New volume on Black German literature, edited by Jeannette Oholi

During my postdoctoral fellowship at Dartmouth, one of the projects I worked on was an edited volume on Black German literature. The volume "Schwarze deutsche Literatur: Ästhetische und aktivistische Interventionen von den 1980er Jahren bis heute" (Black German Literature: Aesthetic and Activist Interventions from the 1980s to the Present) has now been published by transcript Verlag.

The focus is on the question of how Black authors intervene in socio-political discourses through literature and activism and create new aesthetics. The volume comprises 15 contributions and is divided into four chapters: 1. activism and literature/literary studies, 2. memory and knowledge production, 3. aesthetics and literary traditions and 4. delimitations and genres.

The volume brings together different perspectives on Black German literature, as the contributors are students, doctoral candidates, postdocs and professors, writers and activists. It is intended to appeal to a large and diverse audience with both prior knowledge and an initial insight into conversations about Black German literature.

As a student, I became curious about Black writers in Germany, but there was little research available at the time, most of it in English. This volume is therefore deliberately published in German in order to contribute to making the dynamic field of research on Black German literature visible and accessible, especially in institutions in German-speaking countries.

Having taught my course "Black German Writing" at Dartmouth in fall 2024 and experienced the great interest of students in the topic, I also hope that the volume will give impulses for transnational conversations and be used as a resource in teaching German Studies in various countries.

Jeannette Oholi

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