Rassismusforschung: Handbuch für Wissenschaft, Studium und Praxis

Manuela Bojadžijev, Paul Mecheril and Matthias Quent (editors); Patrice G. Poutrus and Joshua Kwesi Aikins (contributors)

Published · August 31, 2026

A reference handbook surveying theories, research methods and empirical fields in German-language racism research. Poutrus and Aikins contribute to the volume.

Nomos · ISBN 9783848777228

Alice Hasters’s Anti Opfer: Making Room for Vulnerability

Published · April 30, 2026

German edition

Racism & Antiracism

Alice Hasters examines our discomfort with vulnerability and asks what recognizing harm and responsibility could mean for public life.

Sharon Dodua Otoo’s So, in etwa, ist es geschehen: History on the Journey

Published · April 29, 2026

German edition

Literature & Arts · Black German History

Sharon Dodua Otoo’s new novel brings family remembrance and the pressures of the present together on a journey to the Baltic coast.

Crystal A. Smith’s A Purpose for Every Thorn: Faith and Reflection

Published · March 7, 2026

English edition

Memoir & Life Writing

A Christian community reading selection on identity, forgiveness, and finding meaning through difficult seasons.

The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram: The Man Who Stared Down World War II in the Name of Love

Ethelene Whitmire

Published · February 3, 2026

A biography following a queer Black American scholar’s life in Europe, his relationship with a Danish scholar and his efforts to survive the Second World War. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Viking · ISBN 9780593654194

Tupoka Ogette’s Trotzdem zuhause: A Life in Search of Home

Published · February 2026

German edition

Memoir & Life Writing · Racism & Antiracism · Black German History

Tupoka Ogette’s memoir brings childhood, motherhood, racism, and belonging into a personal account of making a home.

Marion Kraft’s Weltenwechsel: Black German Lives Across Generations

Published · January 28, 2026

German edition

Literature & Arts · Black German History · Racism & Antiracism

Marion Kraft’s debut novel follows Julia from a childhood shaped by war, poverty, and racial exclusion toward a life of greater independence. The experiences of three generations of women open a Black German perspective on West Germany after 1945.

Nnedimma Okoli’s Torn Between Homes: Migration, Motherhood, and Belonging

Published · December 20, 2025

English edition

Literature & Arts

Nnedimma Okoli’s debut novel follows a Nigerian mother in 1993 Mainz, opening conversations about Black family life, motherhood, migration, and the stories families preserve.

Lieber Sohn oder So rettest du die Welt

Emilia Roig

Published · October 14, 2025

A letter to the next generation that places care and solidarity at the centre of social change.

Kjona · ISBN 9783910372542

Von Luanda und Maputo nach Ost-Berlin: Erinnerungen afrikanischer Werktätiger an die DDR

Marcia C. Schenck; translated by Joe Paul Kroll; foreword by Katharina Warda

Published · March 12, 2025

Based on more than 260 life-history interviews, this book follows Angolan and Mozambican workers’ experiences in the GDR and across borders. Warda provides the foreword.

Ch. Links Verlag · ISBN 9783962892319

Decolonial Sweden

Michael McEachrane and Louis Faye (editors)

Published · December 16, 2024

Essays connecting Sweden’s colonial histories to present questions of racial identity, Indigenous resistance and international justice. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Routledge · ISBN 9781032500331

Lieben

Emilia Roig

Published · September 24, 2024

Roig reflects on love as a force connecting personal relationships, justice and collective life.

Hanser Berlin · ISBN 9783446279834

Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation

Lynette Roth (editor); Katharina Warda and Natasha A. Kelly (contributors)

Published · September 17, 2024

An exhibition catalogue examining contemporary art, migration and changing ideas of German identity, with contributions by Warda, Kelly and other scholars and curators.

Harvard Art Museums / Yale University Press · ISBN 9780300278804

Like Water Like Sea

Olumide Popoola

Published · May 2024

A novel about grief, queer intimacy, mental health and the difficult work of rebuilding a life.

Cassava Republic

Unlearn Patriarchy 2

Emilia Roig, Alexandra Zykunov and Silvie Horch (editors)

Published · March 14, 2024

An edited collection of essays examining patriarchal habits and the possibilities of learning different ways to live.

Ullstein · ISBN 9783550202773

Ngozi Okwuosa’s Maik und Malaika feiern das Yam-Erntefest

Published · 2024

German edition

Children’s Books

Maik and Malaika prepare a yam harvest celebration for their grandfather in Ngozi Okwuosa’s picture book about family, tradition, and gratitude.

Alice Hasters’s Identitätskrise: Identity, Memory, and Social Change

Published · October 22, 2023

German edition

Racism & Antiracism · Black German History

Alice Hasters explores identity, historical responsibility, and the gap between society’s self-image and lived reality in Identitätskrise.

Erinnerungskämpfe: Neues deutsches Geschichtsbewusstsein

Jürgen Zimmerer (editor); Katharina Warda and Patrice G. Poutrus (chapter co-authors)

Published · September 8, 2023

Essays on contested German public memory. Warda and Poutrus co-author the chapter on the GDR as a migration society and racist violence in the post-unification years.

Reclam · ISBN 9783150114544

Schwarz. Deutsch. Weiblich.: Warum Feminismus mehr als Geschlechtergerechtigkeit fordern muss

Natasha A. Kelly

Published · August 31, 2023

Kelly connects Black women’s histories and personal experience with a critique of exclusion within feminism.

Piper · ISBN 9783492071147

Das Ende der Ehe: Für eine Revolution der Liebe

Emilia Roig

Published · March 30, 2023

A feminist critique of marriage, economic dependence and the social rules that shape intimacy.

