WGS 374 - Black in Berlin

On a map of contemporary Berlin, Germany, we find a subway station called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and a street named after Jesse Owens. Owens upset Nazi theories of white physical superiority by winning four gold medals for the U.S. in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Berlin reflects African American history in these and many more historical, political and cultural traces. This seminar will compare the troubled histories of the U.S. and Germany as we investigate the very different, but interwoven, changing definitions of, and expectations for, race, gender and identity. We will begin by considering Berlin as an unexpected place of openness and opportunity for African Americans, as it was here that W.E.B. DuBois analyzed race not as a biological but as a social phenomenon. We will continue to the deadly racial catastrophes of the early twentieth century and the changing social and economic climates of both countries. We will continue the course with the ecstatic German welcome of presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008 and the hope for a new post- racial era. Our final weeks will examine present day Afro-German culture. Questions of gender and intersectionality infuse every topic of Black in Berlin, from the first readings on Colonialism to the last week on contemporary Afro-German culture.

Through film, music, fiction, art, essays, newspapers and interviews we will discuss the following topics:

· German colonialism in Africa

· German universities and black intellectuals

· 19th & 20th century travel and expat communities

· Jesse Owens and the black athlete in Germany

· American G.I.s in Germany after WWII

· Audre Lorde’s Berlin Years

· Obama in Berlin 2008

· Contemporary German hip-hop & rap

This course is cross listed with GER 370 Black in Berlin .

Prerequisites
GER 240 Advanced German or Permission of Instructor.

Credits 4

Notes
Cross-listed with GER 370 . Course taught in German.

Area
Humanities

Division
Arts and Humanities

Foundation
Beyond the West, Foreign Language

Compass Attributes
Humanities, Structure/Power/Inequality, Taylor and Lane Scholars, Foreign Language