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Germany's Citizens: the African-German Community in The Carol Aisah Blackshire-Belay, ed.. The African-German Experience, Critical Essays. Westport and London: Praeger, 1996. xiii + 136 pp. $52.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-275-95079-8. Reviewed by Daniel J. Walther Published on H-Africa (August, 1997) Usually when discussions arise about the fu‐ by their fellow German citizens because of their ture of Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall skin color. and unification, they include debates about the It is precisely the objective of Carol Aisah cost of unification, the apparent differences be‐ Blackshire-Belay's edited volume to illuminate the tween East and West Germans (along with calls plight of this community as it attempts to fnd its from both sides to raise the Wall again), and the place and identity in the New Germany. Heavily rise of German nationalism. Without a doubt, influenced and inspired by the ground breaking many focus on what is Germany now and what it work, Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women will be as well as what it means to be German and Speak Out, published originally in German in who is German. These conversations, especially 1986,[1] the contributors aim "to analyze the way those that take place in Germany, more often than African Germans have presented themselves and not make certain assumptions about who and the way others have viewed them" (p. ix). In doing what Germany is. so, they address issues of "identity, ethnicity, and Unfortunately, such discussions fail to recog‐ self-perception found in the African-German com‐ nize that Germany and Germans are not from a munity" (p. ix). single "nationality" and general look the same. In‐ They approach this by looking at the various deed, this is far from the truth. In fact, despite of‐ ways members of this community, either individ‐ ficial political statements to the contrary, Ger‐ ually or collectively, have sought to express them‐ many is a multinational, multiethnic country. This selves and the ways their white compatriots have is most readily apparent in the existence of the seen them through self-reflection, their relation‐ African-German community, a collection of indi‐ ships to each other, in the popular media, the sim‐ viduals who feel German inwardly in many re‐ ilarities and differences to the African-American spects but outwardly are not quite often accepted experience, and the effects and significance of his‐ tory. Thus, they endeavor to answer the following H-Net Reviews questions: "(1) Precisely to what and whom are This cultural dislocation, Asante continues, is fur‐ we referring when we talk about African Ger‐ ther exacerbated by the fact that "because they do mans or black Germans? (2) Is this group any dif‐ not know their African roots, they may feel Ger‐ ferent from other African-descended people man" (p. 5). Thus, they are rejected by one aspect throughout the world living in predominantly of their double consciousness and are unfamiliar white societies?" (p. x). with the other. Asante nevertheless offers a solu‐ Therefore, they not only discuss the African- tion by asserting that the African Germans have German experience using the voices of the to "become connected, attached, and situated in African Germans themselves, but they also at‐ the historical place of the African people by a con‐ tempt to situate it in "the struggle of all blacks in scious commitment to the discovery of self in ev‐ the diaspora in general" (p. ix). Ultimately, this ery dimension" (p. 10). book challenges the assumption held by German Marilyn Sephocle, in her essay "Black Ger‐ politicians and other members of the German mans and Their Compatriots," similarly examines comity that their nation is not a multiethnic one. the position of African Germans through her in‐ The frst essay, Molefi Kete Asante's "African vestigation of German institutions and other Ger‐ Germans and the Problems of Cultural Location," mans view them from the perspective of contextualizes the African Germans within Ger‐ the"objects" and history. More importantly, she man society by exploring the problems encoun‐ picks up where Asante left off when she looks at tered by African Germans in "cultural location" the initiatives and goals pursued by African Ger‐ because of the racist construction of identity and mans in search of their own identity and place nationality in Germany. Asante states that "one is within a "hostile" or "unwelcoming" German soci‐ culturally located at all times and the idea that we ety. In fact, this becomes the primary focus of the can be culturally dislocated, a possibility emerg‐ piece since her historical overview is primarily ing from being on the fringes of a strong core cul‐ superficial. This may be because such historical ture, helps us to define the meaning of cultural lo‐ surveys are explored elsewhere in greater detail. cation in