Contemporary Germany (224-0-1)
Topic
Contemporary Germany: Germany and the African Dias
Instructors
Alexander John Holt
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-415: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
Though Germany has long conceived of itself as a white nation, it has been a temporary and permanent home for people of African descent since the Middle Ages. And white Germanophone authors from Franz Kafka to Günter Grass have celebrated and appropriated elements of Black popular culture in their work. This course will largely confine itself to the post-war and post-wall periods (1945 to today) in exploring images of Germany in the works of Black writers, filmmakers, and musicians from Germany and abroad and images of Blackness in the works of white German authors and filmmakers. In doing so, it will treat the contemporary legacies of German colonialism, transformations of discussions about race and racism following World War II and the Holocaust, and conceptions of multiculturalism and Europeanism. East German homages to Black activists and political leaders like Angela Davis and Nelson Mandela and West German claims of the ‘utopic potential' of African American culture will provide material for discussions of internationalist solidarity and cultural appropriation. Moreover, students will engage with the works of Black German and Afro-German writers and artists who critique Germany's self-conception as white, as well as texts by thinkers from the African diaspora (e.g., W.E.B. Du Bois and Audre Lorde) for whom experiences in Germany served as sources of intellectual and artistic stimulation.
Learning Objectives
After successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Analyze the formal features of a wide range of media, spanning from literary and theoretical texts to films and music;
- Describe the historical contexts of postwar and contemporary Germany, as well as discussions of colonial legacies and legacies of racialized and gender-based violence from the first half of the twentieth century;
- Explain the impact of these contexts and legacies on popular and theoretical discussions of race, gender, and identity in Germany;
- Utilize an array of theoretical and analytical tools to trace the development of racial constructs over time and differentiate between the formation of such constructs in Germany and the United States;
- Describe the various ways in which Black Germans and Afro-Germans have constituted communities through cultural endeavors, political activism, and intellectual debate.
Teaching Method
lecture
Evaluation Method
Attendance
Class participation
Paper, final
Papers
Presentations
Readings
Writing assignments
Class Materials (Required)
Olivia Wenzel, 1,000 Coils of Fear, Catapult, 2022, 978-1646220502
Class Attributes
Historical Studies Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity