Doctoral student Kevina King (far left) on a panel this weekend with Jemele Watkins (far right) at the third Black German Heritage & Research Association International Conference held at Amherst College.
AMHERST, Mass.—In an effort to recognize a relatively young academic discipline that many in the academy have never heard of before, nearly a hundred students and scholars gathered at Amherst College over the weekend to discuss their research and ideas for how to grow Black German Studies.
This marks the third year that the Black German Heritage & Research Association sponsored the international conference, which highlighted a variety of interdisciplinary topics ranging from Black Germans during the Third Reich to their ongoing presence in German theater.
Like African American, Women and Queer studies, Black German Studies has an admitted social justice focus, says Dr. Sara Lennox, a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an early founder of the Black German Studies movement in the U.S. “We’ve made the field legitimate. You can now do this work and get tenure,” says Lennox, who was chiefly responsible for jumpstarting the Black German Studies concentration at UMASS Amherst. “It’s kind of a burgeoning field and movement. The other thing that’s really cool is there is a pretty strong connection between activism and scholarship and a really strong connection with the experimental … Black Germans talking about their stories.”
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While on his second vist to the United States to receive an African Diaspora World Tourism Award (ADWTA), Prince Kum’a Ndumbe III met with BGHRA President, Rosemarie Peña in New York City to discuss their shared interest in Black Germans and the history of Black People in Germany. To learn more about Prince Kum’a Ndumbe III and his organization, AfricaAvenir, visit the website HERE!
Das afro-deutsche Theaterensemble Label Noir ist im September mit seinem Stück „Heimat, bittersüße Heimat“ auf Brandenburg-Tour. Die Amadeu Antonio Stiftung fördert das Schauspielensemble.
Von Robert Fähmel
„Heimat, Bittersüße Heimat“ zeigt schon im Titel die Ambivalenz des Lebens als Schwarzer Deutscher. Auch im beginnenden 21. Jahrhundert sind Deutsche mit nicht-stereotypem Erscheinungsbild täglich mit scheinbar nett gemeinten Fragen und Bemerkungen konfrontiert, die nichts anderes sind als alte Vorurteile in neuer Verpackung. Diesem ganz besonderen Gefühl, Schwarz und zugleich Deutsch zu sein, begegnet Label Noir mit ihrem aktuellen Stück.
Klischee-Rollen
Das 7-köpfige Ensemble gründete sich im Jahre 2007 mit der Absicht, Schwarze Schauspieler auf die deutschen Bühnen zu bringen und ihnen ganz alltägliche Rollen zu verschaffen. Die Mitglieder, allesamt professionelle Schauspielerinnen und Schauspieler mit langjähriger Erfahrung, bekommen sonst meist nur Klischee-Rollen. Lara Sophie Milagro, künstlerische Leiterin des Ensembles: „Allgemeiner gesprochen möchten wir die Vorstellungen davon, was deutsch ist und deutsch sein kann, ändern und erweitern. Die kulturelle Identität ist nicht das äußere Erscheinungsbild eines Menschen.“
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The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany
Our research project explores the connection between the U.S. military presence abroad and the advancement of civil rights in the U.S. We investigate the role that African-American GIs played in carrying the civil rights movement to Germany, which was host to the largest contingent of U.S. troops deployed outside the U.S.
Between 1945 and the end of the Cold War, some 15-20 million American soldiers, families and civilian employees lived in Germany. Between 2-3 million of those Americans were African American. By giving voice to their experience and to that of the people who interacted with them, we will expand the story of the African-American civil rights movement beyond the boundaries of the U.S.
This digital archive has three main goals: First, it will gather and preserve materials on an important, but little known chapter of American and African-American history as well as transatlantic relations after the Second World War. Second, it will make these materials available world wide and free of charge to scholars and teachers in the humanities. Third, it will foster the growth of a community of scholars, teachers, and students who are engaged in teaching and learning about the African-American civil rights movement and its reverberations outside the U.S.
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| Start Time: |
Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 2:35pm
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| End Time: |
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 11:35am
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| Location: |
in Helmarshausen Germany
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When Federal ISD meeting ISD- meets every year, the Black community in Germany.
In November 1985 called for the first time Black women and men nationwide at a meeting in Wiesbaden, step out to get out of that time experienced isolation in a white society. Many followed this call. That was the impetus for a nation (at the time the time being, the old West Germany) Movement of black people in Germany. A novelty in Germany under the Nazis. Much has changed since those early days. From a manageable number of contacts was a complex network. Black people work on topics with each other to create discussion forums, create knowledge, make their private and public space. There will be workshops, lectures, discussions, exchanges, information stalls, children’s program and lots of room to Selbstgestalten. In the evening there’s pure culture, e.g. Films, performance / reading, DJ and live music. And of course you can with ragga, soul, Soukouss, hip hop and everything else is fun to dance floor. Issues at the federal meetings are black history, black people in education and employment, blacks networks, Black Identities in Germany, strengthening of children and young people, self in everyday life, and much more …
