Contexts of Injustice: Dismantling Colonial Legacies from Berlin to London with Dan Hicks
About the project
A continuation of the former Brady Lecture series, the Goethe Annual Lecture (GAL) invites renowned speakers to reflect on cultural themes central to the Goethe-Institut’s work and pressing issues facing the UK, Germany, and beyond.
For the 2021 GAL, the Goethe-Institut welcomed author and curator Dan Hicks as the guest speaker. Hicks is Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford, Curator of World Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum, and a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. He is best known for his book The Brutish Museums: the Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution (Pluto Books, 2020).
In his lecture, Hicks explored the concept of ‘Unrechtskontexte’ (contexts of injustice) as introduced by the German Museums Association in 2013. Taking this as a starting point, he examined the enduring legacies of empire in museums, universities, and society, addressing questions of colonial violence, restitution, and the ongoing debates surrounding cultural heritage.
The event concluded with a Q&A session, offering audiences the opportunity to further engage with Hicks’s reflections on how colonial legacies can be meaningfully understood - and dismantled - today.
Project responsibilities:
Communications, budget planning, and digital content production
From June 2021 to December 2024, I worked within the Goethe-Institut London’s Communications team. As Online Editor, I managed the UK’s website, social media, editorial budgets, and digital strategies. For the flagship annual event, I oversaw the entire digital production cycle, from strategy and budget planning to post-event content publication.
In addition, I hosted and produced a special Talking Culture podcast episode dedicated to promoting the GAL, extending the event’s reach to new audiences through an engaging audio format.
In the early planning phases, I used data tools such as Webtrekk, Meta Business Suite, and Eventbrite Analytics to compile reports evaluating the performance of previous GAL marketing campaigns and digital content. These findings shaped budget allocation and digital strategy for the upcoming event. I also coordinated with partner organisations on cross-promotional initiatives and compiled audience demographic reports that informed communications and content planning.
Once event details were confirmed, I built the event webpage in our custom CMS and devised cross-platform content to promote the lecture. I led all marketing campaigns across newsletters and social media, preparing tailored content to maximise engagement and ticket sales.
My production tasks included collating event texts, speaker biographies, and visual materials; adapting them to our editorial brand guidelines; translating English-language copy into German; publishing content across digital platforms; and distributing media packs to stakeholders.
During the event, I managed community engagement on livestream chats and social media and coordinated the videographer. Post-event, I worked with the videographer to prepare transcripts, ensured content aligned with editorial standards, published the recording on YouTube, promoted it via social media, and processed invoices for advertisements, social media boosts, and commissioned content.
Through this end-to-end process, I ensured the GAL consistently reached wide and diverse audiences while maintaining the Institute’s brand and editorial standards.