Ullstein

Charles M. Huber’s Weltbühne Afrika: Africa, Sovereignty, and Global Relations

Published · 2023

German edition

Racism & Antiracism

Charles M. Huber combines personal experience with an examination of Africa’s relations with Europe and other global powers. He considers sovereignty, changing partnerships, and the narratives through which Africa is discussed outside the continent.

Ngozi Okwuosa’s Maik und Malaika und das große Schiff aus Müll

Published · 2023

German edition

Children’s Books

Maik and Malaika’s river adventure becomes a story of creative play, reuse, and caring for the environment in this picture book by Ngozi Okwuosa.

Mapping Black Europe: Monuments, Markers, Memories

Natasha A. Kelly and Olive Vassell (editors)

Published · 2023

Black scholars and activists trace public memory, community histories and overlooked places across eight European capitals.

transcript · ISBN 9783837654134

Adoption Across Race and Nation: Histories That Cross Borders

Published · November 2022

English edition

Adoption & Family Separation · Racism & Antiracism

Adoption Across Race and Nation: US Histories and Legacies brings together perspectives on adoption, racial power, family, and national belonging. Its chapters place individual…

Resonanzen – Schwarzes Literaturfestival: Eine Dokumentation

Sharon Dodua Otoo, Jeannette Oholi and Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen (editors)

Published · October 2022

Documentation of the 2022 Black literature festival, including six invited authors’ short stories and conversations about African diasporic traditions in German-language literature.

Spector Books · ISBN 9783959056540

Wolfgang Mattheuer / Stan Douglas

Paola Malavassi (editor); Joshua Kwesi Aikins (contributor)

Published · September 2022

An exhibition catalogue linking landscape, gardening and social politics. Includes a contribution by Joshua Kwesi Aikins.

Hatje Cantz · ISBN 9783775753036

Herr Gröttrup setzt sich hin: Drei Texte

Sharon Dodua Otoo

Published · July 27, 2022

A collection containing the Bachmann Prize-winning story, the Klagenfurt speech Dürfen Schwarze Blumen malen?, and an imagined journey to Klagenfurt with the author’s parents.

S. Fischer · ISBN 9783103971859

I AM MILLI: Ikonografien des Schwarzen Feminismus

Natasha A. Kelly (editor and curator)

Published · 2022

The exhibition catalogue brings Black women’s visual art and essays into conversation about self-representation and colonial ways of seeing.

Orlanda · ISBN 9783949545276

Lena Whooo’s un-fulfilled: Identity, Freedom, and Life

Published · 2022

German edition

Literature & Arts

Lena Whooo brings poetry, short prose, and drawings together to explore identity, freedom, and the uneven terrain between satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The collection draws on personal reflection and the process of finding an artistic voice.

Ngozi Okwuosa’s Maik und Malaika: Der herbstliche Schuhsalat

Published · 2022

German edition

Children’s Books

A lost rain boot turns autumn play into a shared adventure for Maik and Malaika in this picture book by German-Nigerian author Ngozi Okwuosa.

Ngozi Okwuosa’s Maik und Malaika: Die versteckte Weihnachtskrippe

Published · 2022

German edition

Children’s Books

A Christmas Eve adventure with Maik and Malaika, bringing diverse children and family traditions into German-language reading for young learners.

Gesammeltes Schweigen

Heinrich Böll and Sharon Dodua Otoo; edited by Katharina Mevissen and Simon Wahlers

Published · 2022

Otoo responds to Böll’s Doktor Murkes gesammeltes Schweigen through letters, messages and literary experiments: an imagined conversation across generations.

Edition Zweifel · ISBN 9783982432304

Scars of War: The Politics of Paternity and Responsibility for the Amerasians of Vietnam

Sabrina Thomas; foreword by Robert J. Mrazek

Published · December 1, 2021 · paperback 2025

A history of US policy toward the Vietnamese children of American fathers, examining citizenship, paternity, race and responsibility after the Vietnam War.

University of Nebraska Press · ISBN 9781496200549

Sisters and Souls 2: Inspirationen durch May Ayim

Natasha A. Kelly (editor)

Published · 2021

A new generation of writers reflects on May Ayim’s continuing influence and Black community futures.

Orlanda · ISBN 9783944666938

Rassismus: Strukturelle Probleme brauchen strukturelle Lösungen!

Natasha A. Kelly

Published · 2021

An introduction to structural racism and the need for changes beyond individual attitudes.

Atrium · ISBN 9783855351145

Adas Raum / Ada’s Room / Ada’s Realm

Sharon Dodua Otoo

Published · February 24, 2021 · English translations 2023

A novel linking women named Ada across centuries, from West Africa to contemporary Berlin. English editions are Ada’s Room (US) and Ada’s Realm (UK), translated by Jon Cho-Polizzi.

S. Fischer / Riverhead Books / MacLehose Press · ISBN 9783103973150

Why We Matter: Das Ende der Unterdrückung

Emilia Roig

Published · February 15, 2021

Roig draws on family experience to examine intersecting forms of oppression and imagine solidarity.

Aufbau · ISBN 9783351038472

Ngozi Okwuosa’s Rapulu’s Rainbow Stars: Friendship and Belonging

Published · 2021

English edition

Children’s Books · Racism & Antiracism

Ngozi Okwuosa’s English-language picture book explores albinism, friendship, and belonging through Rapulu’s experience of exclusion and his friends’ response.

