Showing Our Colors

Anne V. Adams

ISBN 10: 0870237608 / ISBN 13: 9780870237607

Verlag: University of Massachusetts Press, US, 1991

Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out is an English translation of the German book Farbe bekennen edited by author May Ayim, Katharina Oguntoye, and Dagmar Schultz. It is the first published book by Afro-Germans. It is the first written use of the term Afro-German. A compilation of texts, testimonials and other secondary sources, the collection brings to life the stories of Black German women living amid racism, sexism and other institutional constraints in Germany. The book draws on themes and motifs prevalent in Germany from the earliest colonial interactions between Germany and black "otherness," up through the lived experiences of Black German women in the 1980s. It was groundbreaking not only for the degree to which it examined the Afro-German experience, which had been generally ignored in the larger popular discourse, but also as a forum for women to have a voice in constructing this narrative. The book also acted as a source for these Afro-German women to have a platform where their stories can be heard. The stories that were told helped the development of an Afro-German community as a common theme throughout Showing Our Colors was the idea of feeling alone and as though there was no one to relate to. The discussion of this loss of connection to others helped Afro-Germans come together and unite. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers LU-9780870237607

Inhaltsangabe:

Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out is an English translation of the German book Farbe bekennen, edited by author May Ayim, Katharina Oguntoye, and Dagmar Schultz. It is the first published book by Afro-Germans. It is the first written use of the term Afro-German.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor:

MAY OPITZ (later known as May Ayim, 1960–1996) was a Black German poet, educator, and activist whose academic thesis on the history of Afro-Germans formed the scholarly backbone of Showing Our Colors, or Farbe bekennen. A founding figure of the Afro-German movement, she co-founded both the organization ADEFRA (Afro-Deutsche Frauen/Afro-German Women) and the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD). Her poetry collections Blues in Schwarz Weiss (1995) and nachtgesang (1997) are landmark works of Black German literature. She died in Berlin in 1996.

KATHARINA OGUNTOYE is an Afro-German historian, educator, and activist based in Berlin. She co-founded ADEFRA and ISD, and is the author of Eine afro-deutsche Geschichte (1997; English translation, 2024), a pioneering work documenting the history of Black people in Germany. A recipient of the 2024 Obermayer Award, Oguntoye has spent decades recovering and preserving the largely unacknowledged history of Black Germans.

DAGMAR SCHULTZ (born 1941, Berlin) is a German sociologist, filmmaker, publisher, and lecturer. She co-founded the Feminist Women's Health Center in Berlin―the first of its kind in Germany―and co-founded Orlanda Women's Press, serving as its publisher until 2001. She habilitated at the Institute of Sociology at the Free University of Berlin in 1989 and taught seminars at the JFK Institute of North American Studies. A longtime collaborator and close friend of poet Audre Lorde, Schultz co-produced Hope in My Heart: The May Ayim Story (2007) and directed the acclaimed documentary Audre Lorde―The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992 (2012).

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Showing Our Colors
Verlag: University of Massachusetts Press, US
Erscheinungsdatum: 1991
Einband: Paperback
Zustand: New