Description:
Afrika and Alemania explores the representation of Blackness in German-speaking literary, autobiographical, and cinematic texts across two centuries. By examining how different groups of women with access to German culture have depicted Africa, Africans, and the African diaspora, the book challenges the assumption that all women will tell the same story. Focusing on Black women, non-Black women of colour, and white women, it investigates how these diverse voices engage with and represent Blackness within a society shaped by racial hierarchies.
Part I analyses how Black, German-speaking women actively reshape and redefine Blackness in response to stereotypes upheld by white German society. Part II explores how non-Black women of colour navigate the complexities of othering while sometimes reproducing anti-Black stereotypes, while Part III discusses how white women's projections of fantasies about Africa often erase Black voices and render them invisible. Offering a nuanced analysis of the intersections of race, gender, ethnicity, and nationality, Afrika and Alemania provides a vital framework for understanding Blackness within contemporary scholarship and its broader social and cultural implications.
Review Quotes: "The volume Afrika and Alemania brings together essays that examine the works of a diverse collection of women writers and artists with access to the German language in order to "test" the importance of positionality (race, gender, ethnicity) in the representation of Africa, Black peoples, and Blackness. Opening the volume with the voices of Black German and African women challenges the reader to consider her own positionality and possible intersections with these women. Organizing the volume by voices and perspectives rather than historical era or theme, Afrika and Alemania employs an innovative comparative approach to intersectionality that extends beyond the national sphere and demonstrates the value of radical inclusionary practices."--Nancy P. Nenno, Professor of German Studies, College of Charleston