the case of the African German" (p. 1). Specifically, she examines two organizations, Asante argues that this is a result of the Ger‐ namely the Black German Initiative [Initiative man conceptualization of race and nation. In Ger‐ Schwarze Deutsche (ISD)] and the IAF, Intressen‐ many, culture and nationality are merely expres‐ gemeinschaft der mit Auslaendern verheirateten sions of race (pp.7-9). Because the dominant cul‐ Frauen [The community of interests of women ture in Germany is white, the African Germans who are married to foreigners]. While the IAF is a are "forced to live their lives on someone else's political organization with a broader mission terms than their own" (p.5). In other words, to be than the ISD, the Initiative Schwarze Deutsche is considered German, "one had to be German, not the foundation of the African-German movement German and African, or German and Chinese, but which was founded in 1986 by thirty African Ger‐ German and German" (p. 5). The upshot of this is mans who realized the similarity of their situation that despite the fact that they are German citizens (p. 15). This realization brought about a incipient and carry German passports, they are not consid‐ recognition of who they were individually and as ered "truly German because they do not have a community within the context of a New Ger‐ pure German ancestry" (p. 5). many where they still face many problems. Their skin color is, therefore, a statement of Sephocle's states that these African Germans the "impurity" of their ancestry and thus other were emboldened by contact with Audre Lourde, Germans perceive of them as foreigners (p. 9). an African-American poet, to feel more positively 2 H-Net Reviews about themselves and "empowered with a new African Germans, however within in the realm of sense of mission" (p. 16). They began to see them‐ popular culture, namely in flm and television selves as a "potential challenge for the rest of Ger‐ since the early days of the Federal Republic in or‐ many, the challenge of rethinking German identi‐ der to reveal "the function of culture as a histori‐ ty in a less ethnocentric way" (pp. 16-17). The ISD cal construct" (p. 29). Specifically, she contrasts is not a political organization, though, but rather a the trend between 1952 and 1991. She focuses pri‐ cultural one which "stresses the specificity of the marily on the 1952 flm Toxi, "the story of the fve- African-German identity. In addition it has a so‐ year-old daughter of a black American soldier and cial and psychological mission vis-a-vis its mem‐ a light-skinned German mother" (p. 29), and Cher‐ bers and the rest of German society." (p. 17) no Jobatey, the African-German anchor of a popu‐ Sephocle concludes that this organization still lar early morning news show in Germany since has much to do, for through personal accounts 1991. and a quick historical overview she illustrates While she starts off strong with a detailed the‐ that "to some, having an African-German identity oretical foundation and provides a good overview is not an issue, it is an impossibility; to others it is of the German public's response (including from an incompatibility; and to a small minority it is a the African-German community) to various black fragment of a multicultural and multiracial soci‐ German entertainers, her ultimate contention, ety (p. 26). In Sephocle's view, though, this latter namely that "ethnic and national identity are not group is not even dependable in making Germany always connected" (p. 29) remains underdevel‐ a hospitable place for African German and other oped. In fact, the lack of a more thorough critical ethnic groups (p. 26). She ends by stating that "for analysis and follow-up is the major detraction the three hundred forty thousand African Ger‐ from an otherwise interesting subject matter. mans living in Germany today, certain walls--un‐ Meanwhile, Leroy Hopkins and Tina Campt like the Berlin Wall--certain walls remain hardly continue to investigate what it means to be an movable." African German by situating them in the larger While I agree with Sephocle's last statement, I context of the African diaspora, building upon believe her previous comment does not give Sephocle's reference to African-American influ‐ enough credit to the initiatives of the new "Multi- ences . Both compare and contrast the African- Kulti" movement sweeping through Germany in German and American experiences. response to violent attacks against foreigners. Ad‐ Specifically, Hopkins in "Inventing Self: Paral‐ mittedly, though, these individuals tend to advo‐ lels in the African-German and African-American cate friendship and acceptance vis-a-vis foreign‐ Experience" examines "the problem of identity in ers, while not addressing specifically that there the [African] diaspora ... from the comparative might actually be non-white skinned German citi‐ perspective of its American and German perspec‐ zens.
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