Germany s Goethe Medals honor artists beyond borders
Goethe Medal 2021 winners include Cameroonian social economist Princess Douala Manga Bell, Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa and dancer Wen Hui of China.
One of three Goethe Medal honorees: Marilyn Douala Manga Bell
The Goethe Medals mark outstanding services and achievements in promoting the German language and cultural exchange. Candidates for the Goethe Medal are nominated every year by Germany s cultural Goethe-Instituts abroad, in close collaboration with Germany s diplomatic representation offices. They are an official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The theme of this year s awards is Culture is a very special fluid in the network of the global community. Upon announcement of this year s winners, Christina von Braun, vice president of the Goethe-Institut and chair of the Goethe Medal Conferment Commission, said in a statement that: For [German poet Johann Wolfgang] Goethe, blood and ink were indisting
CCTV Spring Festival Gala Features Blackface, Again
Posted by Joseph Brouwer | Feb 12, 2021
This year’s CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala, the massively popular annual variety show aired since 1983, included blackfaced dancers in a performance titled “African Song and Dance,” alongside belly dancers, flamenco performers, and women dressed as Cleopatra. The Gala has previously been criticized for similar depictions: a 2018 skit featured a Chinese woman dressed in blackface and accompanied by a monkey, proclaiming, “I love China.” At The Associated Press, Joe McDonald described
The “African Song and Dance” performance Thursday came at start [sic] of the Spring Festival Gala, one of the world’s most-watched TV programs. It included Chinese dancers in African-style costumes and dark face makeup beating drums.