Afrozensus 2020: Lebensrealitäten, Rassismuserfahrungen und Empowerment Schwarzer, afrikanischer und afrodiasporischer Menschen in Deutschland

Joshua Kwesi Aikins with the Afrozensus research team

Published · 2021 · research report on the 2020 survey

A substantial research report on Black life, discrimination and empowerment in Germany. Free German and English downloads are available.

EOTO / Citizens For Europe

The Faculty of Sensing: Thinking With, Through, and by Anton Wilhelm Amo

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Jule Hillgärtner and Nele Kaczmarek (editors)

Published · 2021

Bilingual artistic and scholarly responses to Amo, with contributions by Peggy Piesche, Paulin J. Hountondji and others. Connects philosophy, decolonization, erasure and contemporary art.

2021 · English / German · ISBN 9788867494385

Layla Zami’s Contemporary PerforMemory: Dancing with Memory

Published · December 2020

English edition

Literature & Arts

Layla Zami explores how dance carries historical memory, responds to trauma, and opens possibilities for diasporic futures.

Un_Masking Difference: Literary Voices from Behind the Mask

Natasha A. Kelly (editor)

Published · 2020

International literary voices consider masks, difference and the experience of the pandemic.

mikrotext · ISBN 9783948631116

Dürfen Schwarze Blumen malen?

Sharon Dodua Otoo

Published · June 18, 2020

The 2020 Klagenfurt address on literature, language and the power to describe people, examining racism and responsibility in literary expression.

Heyn

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies: A Reference Resource

Published · April 2020

English edition

Childhood & Education

This four-volume encyclopedia introduces the concepts, debates, and research approaches that shape interdisciplinary childhood studies. Its entries span the social and cultural…

A War Born Family: African American Adoption in the Wake of the Korean War

Kori A. Graves

Published · January 28, 2020

A history of African American families’ efforts to adopt Black Korean children, tracing the relationship between military families, racial discrimination, civil rights and transnational adoption.

NYU Press · ISBN 9781479872329

The Comet – 150 Years W. E. B. Du Bois: Afrofuturism 2.0

Natasha A. Kelly (editor)

Published · 2020

An anthology connecting Du Bois’s speculative fiction with contemporary Black visions of the future.

Orlanda · ISBN 9783944666631

1000 Serpentinen Angst

Olivia Wenzel

Published · 2020

A formally inventive novel exploring Black German life, family memory, racism, anxiety and belonging, including the continuing effects of growing up in East Germany.

Black German author

Schwarze Wurzeln: Afro-deutsche Familiengeschichten von 1884 bis 1950

Katharina Oguntoye

Published · 2020

A Black perspective on African and Afro-German family histories, tracing lives, relationships and survival from the colonial era through the Second World War.

Black German author

Anton Wilhelm Amo’s Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and Body

Anton Wilhelm Amo; edited and translated by Stephen Menn and Justin E. H. Smith

Published · 2020

The two 1734 dissertations in Latin with facing English translations, explanatory notes and an extensive introduction. A primary-text starting point for Amo’s arguments about mind, sensation and the living body.

Oxford University Press · 2020 · Latin / English · ISBN 9780197501627

Alice Hasters on Everyday Racism: Was weiße Menschen nicht über Rassismus hören wollen aber wissen sollten

Published · September 23, 2019

German edition

Racism & Antiracism · Black German History · Memoir & Life Writing

Alice Hasters connects her experiences as a Black woman in Germany with a clear examination of everyday racism and antiracist responsibility.

Powerful Frequencies: Radio, State Power, and the Cold War in Angola, 1931–2002

Marissa J. Moorman

Published · August 20, 2019

A study of broadcasting, political power and listening in colonial and independent Angola. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Ohio University Press · ISBN 9780821423707

Afropean: Notes from Black Europe / Afropäisch

Johny Pitts

Published · June 6, 2019 · German translation 2020

Travel writing and reportage exploring Black communities, belonging and everyday life across Europe. German edition: Afropäisch – Eine Reise durch das schwarze Europa. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Allen Lane / Penguin / Suhrkamp

Umkämpftes Asyl: Vom Nachkriegsdeutschland bis in die Gegenwart

Patrice G. Poutrus

Published · May 29, 2019

A historical study of asylum in postwar Germany, tracing public controversies, refugee reception and the political meanings of protection.

Ch. Links Verlag · ISBN 9783962890360

Schwarzer Feminismus: Grundlagentexte

Natasha A. Kelly (editor)

Published · March 2019

Foundational Black feminist texts in German translation trace the connections between race, gender, class and political struggle.

Unrast · ISBN 9783897713178

Judy Fambrough-Billingsley’s Too Brown to Keep: A Search for Family

Published · 2019

English edition

Memoir & Life Writing · Adoption & Family Separation · Black German History

Too Brown to Keep: A Search for Love, Forgiveness and Healing follows Judy Fambrough-Billingsley’s journey from childhood in Germany and adoption in the United States to a search…

Narrating African FutureS: In(ter)ventions and Agencies in African and African Diasporic Fiction

Susan Arndt and Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard (editors)

Published · 2019

An edited collection on African and diasporic visions of the future across literature and other cultural forms.

Routledge · ISBN 9780367086589

Die Schwarze Madonna – Fatou Falls erster Fall: Afrodeutscher Heimatkrimi

Noah Sow

Published · 2019

An Afro-German crime novel centering detective Fatou Fall in Bavaria. Sow brings Black German protagonists and perspectives into regional crime fiction, combining mystery, humor and social observation.

Black German author

Brüder

Jackie Thomae

Published · 2019

A novel following two Black German half-brothers whose lives take different paths. Family, absent fathers, East German childhoods and social expectations shape its questions of identity and belonging.

