maya Littlejohn—a Brooklyn native and junior at Colorado College majoring in Race, Ethnicity, & Migration Studies, and Bridget O’Neill—a Louisville, CO native and junior at Colorado College majoring in Political Science  major.

NOTE: The photo credit for the featured image also belongs to Anna Balaguer.