Our founder, Theresa Mertens, recently joined Jana-Marie Backhaus-Tors for a conversation on the Exploradio Namibia podcast.
Jana is the founder of Exploradio Namibia and offers decolonial city tours in Swakopmund. She is also a partner of Shared History Tours, and her tours can be booked through us.
In the episode, Theresa and Jana talk about how they both found their way into offering city tours, what motivates their work and what they have learned along the way. They share experiences from their tours and discuss how to communicate difficult histories.
A central part of the conversation is also their own position as white Germans living in Namibia. They reflect on privileges they only became aware of after moving to Namibia, what it means to navigate a society still shaped by colonialism and apartheid from this position, and the responsibilities that come with living and working here.
Theresa shares how she first came to Namibia, what eventually led her to establish Shared History Tours, and how confronting her own family history, became part of her engagement with Germany’s colonial past in Namibia.
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If you want to meet Jana in person, book one of her decolonial walking tours through Shared History Tours here.
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