Mobilizing Black Germany: Afro-German Women and the Making of a Transnational Movement

310 Pages·2020·3.148 MB·English

by  Tiffany N. Florvil

Mobilizing
black
Germany
afro-German WoMen and the
Making of a transnational MoveMent
tiffany n. florvil
MOBILIZING BLACK GERMANY
BLACK INTERNATIONALISM
Edited by Keisha N. Blain and Quito Swan
This series grapples with the international dimensions of the Black freedom struggle and
the diverse ways people of African descent articulated global visions of freedom and forged
transnational collaborations.
A list of books in this series appears at the end of this book.
BLACK INTERNATIONALISM
MOBILIZING BLACK
GERMANY
AFRO-GERMAN WOMEN AND
THE MAKING OF A TRANSNATIONAL MOVEMENT
TIFFANY N. FLORVIL
© 2020 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Florvil, Tiffany Nicole, author.
Title: Mobilizing Black Germany: Afro-German women and the
making of a transnational movement / Tiffany N. Florvil.
Description: Urbana: University of Illinois Press, [2020] | Series:
Black internationalism | Includes bibliographical references
and index. |
Identifi rs: lccn 2020027486 (print) | lccn 2020027487
(ebook) | isbn 9780252043512 (cloth) | isbn 9780252085413
(paperback) | isbn 9780252052392 (ebook)
Subjects: lcsh : Afrodeutsche Frauen. | Initiative Schwarze
Menschen in Deutschland. | Women, Black—Political
activity—Germany. | Women political activists—Germany. |
Blacks—Political activity—Germany. | Feminism—Germany.
| Social movements—Germany. | African diaspora. |
Internationalism.
Classificati n: lcc dd78 .b55 f55 2020 (print) | lcc dd78.b55
(ebook) | ddc 305.48/896043—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020027486
lc ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020027487
For Glenda and Isaac
with so much love and gratitude

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xv
Introduction: A “Black Coming Out” 1
1 Black German Women and Audre Lorde 25
2 The Making of a Modern Black German Movement 53
3 ADEFRA, Afrekete, and Black German Women’s Kinship 77
4 Black German Women’s Intellectual Activism and Transnational
Crossings 104
5 Diasporic Spatial Politics with Black History Month in Berlin 130
6 Black German Feminist Solidarity and Black Internationalism 157
Epilogue: Black Lives Matter in Germany 178
Notes 183
Selected Bibliography 245
Index 263

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Whoa, it has been a long road to get to this point. But Mobilizing Black Germany
has been worth it! Through the course of writing this book, I grew and learned
so much about who I am as a researcher, thinker, scholar, activist, and friend. I
also learned to balance familial obligations in new ways, though I still struggle
a little on that front. But writing this book was not an easy task, and I would be
lying if I didn’t mention that there were many times that I despaired. I suffered
bouts of depression and sadness, which only exacerbated my anxieties and in-
securities. But I persisted! I persevered because many of family (biological and
chosen), friends, and colleagues lifted me up and made me feel like it was pos-
sible to write this book. Here I offer my gratitude to those people who shaped,
assisted, and loved me and this project throughout the years.
I need to take my appreciation all the way back to my undergraduate years
at Florida State University. I want to thank my undergraduate professors, es-
pecially those in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics and the
Department of History. In Modern Languages and Linguistics, Birgit Maier-
Katkin’s courses were my favorite because I developed my German voice and
cultivated a critical literary eye. In History, Maxine Jones modeled what an
African American historian could be and accomplish, and she was the only Af-
rican American professor in the department. Dr. Jones pushed you to strive for
excellence in her classes. Both of these professors shaped me and my academic
pursuits.