The Empty Grave | When The Jackal Leaves The Sun

In this episode we look back at the discussion between Cece Mlay & Agnes Lisa Wegner, co-directors of the film The Empty Grave. After the screening of their film in June 2024 at Flutgraben e.V. Berlin, we discussed the challenges of restitution and Germany's neglect in accounting for change, collaboration and counselling. The film provides a tragic documentation of John Mbano in Songea (Tanzania) on a mission to find the human remains of his great-grandfather, Songea Mbano, who was executed by the German colonial army. His remains (skull) were trafficked into the ethnography museum in Berlin and never returned. When John and his wife travel to Germany to find his ancestor's remains, he confronts the administrations that have consistently denied descendants access to their families. On this journey, the hopes and promises he is given turn into familiar disappointments. Even the historic visit of the German Federal President to John’s hometown fails to bring the beloved ancestor back home.

Behind the global debate about the return of ancestral remains, we find real people. People violated by a colonial past and its aftermath to this day. Their struggle paves a way to a future disentangled from a painful past.

If resistance doesn't shift the fundamental powers of current colonial administrations in Germany who disengage with committing to reparation, what kind of protest and ritual must our generations make to assist with the returns of our ancestors trafficked and unlawfully held inside ethnographic collections? How do we proceed with afro-future burials?

Michael Bader moderates the conversation.