Black German author

Marion Kraft’s Empowering Encounters with Audre Lorde: Memory and Resistance

Published · July 2, 2018

English and German editions

Black Feminism · Black German History · Literature & Arts

Drawing on a personal friendship, Marion Kraft considers Audre Lorde’s literary and political influence through essays, speeches, and an interview. The collection connects Lorde’s writing with Black feminist organizing across national borders.

Geschichte schreiben: Neue Rundschau 2018/2

Manuela Bauche and Sharon Dodua Otoo (editors)

Published · June 21, 2018

A literary journal issue asking how colonial histories can be rewritten and told from different perspectives, bringing together writers, scholars and artists.

S. Fischer · ISBN 9783108091149

Postcolonial Paris: Fictions of Intimacy in the City of Light

Laila Amine

Published · June 12, 2018

A study of literature, cinema and art that brings African American, Maghrebi and French immigrant experiences into accounts of Paris. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

University of Wisconsin Press · ISBN 9780299315801

Millis Erwachen / Milli’s Awakening: Schwarze Frauen, Kunst und Widerstand

Natasha A. Kelly

Published · 2018

The companion book to Kelly’s documentary shares the perspectives of eight Black women working in the arts in Germany.

Orlanda · ISBN 9783944666402

Die Geschichte von Kreis und Viereck

Sharon Dodua Otoo

Published · 2018

A short story and free educational booklet about circles living among squares, belonging and exclusion. An accessible German adaptation is also linked on the author’s page.

RAA Berlin

Nach Auschwitz: Schwieriges Erbe DDR / After Auschwitz: The Difficult Legacies of the GDR

Enrico Heitzer, Martin Jander, Anetta Kahane and Patrice G. Poutrus (editors)

Published · 2018 · expanded German edition and English translation 2021

A collection examining East Germany’s relationship with the Nazi past and the histories of antisemitism, racism and exclusion. English edition: After Auschwitz (2021).

Wochenschau Verlag / Berghahn Books

Sankofa BRD: Eine Dokumentation Schwarzer deutscher Kulturproduktion zur Zeit des Mauerfalls

Philipp Khabo Koepsell (editor)

Published · 2017

Interviews, archival documents and photo collages record Black German cultural production and activism around the fall of the Berlin Wall.

epubli · ISBN 9783745074994

International Adoption in North American Literature and Culture

Published · September 2017

English edition

Adoption & Family Separation · Literature & Arts

How are international adoption and adoptee lives represented in literature and culture? This edited collection brings literary and cultural analysis to questions of family,…

When We Speak of Nothing

Olumide Popoola

Published · July 2017

Friendship and queer Black coming of age connect London and Nigeria in this novel.

Cassava Republic

die dinge, die ich denke, während ich höflich lächle … und Synchronicity: Zwei Novellen

Sharon Dodua Otoo; translation by Mirjam Nuenning; illustrations by Sita Ngoumou

Published · March 16, 2017

A German collected edition of Otoo’s first two novellas, exploring family rupture, loss, colour and self-determination.

Fischer Taschenbuch · ISBN 9783596298747

Chocolate and Blackness: A Cultural History

Silke Hackenesch

Published · 2017

A cultural history of chocolate that examines production, advertising and racial symbolism, including African American and Black German contexts. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Campus Verlag · ISBN 9783593507767

Remapping Black Germany: New Perspectives on Afro-German History, Politics, and Culture

Sara Lennox (editor)

Published · December 16, 2016

An interdisciplinary collection on Afro-German history, politics and culture, connecting historical research with Black German activism, feminist thought and questions of belonging.

University of Massachusetts Press · ISBN 9781625342317

Black Anthology: Adult Adoptees Claim Their Space (The AN-YA Project)

Published · November 1, 2016

English edition

Memoir & Life Writing · Adoption & Family Separation · Racism & Antiracism

Black adult adoptees share distinct stories of identity, family, racism, and belonging. Includes Rosemarie Peña’s essay on Black German reunification and diaspora.

Natasha A. Kelly’s Afrokultur: Black Knowledge Across Generations

Published · 2016

German edition

Black German History · Black Feminism · Racism & Antiracism

Natasha A. Kelly places Black German history and intellectual life in a global conversation through the work of W. E. B. Du Bois, Audre Lorde, and May Ayim. She examines the conditions under which Black knowledge is recognized, excluded, and carried forward.

SchwarzÖsterreich: Die Kinder afro-amerikanischer Besatzungssoldaten

Niko Wahl, Philipp Rohrbach and Tal Adler

Published · 2016

This illustrated exhibition catalogue combines archival research and interviews on Black Austrian children, family separation and adoption to the United States.

Löcker · ISBN 9783854098027

breach

Olumide Popoola and Annie Holmes

Published · 2016

Eight short stories explore migration, borders and the encounters surrounding the refugee camp in Calais.

Peirene Press

Sisters and Souls: Inspirationen von May Ayim

Natasha A. Kelly (editor)

Published · 2015

A substantial anthology of Black women’s writing about May Ayim’s influence, political memory and creative possibilities.

