Many writers from different countries have addressed racism in Germany in their fiction. In this course we will examine a range of English-language texts focusing on Anti-Black racism across varied temporal and socio-political settings. Esi Edugyan's Half Blood Blues (2011) is set in Paris and Berlin between the late 1930s and the early 1990s surrounding the elusive story of the trumpet-player Hieronymus Falk, while Ama Ata Aidoo's acclaimed 'prose-poem-novel' Our Sister Killjoy (1977) conveys Sissie's experiences in and insights into 1960s Bavaria. Darryl Pinckney's Black Deutschland (2016), in turn, depicts American expatriate Jed's explorations of 1980s West Berlin and his alienated self, whereas Sharon Otoo's novella Synchronicity (2015) is a meditation on Berlin graphic designer Cee's gradual loss of 'her colours'. From a non-fiction perspective, Johny Pitts reflects on Germany in his account Afropean: Notes from Black Europe (2019), recalling Caryl Phillips' The European Tribe (1987). The broad aesthetic and topical spectrum of these texts will also be discussed in relation to Black history in Europe and Germany as well as current anti-racist interventions – including ethical questions of how to engage these topics in our classroom.
For EAS-1854 and several other modules, the seminar can best be combined with the course "The Art of the Essay: From de Montaigne to the Video Essay" (see module list).
Please order and read Half Blood Blues and Black Deutschland before the beginning of the seminar and order Synchronicity on time for us to read it together throughout the month of December.
Further course materials will be made available via Digicampus.
Anmelderegeln
Diese Veranstaltung gehört zum Anmeldeset "ELW/ALW/NELK Vertiefungsmodul MA: HS".
Folgende Regeln gelten für die Anmeldung:
Es wird eine festgelegte Anzahl von Plätzen in den Veranstaltungen verteilt.
Die Plätze in den betreffenden Veranstaltungen wurden am 28.10.2020 um 10:00 verteilt. Weitere Plätze werden evtl. über Wartelisten zur Verfügung gestellt.
Diese Regel gilt von 02.10.2020 10:00 bis 26.10.2020 10:00. Die Anmeldung zu maximal 1 Veranstaltungen des Anmeldesets ist erlaubt.
Die Anmeldung ist möglich von 02.10.2020, 10:00 bis 26.10.2020, 10:00.
