GERM 301 - Senior Seminar

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2021/22a: Germany in the Time of Black Lives Matter. Activist, sociologist and filmmaker Auma Obama, Barack Obama’s half-sister, once said that she found her own voice in Germany. In fact, Germany is home to many Black intellectuals, artists, and people from all across the African diaspora. Yet while Germany has been praised for its Erinnerungskultur (culture of remembrance) around the Holocaust, that legacy has often overshadowed Germany’s efforts to deal with its colonial past or its present-day racism, leaving many Black Germans feeling invisible, ignored and discriminated against. Fortunately, in the wake of the international Black Lives Matter movement, their existence, history and cultural contributions have begun to receive some long overdue attention. This seminar explores the rich culture that diverse groups of black and brown people in Germany have created while at the same time addressing the history of people of color in Germany and some of the issues and barriers they have faced or continue to face. Together we analyze a range of political, scholarly, and literary texts along with a variety of films, plays, music, dance and art works by authors and artists such as Mo Asumang, May Ayim, Sheri Hagen, Audre Lorde, Ilka Hügel Marshall, Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi, Branwen Okpako, Sharon Dodua Otoo, and Melanie Raabe. Silke von der Emde.

Prerequisite(s): GERM 260 or the equivalent.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS

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