Orlanda · ISBN 9783944666211

Winter Shorts

Clementine Ewokolo Burnley and Sharon Dodua Otoo (editors)

Published · October 2015

An English-language anthology of winter stories set in German-speaking countries, with writing by Black authors including Otoo, Burnley, Elsa M’bala and Njideka Stephanie Iroh.

edition assemblage · ISBN 9783942885942

Marion Kraft’s Kinder der Befreiung: Black German Perspectives after 1945

Published · August 31, 2015

English and German editions

Black German History · Adoption & Family Separation · Memoir & Life Writing

Kinder der Befreiung: Transatlantische Erfahrungen und Perspektiven Schwarzer Deutscher der Nachkriegsgeneration brings together Black German perspectives on the postwar…

The Afropean Contemporary: Literatur- und Gesellschaftsmagazin

Philipp Khabo Koepsell (editor)

Published · 2015

An Afrofuturist literary and cultural magazine in book form, bringing together Black creative voices.

epubli · ISBN 9783844283266

Erste Indaba Schwarzer Kulturschaffender in Deutschland: Protokolle

Philipp Khabo Koepsell (editor); Joshua Kwesi Aikins (contributor)

Published · 2015

Proceedings from a gathering of Black cultural workers in Berlin, documenting experiences, strategies and institutional challenges.

epubli · ISBN 9783737560122

Alexander G. Weheliye’s Habeas Viscus: Race, Flesh, and the Human

Published · August 1, 2014

English edition

Racism & Antiracism · Black Feminism

Alexander G. Weheliye examines how racial power shapes who is recognized as fully human. Drawing centrally on Hortense Spillers and Sylvia Wynter, he brings Black feminist thought into debates about bodies, political violence, and the possibilities of life beyond racial hierarchies.

Synchronicity / Synchronicity: The Original Story

Sharon Dodua Otoo

Published · August 2014 · original English edition 2015

An illustrated novella about Cee, whose world begins losing its colours. German translation by Mirjam Nuenning, illustrations by Sita Ngoumou; also available in English as The Original Story.

edition assemblage · ISBN 9783942885744

Violent Intermediaries: African Soldiers, Conquest, and Everyday Colonialism in German East Africa

Michelle R. Moyd

Published · July 1, 2014

A history of African askari soldiers and the social relationships through which German colonial rule and violence were established. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Ohio University Press · ISBN 9780821420898

Homestory Deutschland: Black Biographies in Historical and in Present Times

Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD Bund) e.V.

Published · English edition announced May 2014; German exhibition catalogue first published 2006

A collective self-portrait of Black German history, told through biographies spanning three centuries.

edition assemblage / ISD · ISBN 9783942885669

Regina Anderson Andrews, Harlem Renaissance Librarian

Ethelene Whitmire

Published · May 1, 2014

A biography of the librarian, cultural organiser and activist whose work at the New York Public Library supported Harlem Renaissance writers and challenged unequal treatment. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

University of Illinois Press · ISBN 9780252038501

Afro-Nordic Landscapes: Equality and Race in Northern Europe

Michael McEachrane (editor); foreword by Paul Gilroy

Published · April 24, 2014

An edited collection on African diasporic experiences, racial inequality and the legacies of empire in Nordic societies. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Routledge

AfroFictional In[ter]ventions: Revisiting the BIGSAS Festival of African(-Diasporic) Literatures 2011–2013

Susan Arndt and Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard (editors)

Published · February 2014

An illustrated volume bringing African and diasporic literature into dialogue with music, film, visual art and critical thought.

edition assemblage · ISBN 9783942885676

Afro Shop

Philipp Khabo Koepsell (editor)

Published · January 31, 2014

Poetry and graphic art by Afro-German writers and artists explore home, identity, love and everyday resistance.

epubli · ISBN 9783844280135

Arriving in the Future: Stories of Home and Exile

Asoka Esuruoso and Philipp Khabo Koepsell (editors)

Published · 2014

An English-language anthology of poetry, fiction and essays by Black writers and artists living in Germany.

epubli · ISBN 9783844292107

Anton Wilhelm Amo: The Intercultural Background of His Philosophy

Jacob Emmanuel Mabe; translated by J. Obi Oguejiofor

Published · 2014

An African philosopher’s study of Amo’s intellectual development, knowledge, methodology, interpretation, mind and body. Publisher-hosted English text; the related German work is Anton Wilhelm Amo interkulturell gelesen.

Traugott Bautz · English edition 2014 · ISBN 9783883099385

Black Germany: The Making and Unmaking of a Diaspora Community, 1884–1960

Robbie Aitken and Eve Rosenhaft

Published · September 26, 2013

A history of Black community formation in Germany, tracing family lives, migration and persecution under Nazism.

Cambridge University Press · ISBN 9781107041363

Africa in Europe: Studies in Transnational Practice in the Long Twentieth Century

Eve Rosenhaft and Robbie Aitken (editors)

Published · 2013

An edited volume about African diasporic mobility, cultural production and community across European borders.

Liverpool University Press · ISBN 9781846317842

Nzitu Mawakha’s Daima: Images of Women of Colour in Germany

Published · 2013

English edition

Black Feminism · Literature & Arts · Black German History

Photographs and first-person texts bring Black women living and working in Germany into a collective portrait. Nzitu Mawakha’s black-and-white images show individuals, friendships, and community, while the women’s words return the gaze to the reader.

Theodor Michael’s Deutsch sein und schwarz dazu: A Black German Life

Published · 2013

English and German editions

Memoir & Life Writing · Black German History · Racism & Antiracism

Theodor Michael traces a life spanning the Weimar Republic, Nazi persecution and forced labor, and postwar Germany. Family separation, work in entertainment, and his later engagement with Black German communities connect personal memory with a wider history.

