Reviews for Cultural Portrayals Of African Americans

The average rating for Cultural Portrayals Of African Americans based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-05-23 00:00:00 Darlene Cooper Farbe Bekennen (translated title: Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out) is a book written by different Afro-German women about their lives and experiences in Germany. Personally, I wouldn't use the label 'Afro-German' for myself (I will elaborate on that later) but these women have claimed it for themselves (this is the first written use of the term Afro-German in German literature), so I'll respect their decision when referring to them. Farbe Bekennen is a compilation of texts, testimonials and other secondary sources. The collection focuses on the acts of racism and sexism that Afro-German women (and people in general) are exposed to in their day to day lives. 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. This collection was groundbreaking due to its bold and unapologetic portrayal of Blackness in Germany, and since it gave voice to a group of people that have until then been overlooked. This book gave them a platform where their stories would be heard. Up to this day, it is hailed as a classical and iconic text of the Afro-German movement. Unfortunately, it is currently sold out / out of print. Through Farbe Bekennen a lot of necessary and vital community work could be done. One of the main themes and aims of this collection was to bring Black women together, to help them share their differences and similarities and start connecting to people with similar experiences than them. It can be grouped with Audre Lorde's efforts in Germany (notably Berlin) to bring Black German women together through hosting read-ins and discussions. Lorde is even credited with coining the term "Afro-German".now i'm telling you as your afro-german sister, that by choosing to see me as a woman without color and without her own heritage, or as a puzzling being, somehow exotic, somehow an object you are ready to leave me hanging in a similar desperation. - Katharina OguntoyeBy virtue of expressing their frustration with their marginalization in German society, these women affirm their identities as transnational and intercultural beings. Farbe Bekennen is a testament to black German women's struggle for recognition of personhood. The collection is split into three parts that are chronologically organised: 1) the historical origins of German perceptions of Africa and Blackness during the time of colonialism and the time leading up to the two World Wars, 2) the Brown Babies and accompanying social problems immediately following World War II in Germany and 3) anecdotes and narratives contextualized in lingering modern racism in Germany (the time of the 70s and 80s). Some of the chapters were part of May Ayim's dissertations, others are written as essays or poems by different Afro-German women, some of which are simply conversations written down or critical biographical profiles. The first chapter of the novel describes pre-existing opinions and ideas of Africans in pre-colonial Germany. May Ayim focuses mostly on religious ideas, particularly the idea that anything Black is a mark of evil in the Christian faith. In this chapter Ayim also discuss the root of the word Moor and its subsequent switch to the word Negro. Moor served in the Middle Ages to "differentiate between Black and white heathens". The word was not necessary tied to a negative idea of skin color. However, in the 18th century Negroes became the more come term that was especially negative with the expansion of colonialism and slavery. Following the first segment of Farbe Bekennen is the testimonial of Doris Reiprich and Erika Ngambi ul Kio as they talk about their experience being Afro-German in Germany both before and after World War II. Hearing these elderly ladies talk (both of them were 65+ years old at the time of the interview) was by far my favorite portion of the entire book. It was interested to hear how their parents met in the early 20th century and that they recall their childhood as being quite the happy one, even though they were excluded from certain activities (eg. they weren't allowed to join a gymnastics club). However, as adults they struggled to find jobs. During the war the women faced mounting discrimination. Erika survived with her husband, who was able to find roles as an actor in colonial films about Germany. Doris, however, stayed at home in Danzig. In one incident she talks about nearly being sterilized, because of a Nazi forced sterilization program of all colored people in that area. I was incredibly shocked to hear of the hundreds of Black Germans who had to undergo a forced sterilisation in the Third Reich. I am angry that we never learned about this at school. Moreover, I also found it interesting to get a look at the entertainment industry since many of the participants in this book have at one point or another worked on movies. It was eery seeing the pictures of that time. Now both sisters still live in Germany and feel happy. Doris states, "After the Nazi period the hostilities toward us quickly tapered off. I can't forget everything from that time, but I'm no longer miserable either." Hearing their experiences and that their faith in their own Germanness was never shaken was truly inspiring. Even though I never faced similar hardships, I felt like I could relate to them, especially when they rejected Africa as their home (Doris says: "After the war we wanted to get out of Poland and go back to Germany. The Russians offered us free passage to Africa."), since it has nothing to do with them. They're German. End of the story. In many of the women's accounts they express the sentiment of being an otherness despite not knowing anything else. In their minds, they were German: they spoke German, read German and even were habituated to believe the conditioned racism that was asserted in children's books. They knew nothing else but the German lifestyle and culture, but for some reason unbeknown