“It’s not the differences that inhibit us, it’s the silence.” Through her poems, lyrics, and speeches, Audre Lorde (1934-1992) sought to transform silence about racism_sexism_classism into political activism. She became, and still is, one of the main inspirations for anti-racist women’s lesbian movements. In the German context, her activist and academic engagement in the 1980s contributed centrally to debates around racism_anti-Semitism within feminist contexts and empowered Black feminist voices and community building. Even today her thinking continues to have an effect and help her W_orte to: confidence, strength & resistance.
Author: glokal e.V.
“Nelly und die Berlinchen” by Karin Beese tells the everyday adventurous stories that Nelly and her friends Amina and Hannah experience in the big city. The heroines of the book are children of color (Nelly herself is a Black girl) who move confidently and creatively through their everyday lives. They are happy, angry, funny, sad or cheeky and stick together. In witty rhymes and loving illustrations by Mathilde Rousseau, Nelly und die Berlinchen is one of only a few children’s books in German to depict children of color as the heroines of the story. Experiences of discrimination and acts…
Tea with Uncle Mustafa by Andrea Karimé addresses the complexes of war, home and flight in sensitive and richly pictorial language. The author succeeds in making elusive topics understandable and accessible to children, cleverly and with wit. Mina, the protagonist, meets her uncle Mustafa when she goes to Lebanon for the first time during summer vacation. Uncle Mustafa not only tells the most amazing stories, but even shows Mina his mysterious Tower of Wonders, where all his stories are reflected. When the tower suddenly begins to shake and tremble, Mina is quickly taken home. There she learns what happened: war…
The book Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman is an empowering reading experience for Black girls* ages five to nine. The narrative references gender roles and racial attributions. Grace is a confident Black girl who loves stories and drama. When the play “Peter Pan” is to be performed at her school, she wishes to take on the leading role. It is quickly made clear to her that Peter Pan was a boy and, moreover, not black. The book tells how Grace is encouraged by her family to play any role she wants. The book is beautiful and empowering. There is a…
“The Word that Makes a Bulge” is a story for children aged about 6 – 12 years. As the first part of a book series about the Black twins Lukas and Lennard, who live in Germany, the volume deals with the serious and hurtful effects of racist language in everyday use and further shows approaches to solutions and interventions for a respectful coexistence. The book is appropriate for children, around elementary school age, and has empowering content for Black children and children of color. Nancy J. Della 2014: The word that makes your stomach hurt. Münster: edition assemblage. If you…
Room Free in the House of Animals is a picture book by author Leah Goldberg for children ages three to eight. The poetic animal story sensitively addresses discrimination, racism and friendship. The attributions that animals experience can thereby be transferred to those that are made to humans. In the story, an animal commune is looking for a new tenant. The different applicants always find fault with the animals in the house. The book describes in a captivating way and in rhyme how the search for a suitable flatmate takes place and on what basis the decision is finally made to…
The Intersectional Children’s Book List of i-PÄD Initiative intersectional pedagogy includes publications that address and counter exclusion, under- or misrepresentation, and acts of discrimination. Furthermore, publications are listed and evaluated whose subjects are often little addressed or concealed from children. The listing by age recommendation includes both a concise description of the content, a note of the subject focus, and an evaluative recommendation and application note. In some cases, the publications are accompanied by critical comments pointing out deficiencies in their content. The list includes only children’s books that have been evaluated by the authors as positive and emancipatory overall.…
Romaniphen is a platform through which knowledge and ideas from a feminist Rromn_ja perspective are disseminated. The self-organized project includes “Rromani texts, analyses, perspectives and dialogues from the past and the present, international perspectives, sometimes multilingual, audio and video, with pop cultural as well as activist and scientific contributions.”(Excerpt from Romaniphen’s self-description). Collected texts, images and sounds direct their gaze to different facets of societal life and oppose, among other things, denial, slander and gadjé appropriation of Rromani history. The project is based on three pillars: The archive’s mission is to make public misappropriated stories and to reveal the richness…
“The Rromnja initiative is an association of Roma and Sinti women in Berlin who no longer want to accept that the rejection of Roma and Sinti, hostilities and violence against Roma and Sinti are concealed, trivialized or even justified. Antiziganism of any form must be named and fought – this is what the women of this initiative are committed to.” (Self-description of inirromnja) The website presents different actions of inirromja itself and of other Romnja* activists. In addition, events and text contributions are pointed out. An important intiative of inirromnja and Romaniphen is Romnja Power Month, which was proclaimed from…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdOo6wMl3cw&index=25&list=PL6orzhPfnuvlKO6iM2Mi0DhEkHnZ5XqUQ Kat Blaque ist eine Aktivist_in und Video-Blogger_in aus Kalifornien, die aus einer Schwarzen, feministischen Trans*-Perspektive über unterschiedliche Aspekte ihres Lebens berichtet. Seit einiger Zeit erscheint ihre wöchentliche Serie True Tea bei YouTube, in der Blaque Fragen von Zuschauer_innen und Zuhörer_innen beantwortet. Die Themen drehen sich größtenteils um Rassismus, Transphobie, Sexismus, Fat-Shaming und Schwarze Kultur. Fragen, die von der Vlogger_in bei True Tea beantwortet werden sind unter anderem: „Can Black people be Racist?“, „Can men be Feminists?“, „What’s wrong with cultural Appropriation?“ Inzwischen produziert Blaque auch einen “True Tea”-Podcast, als Sammlung der beliebtesten und kontroversesten Beiträge aus ihrer YouTube-Serie.
Wiebke Scharathow’s study reconstructs what everyday experiences of racism mean for young people. Based on the perspectives of students, the mechanisms through which racism becomes effective and the underlying social conditions are worked out. It also points out the hurdles faced by young people affected by racism, the challenges they face within existing relations of domination, and the spaces for action they create for themselves. School as an everyday place and carrier of racist practices and structures is the focus of the study: common teaching practices, mechanisms of exclusion, teaching content, knowledge production and personnel structures are examined. Finally, the…
The blog originally contained mainly summaries from the courses that Charlott Schönwetter (Halfjill) visited as part of her studies in African studies. In the meantime, the team has expanded and is critically examining relevant literature, media, politics, methods, etc.