Also by Mail

Olumide Popoola

Published · 2013

A play exploring Nigerian-German family relationships, inheritance and belonging across generations.

edition assemblage / Witnessed

Bianco e nero: Storia dell’identità razziale degli italiani

Gaia Giuliani and Cristina Lombardi-Diop

Published · 2013

An Italian-language study of racial identity, whiteness and political culture from national unification through fascism and the postwar decades. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Le Monnier Università / Mondadori Education · ISBN 9788800744157

Germany and the Black Diaspora: Points of Contact, 1250–1914

Mischa Honeck, Martin Klimke and Anne Kuhlmann (editors)

Published · 2013

A historical collection spanning medieval and Renaissance representations, Black court service, travel, intellectual exchange and the colonial era. Includes chapters by Paul Kaplan, Kate Lowe and Anne Kuhlmann on early histories.

Berghahn Books · 2013; paperback 2016 · ISBN 9780857459534

Postcolonial Italy: Challenging National Homogeneity

Cristina Lombardi-Diop and Caterina Romeo (editors)

Published · December 6, 2012

An interdisciplinary collection on Italian colonialism, migration and the contested boundaries of national identity. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Palgrave Macmillan · ISBN 9781137281456

The Little Book of Big Visions: Art and the Worlds We Can Imagine

Published · September 2012

English edition

Literature & Arts · Black Feminism

The Little Book of Big Visions: How to Be an Artist and Revolutionize the World gathers perspectives on Black artistic practice and the possibilities that art can open. Edited by…

Tina Campt’s Image Matters: Family Photographs and Belonging

Published · March 2012

English edition

Black German History · Literature & Arts

What can a family photograph tell us beyond what first meets the eye? Image Matters: Archive, Photography, and the African Diaspora in Europe examines photographs of Black German families and portraits of West Indian migrants in B

the things i am thinking while smiling politely

Sharon Dodua Otoo

Published · February 2012 · German translation 2013

A Black British woman rebuilds her life after the breakdown of her marriage. German title: die dinge, die ich denke, während ich höflich lächle; translated by Mirjam Nuenning.

edition assemblage · ISBN 9783942885225

Peggy Piesche’s Euer Schweigen schützt euch nicht: Black Women’s Organizing in Germany

Published · 2012

German edition

Black Feminism · Black German History

Peggy Piesche brings writing by Audre Lorde together with the perspectives of Black women engaged in organizing in Germany. Essays, poetry, recollections, and dialogue trace the relationships through which a movement found language, community, and political force.

Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann: Mein Leben in Deutschland

Gert Schramm

Published · 2011

Schramm’s memoir connects childhood under Nazism, imprisonment in Buchenwald at fifteen and life after 1945. The account of a Black German survivor offers a first-person perspective on racist exclusion, survival and remembrance.

Aufbau-Verlag · German-language memoir

Fatima El-Tayeb’s European Others: Belonging from Below

Published · June 22, 2011

English edition

Racism & Antiracism · Black Feminism

In European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe, Fatima El-Tayeb examines how racialized communities challenge narrow ideas of who belongs in Europe. Music, performance, activism, gender, and sexuality become routes

Wie Rassismus aus Wörtern spricht: (K)Erben des Kolonialismus im Wissensarchiv deutsche Sprache

Susan Arndt and Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard (editors)

Published · 2011 · publisher lists the fourth edition in 2019

A critical reference work examining colonial histories within German language, knowledge and everyday racial thinking.

Unrast · ISBN 9783897715011

Die Akte James Knopf: Afrodeutsche Wort- und Streitkunst

Philipp Khabo Koepsell / Köpsell

Published · October 9, 2010

Poetry, spoken word and political satire confront everyday racism and the negotiation of Afro-German identity.

Unrast · ISBN 9783897716018

this is not about sadness

Olumide Popoola

Published · 2010

Two women in London build a friendship across differences of age, background and painful memory.

Unrast

Weimar through the Lens of Gender: Prostitution Reform, Woman’s Emancipation, and German Democracy, 1919–33

Julia Roos

Published · 2010

A political and social history connecting prostitution reform, women’s activism and the contradictions of Weimar democracy. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

University of Michigan Press · ISBN 9780472117345

Germans and African Americans: Two Centuries of Exchange

Larry A. Greene and Anke Ortlepp (editors)

Published · 2010

An edited volume tracing German–African American encounters and exchanges across two centuries. Includes Leroy Hopkins’s chapter on Louis Douglas and the Weimar reception of Harlemania.

Other writers

Parzival and Titurel

Wolfram von Eschenbach; translated by Cyril Edwards

Published · 2009

An English translation of the medieval romance featuring the Black queen Belakane and Feirefiz, Parzival’s half-brother. Literary representation, kinship and religious difference; this is not a book by a Black German author.

Oxford World’s Classics · 2009 · English translation

Emotions and Understanding: Wittgensteinian Perspectives

Ylva Gustafsson, Camilla Kronqvist and Michael McEachrane (editors)

Published · November 27, 2008 · copyright 2009

An edited philosophical collection exploring emotion, ethics and interpersonal understanding through approaches informed by Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Palgrave Macmillan · ISBN 9780230201446

Intonations: A Social History of Music and Nation in Luanda, Angola, from 1945 to Recent Times

Marissa J. Moorman

Published · October 15, 2008

A history of popular music, urban life and the making of national identity in Angola during and after colonial rule. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

Ohio University Press · ISBN 9780821418246

Noah Sow’s Deutschland Schwarz Weiß: Understanding Everyday Racism

Published · 2008

German edition

Racism & Antiracism

Deutschland Schwarz Weiß: Der alltägliche Rassismus examines how racism operates through everyday language, media, and assumptions about Germany. Noah Sow combines direct analysis and humor to make familiar practices available for

Afroism: Zur Situation einer ethnischen Minderheit in Deutschland

Natasha A. Kelly

Published · 2008

An early study of Black identity and the situation of an ethnic minority in Germany.