to them, they were outcast and ostracized. I feel exactly the same way. That's why I reject the label Afro-German. I have nothing to do with Africa. Unlike most African American, I have the privilege of knowing where my ancestor came from. I am not stripped from my history. My father is from Cameroon. Why on earth should I claim the whole of Africa for myself now? What do I have to do with Ghana, Zaire or Libya? Just as little as you do, probably. Here in Germany, white Germans don't differentiate between themselves and, let's say, a French German girl or an Italian German boy. They're just Germans to them, as long as they have white skin. So, there's no logic in labelling me any differently. One part of my parents is German, I was born and raised here, I'll probably never leave. I'm German. No hyphens needed. End of the story. After the interview with Doris and Erika, the book resumes Ayim's history of racism in Germany, picking up in the days after World War II. Ayim quotes newspaper articles and government reports to show how the German public conceived of the so-called "occupation babies," children born of German mothers and African-American soldiers stationed in Germany after the war. Ayim uses the prejudice against both the babies and their mothers to show how racism and sexism are often intertwined. "Since loose morals were always ascribed to the mothers, Afro-German girls were not only subjected to racist preconceptions, they were also accused of being inclined toward the mother's 'aberrant behavior,'" she writes. This is further illustrated by the next few chapters, which include interviews with Afro-German women such as Helga Emde, who grew up facing that double prejudice in the aftermath of World War II. Farbe Bekennen is an incredibly important and interesting document in time. I appreciate and respect all the hard work that has been put into it. However, you might be wondering why I "only" rated this book 3 stars. First and foremost, I want to clarify that a 3 star rating is a pretty good rating for me. It means I've enjoyed the book. Nothing more, nothing less. But let me elaborate on the three issues that I've had with this collection: 1) This book had the worst lectorate I've seen in a while. There were spelling errors, grammatical errors or just errors with the printing in general on almost every single page. I had the feeling that the book was formerly printed in a different format and they didn't bother to look through the text again, since they were many hyphens to be found where they didn't belong (on words in the middle of a sentence that formerly probably were at the end of the line and therefore split by a line break). I don't fault the writers for this. Many of the women featured in here aren't even professional writers and errors happen. However, that's what a lectorate is for, removing these errors. Unfortunately, I am extremely nit-picky when it comes to things like this and every error pulled me out of the narrative. 2) I didn't enjoy May Ayim's sections of this book. Like, at all. Her sections were part of her master's thesis, so the writing is more on the academic end. However, it felt extremely unauthentic and just poorly written to me. Her writing style annoyed me, and even though she was writing about extremely interesting and important subjects (her sections always provided the context and historical facts), I didn't look forward to reading them. I enjoyed the personal testimonials of the other women much much more. 3) The book was, in part, too unreflected and assuming for me. It felt like the editors (Ayim, Oguntoye & Schulz) wanted to speak for all Black German women, assuming that all of them would be comfortable with the label "Afro-German", assuming that all of them experienced similar things to them. That annoyed me since I'm a Black German woman as well who really didn't connect and relate to most of what they said about their own identities and outlook on life. I'm aware that the book is just a product of its time, and a differentiated look on Africa (as a continent with 50+ countries and even more cultures) wasn't common yet, but I was annoyed how these Afro-German women continued to lump the whole of Africa together as if it was just one big thing. Similarly, I couldn't quite understand their frustrations when it came to visiting Africa and being seen as "white" over there. Like, what did you expect? That these people would just welcome you as their own even though you have like zero connections to them? It was pretty apparent that a lot of the biases that these women were complaining about, they themselves had internalised... which, again, is human and not a problem, I just hoped that would've been addressed as well. So, like I said, it's an important book that everyone should read, especially if you're German, but I personally appreciated it more than I enjoyed it.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-06-26 00:00:00 Roger Ryan This was a very interesting read for various reasons. I really liked learning about the history of Afro-Germans, like when and how the first Africans came to Germany and how they were treated or regarded by society. And how that changed or evolved by time. I also thought it super interesting how we use 'black' in our language and why. The personal reports of Afro-German women were interesting, too, as it gave an insight into the personal experiences of various women of different times and ages. For me, as a German,I could relate to many things that were said and compare it to my experiences and knowledge of the topic growing up and today. The book was published in a time when Germany hadn't been reunited and so mainly represented my early childhood and teenage life. The question this book raised for me was if anything has changed in the past 24 years. I grew up in a small town where there were no Afro-Germans, I'm not sure if there are any today. Today I live in Hanover, and here the Afro-German community is bigger, although I can't say I really have any contact with it. So I can't say anything about it.