With her book “Anleitung zum Schwarz sein” Anne Chebu offers a competent guide for young Black Germans who want to become aware of and deal with their Black identity and their social subject status.
In addition to topics such as language, identity, racism, self-image, everyday culture, and media, the author provides an overview of the Black German community and its history.
“Instructions for Being Black” is not only suitable reading for Black young people. White relatives or teachers will also find suggestions in the book to accompany and support Black youth in a phase of awareness and empowerment and to become critically aware of their own role.
Among other things, it should be critically noted that being black is repeatedly equated with “skin color” in the book. Complex processes of racialization, which function according to shades of skin even without racist patterns of order and to which Black people of the most diverse “skin color” are subjected, are made invisible.