VDM · ISBN 9783639041354

200 Years Later…: Commemorating the 200 Year Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard, published as Nadja Ofuatey-Rahal (editor)

Published · 2008

A commemorative reader connecting histories of enslavement, resistance and abolition with questions of memory.

Werkstatt der Kulturen / AfricAvenir · ISBN 9783981273304

Marie Nejar’s Autobiography: Childhood and Survival in Hamburg

Published · 2007

German edition

Memoir & Life Writing · Black German History · Literature & Arts

Marie Nejar remembers her childhood in Hamburg-St. Pauli during Nazi rule and her later career as the singer Leila Negra. Her account brings survival, relationships, performance, and the continuing pressures of racial stereotyping into view.

Exclusion and Inclusion: Gradations of Whiteness and Socio-Economic Engineering in German Southwest Africa, 1884–1914

Robbie Aitken

Published · 2007

A study of racial hierarchy, social control and the construction of whiteness in colonial German Southwest Africa.

Peter Lang · ISBN 9783039110605

Cemetery of the Murdered Daughters: Feminism, History, and Ingeborg Bachmann

Sara Lennox

Published · October 25, 2006

A study of Ingeborg Bachmann that places feminist interpretation in historical context. Useful for comparative work on literary representation, gender, power and changing approaches to feminist criticism.

University of Massachusetts Press · ISBN 9781558495524

Ankunft – Alltag – Ausreise: Migration und interkulturelle Begegnung in der DDR-Gesellschaft

Christian Th. Müller and Patrice G. Poutrus (editors)

Published · 2005

An edited volume on migrants, political exiles, foreign workers and encounters between newcomers and established residents in East Germany.

Böhlau · ISBN 9783412146054

Antiamerikanismus im 20. Jahrhundert: Studien zu Ost- und Westeuropa

Jan C. Behrends, Árpád von Klimó and Patrice G. Poutrus (editors)

Published · 2005

Comparative historical studies of anti-Americanism in Eastern and Western Europe during the twentieth century.

J. H. W. Dietz Nachf. · ISBN 9783801241544

Charles M. Huber’s Ein Niederbayer im Senegal: A Life Across Two Worlds

Published · 2004

German edition

Memoir & Life Writing · Black German History

Charles M. Huber recounts his Black German childhood in Lower Bavaria and his relationship to his Senegalese heritage. The memoir approaches identity through family, place, and the experience of growing up across cultural expectations.

Tina Campt’s Other Germans: Race, Memory, and Life Stories

Published · 2004

English edition

Black German History · Racism & Antiracism

In Other Germans: Black Germans and the Politics of Race, Gender, and Memory in the Third Reich, Tina Campt brings historical analysis into conversation with the recollections of two Black Germans who lived through National Social

Fremde und Fremd-Sein in der DDR: Zu historischen Ursachen der Fremdenfeindlichkeit in Ostdeutschland

Jan C. Behrends, Thomas Lindenberger and Patrice G. Poutrus (editors)

Published · 2003

An edited collection investigating how East German institutions and everyday practices shaped exclusion, migration and hostility toward people treated as outsiders.

Metropol · ISBN 3936411018

Hitler’s Black Victims: The Historical Experiences of European Blacks, Africans and African Americans During the Nazi Era

Clarence Lusane

Published · 2003

A study of Nazi racial persecution and its legacies, drawing on archival research and survivor interviews. Lusane also addresses the exclusion of surviving Afro-German victims from compensation.

Other writers

Blues in Black and White: A Collection of Essays, Poetry and Conversations

May Ayim; translated by Anne V. Adams

Published · 2003

A translated collection bringing together Ayim’s poetry, essays and conversations on biography, politics, love and the contradictions of everyday life. A central Black German literary voice.

Black German author

Yara-Colette Lemke Muniz de Faria’s Zwischen Fürsorge und Ausgrenzung: Black German Childhood after 1945

Published · 2002

German edition

Black German History · Adoption & Family Separation · Childhood & Education

This study examines how postwar German institutions and welfare organizations approached children born to German mothers and Black American soldiers. It follows the tensions between care, exclusion, institutional separation, and efforts at integration.

Die Erfindung des Goldbroilers: Über den Zusammenhang zwischen Herrschaftssicherung und Konsumentwicklung in der DDR

Patrice G. Poutrus

Published · 2002

A study of poultry production and consumption in East Germany, examining the relationship between SED state planning and everyday consumer expectations.

Böhlau · ISBN 9783412144005

Sverige och de Andra: Postkoloniala perspektiv

Michael McEachrane and Louis Faye (editors)

Published · September 19, 2001

A Swedish-language anthology examining how colonial histories and ideas about race continue to shape Sweden, national identity, migration and cultural life. The title translates as Sweden and the Others: Postcolonial Perspectives.

Natur & Kultur · ISBN 9789127084698

Hans Massaquoi’s Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany

Published · 1999

English edition

Memoir & Life Writing · Black German History · Racism & Antiracism

Hans Massaquoi recalls growing up in Hamburg as the son of a German mother and a Liberian father. His account follows childhood aspirations, racial exclusion, and the struggle to survive Nazi rule and war.

Who Is a German? Historical and Modern Perspectives on Africans in Germany

Leroy T. Hopkins, Jr. (editor)

Published · 1999

Historical and contemporary essays on Africans in Germany, national identity and Black German perspectives. Includes Hopkins’s “Race, Nationality and Culture: The African Diaspora in Germany.” Free full text from the publishing institute.

