Debating Columbus | Indigenous Peoples' Day: Controversies and Conflicts in Memory Cultures

with Dr. Aaron Nyerges, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney & Matt Sheedy, PhD North American Studies Program

moderated by: Prof. Dr. Sabine Sielke

Monday, 14 October 2024 | 6:00 c.t.-8:00 pm | Rabinstraße 8 | 53111 Bonn | Room 7

From 2025 onward, the Columbus Day Lecture a tradition of the North American Studies Program since its beginning in the early 1990 s will come to an end and the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Lecture will take its place. For along with the statues of famous figures in world history, holidays such as Columbus Day are under severe attack - an „ that is by no means a new phenomenon. Yet while some activists promote the quick disposal of monuments and festivities honoring characters whose heroism appears questionable in hindsight, others fear that along with these stones of contention, our sense of history gets disposed, and we become all too forgetful. Presenting different perspectives on these issues, the speakers and panelists mark some of the frontlines of these so called “culture wars” whose concepts and strategies get adapted from US American debates for incomparable historical contexts on foreign turf, including German memoryscapes. The guest speaker, Dr Sabrina Schmitz Zerres is a research associate at the University of Münster's Institute of History Didactics. Following her PhD work on future narratives in history books in 2019 she now conducts research on time practices in diaries and the relationship between digitality and historical learning.

Impulse Papers: Dr. Sabrina Schmitz-Zerres, Universität Münster "Adventurer, Explorer, Colonist? Columbus Narratives in History Textbooks" & Stefan Benz, North American Studies "Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day – Past, Present, and Future Perspectives“