Konferenz: Gendering the Black Diaspora. 2nd „Black Diaspora and Germany“ Workshop, 04/2011, Erlangen

DFG Young Scholars Network „Black Diaspora and Germany“, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Erlangen

Zeit: 15.-16.04.2011
Ort: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Amerikanistik/American Studies, Bismarckstraße 1c, 91054 Erlangen, Room C 301
Deadline: 08.04.2011
Sandra Gunning, Tera W. Hunter and Michele Mitchell posited in 2003 that „[t]he use of gender as a category of analysis remains something of a challenge for African Diaspora studies.“ Stephen Small later argued: „[O]ne does not and cannot define, conceptualize, theorize, or research the Black Diaspora in Europe without bringing gender ideologies and the experiences of Black women to the foreground.“
The focus of the second „Black Diaspora in Germany“ Young Scholars Network workshop entails three aspects. First, we will address the theoretical and methodological implications of the issue of gender within the Black Diaspora in Europe.  The social construct known as the Diaspora can neither transcend gender, nor can it serve as an epistemological or historical category of analysis without careful consideration of the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Utilising the theoretical and methodological interface between Diaspora and Gender Studies, we seek to underscore the significance of gender in our analysis and theorisation of Black diasporic experiences in Europe and with a particular focus on Germany.
Secondly, this workshop will examine and analyse the development of a collective Afro-/Black German identity and this group’s political activism during the mid-1980s and thereafter. The emergence of a self-defined name, e.g., Afro-/Black German, and „imagined“ Black diasporic community in West Germany was primarily advanced by
Afro-/Black German female activists and based on specifically ‚Black female‘ experiences and analyses. African American feminists, and other feminists of colour contested the construction of a Black Diaspora based on universalized patriarchal parameters. These women notably influenced not only Afro-/Black German activism, but also the development of Afro-/Black German Studies.
 
Lastly, the workshop will call into question constructions of Black masculinities and femininities, along with the issue of agency and counter-discourses of Black men and women throughout various periods of German historiography.
Keynote speakers: Dr. Gloria Wekker, Professor at the Institute for Media and Culture Studies and Director of GEM, Centre of Expertise on Gender, Ethnicity and Multiculturality, Universiteit Utrecht; and Judy Gummich, long-time Human Rights activist, Black Feminist and Diversity Trainer.
And we are happy to announce that Author and Filmmaker Dr. Dagmar Schultz will be with us to introduce her new film project on Audre Lorde’s years in Berlin and to present the film „Hoffnung im Herz: Mündliche Poesie – May Ayim“ by Maria Binder. The workshop organisers: Susann Lewerenz, Cassandra Ellerbe-Dueck and Katharina Gerund will present conference papers, and anticipate two days of lively and interesting discussions.
For travel and accommodation information, please consult our blog http://blackdiasporaandgermany.blogspot.com/. For further information and conference registration, please contact the workshop organisers at bdg@uni-muenster.de (Susann Lewerenz, Cassandra Ellerbe-Dueck, Katharina Gerund)
PROGRAMME
Friday, 15 April 2011
Until 14:00: Arrival and registration
14:00-14:30: Workshop opening
Prof. Dr. Heike Paul (Erlangen-Nürnberg)
Dr. Cassandra Ellerbe-Dueck, Katharina Gerund and Susann Lewerenz
14:30-15:30  
Dr. Cassandra Ellerbe-Dueck (Mannheim): The Matrilineal Diaspora: Black/Afro-German Women, Claiming Space & Finding Their Voices
Chair: Cedric Essi (Erlangen-Nürnberg)
15:30-16:30  
Katharina Gerund (Düsseldorf): The Sound of Solidarity: Angela Davis, Gender(ed) Politics, and (Protest) Songs
Chair: Cedric Essi
16:30-17:00 Coffee break
17:00-18:30
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Judy Gummich (Berlin) – Human Rights Activist & Diversity Trainer Between Racism and Empowerment – Perspectives on Being Black in Germany
Chair: Dr. Cassandra Ellerbe-Dueck
18:30-18:45 Short break
18:45-19:30 Film screening
„Hoffnung im Herz: Mündliche Poesie – May Ayim“, a film by Maria Binder,
introduction: Prof. Dr. Dagmar Schultz, emer. (Berlin)
Chair: Susann Lewerenz (Hamburg)
19:45 Dinner, Venue: tba
Saturday, 16 April 2011
9:00-10:00   
Prof. Dr. Dagmar Schultz (Berlin) – emer., Author & Filmmaker: „Audre Lorde – the Berlin Years“ – a Project in Progress
Chair: Carmen Dexl (Erlangen-Nürnberg)
10:00-11:00
Susann Lewerenz (Hamburg): How Thea Leyseck became ‚German Southwest African‘ – Colonial Revisionism, Gender, and Black Agency in Nazi Germany
Chair: Carmen Dexl (Erlangen-Nürnberg)
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:00  
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Prof. Dr. Gloria Wekker (Utrecht): Diving Into the Wreck. Reflections on Gender in the Black Diaspora
Chair: Katharina Gerund
13:00-13:30 Plenary session
Introductory remarks: Prof. Dr. Heike Paul
Chair: Dr. Cassandra Ellerbe-Dueck
13:45-15:00 Lunch
Venue: Café Mengin, Schloßplatz 5, 91054 Erlangen
Departure of workshop participants
15:00-15:45 
Discussion of organisational matters
For members of the YSN „Black Diaspora and Germany“
15:45 End of workshop

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