Katharyne Mitchell

This book project examines Tempelhof Field in Berlin through conjunctural analysis, investigating how imperial visions, constructions of racial difference, and spaces of containment have come together in distinct, yet interdependent historical moments spanning nine centuries at this single site. Now Berlin’s largest park, Tempelhof’s history reveals recurring patterns of imperial ambition alongside the use of coerced labor—from the medieval headquarters of the Knights Templar through Prussian military parades, Nazi rallies, forced labor camps, and contemporary refugee housing in former airport hangars. Focusing on the material environment and using conjunctural methodology that examines historical “folds” where multiple forces converge to create new hegemonic settlements, Mitchell’s project traces how extractive economies dependent on contained, racialized immigrant labor have aligned with German nation-building and imperial visions through time.