Other writers

Ika Hügel-Marshall’s Invisible Woman / Daheim unterwegs: A Black German Life

Published · 1998

English and German editions

Memoir & Life Writing · Black German History · Adoption & Family Separation · Racism & Antiracism

Ika Hügel-Marshall’s memoir traces her childhood in postwar Germany, separation from her family into institutional care, and the racism she faced growing up. Her later connections with Black German communities and her search for her African American father open new possibilities for family and belonging.

The Imperialist Imagination: German Colonialism and Its Legacy

Sara Friedrichsmeyer, Sara Lennox and Susanne Zantop (editors)

Published · 1998

Essays examining German colonialism and its cultural legacies through literature, visual culture and ideas about race, gender and national identity. Provides historical context for research on belonging and racial formation.

University of Michigan Press · ISBN 9780472066827

Marion Kraft’s The African Continuum: Black Women’s Literary Traditions

Published · 1995

English edition

Black Feminism · Literature & Arts

This study examines how African cultural traditions and storytelling practices shape contemporary African American women’s writing. Kraft considers narrative voice, relationships among women, inherited stories, and literary forms through a Black feminist approach.

Schwarze Frauen der Welt: Marion Kraft on Europe and Migration

Published · 1994

German edition

Black Feminism · Racism & Antiracism

Co-edited by Marion Kraft and Rukhsana Shamim Ashraf-Khan, this anthology brings Black women’s perspectives into discussions of Europe and migration. Kraft’s contribution addresses feminism and women of African descent in Europe.

Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out

Published · December 4, 1991

English and German editions

Black Feminism · Black German History · Memoir & Life Writing

History, poetry, interviews, and personal testimony meet in Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out, the English translation of Farbe bekennen. The collection places Black women’s voices at the center of German history and

Colorblind Love or Racial Responsibility? The Adoption of Black German Children to Postwar America

Silke Hackenesch

Forthcoming · 2027 · New York University Press

Silke Hackenesch examines the adoption of Black German children by African American families after the Second World War. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme. The forthcoming book draws on archives, Black newspapers, military correspondence, and personal testimony to place adoption within Cold War and civil rights history.

Im Vertrauern

Sharon Dodua Otoo

Forthcoming · March 10, 2027

Forthcoming: literary letters to Black women authors explore grief, anger, public language and ways to build understanding. Publisher’s announced publication date: March 10, 2027.

Africa, Africans, and the First World War

Michelle Moyd

In development · publication date not announced

Book project on African experiences of the First World War. Listed as work in progress in the UW–Madison Afropean 2026 programme; no publication date is supplied. Cambridge University Press (under contract, according to the programme).

Roses for Angela

Jamele Watkins

In development · publication date not announced

Working book title on East German transnational solidarity with Angela Davis. The UW–Madison Afropean 2026 programme describes the manuscript as under review. Publisher not announced in the programme.

Race and German Identity: Biracial Descendants of Military Occupation, 1920–1970

Julia Roos

In development · publication date not announced

Book manuscript on two generations of German descendants of Allied soldiers of colour. The UW–Madison Afropean 2026 programme identifies it as in progress. Cambridge University Press (under contract, according to the programme).

Between Worlds: Ethiopian Adoptee Identity

Kassaye Berhanu-Mac Donald

Published · 2024 · Book chapter

A firsthand essay on Ethiopian adoptee identity, organizing and belonging. Chapter 13 of The Global Ethiopian Diaspora: Migrations, Connections, and Belongings, edited by Shimelis Bonsa Gulema, Hewan Girma and Mulugeta F. Dinbabo (Boydell & Brewer), pp. 330–344.

Publisher / book information →

Beautiful Dreams: Music and Horses in English and Amharic

Ellenore Angelidis and Leyla Angelidis; illustrated by Nahosenay Negussie

Published · October 21, 2023 · English/Amharic edition

English and Amharic edition

Children’s Books · Childhood & Education

A bilingual picture book about imagination, music and horses, published by OHBD Ready Set Go Books. Leyla is an Ethiopian adoptee and a contributor to Lions Roaring Far From Home; BGHRA featured that anthology in 2023. A cultural and literacy resource rather than adoption scholarship.

Publisher / book information →

Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees

Edited by Aselefech Evans, Kassaye Berhanu-MacDonald and Maureen McCauley

Published · Adoptee anthology

Ethiopian adoptees across multiple countries write about family, race, culture and belonging in their own words. BGHRA’s 2023 conference included a presentation with Kassaye MacDonald, Maureen McCauley and Leyla Angelidis.

Publisher / book information →

Watch the BGHRA presentation

Über Rassismus und Widerstand. Eine US-amerikanisch-deutsch-äthiopische Lebensgeschichte

Andreas Nakic and Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst, with Diane Truly

Published · September 2019 · Metropol

Andy Nakic’s U.S., German and Ethiopian life history combines autobiographical testimony with historical context on racism, adoption and resistance. Born in the United States and raised in Germany after adoption, he reunited with his mother as an adult. ISBN 978-3-86331-492-7.

Publisher / book information →

Watch Andy and Diane Truly’s Toronto 2018 BGHRA discussion

Andromeda, Princess of Ethiopia: The Legend in the Stars

Worku Mulat, Ellenore Angelidis and Leyla Angelidis; illustrated by Daniel Getahun

Published · Bilingual children’s book

English and Amharic edition

Children’s Books · Childhood & Education

A retelling of the Andromeda story with Ethiopian settings and cultural connections. The publisher lists an English/Amharic edition and describes additional Ethiopian-language editions. A resource for family reading and cultural learning from OHBD Ready Set Go Books.

Publisher / book information →