5631703700001ZIn “Talking Back,” scholar Claudia Unterweger analyzes the strategies of historiography used by a Black research group in Austria. Among other things, the goal is to empower Black people in the present and to recover their own buried history.

“Austrian historiography on people of African descent reflects their current representation in the Austrian public sphere. Visible as mute, foreign-defined objects and at the same time invisible as acting subjects, they predominantly emerge as exoticized or criminalized ‘others’. Hidden are often realities and narratives from a Black perspective.” Publisher’s Book Description

In 2005/2006, the project “Black Austrian History” was founded to make the historical and contemporary experiences of Black people in Austria visible. The research group, consisting of activists of African origin living in Austria, worked out different counter-images and self-representations from an emancipatory Black perspective.

Claudia Unterweger 2016: Talking Back. Strategies of Black Austrian Historiography. Vienna: Zaglossus.

If you don’t have a bookstore worth supporting near you, you can also buy the book from the alternative non-profit online bookstore links-lesen.de, which supports political projects with the profits. The link to the book is: http: //www.links-lesen.de/article/978-3-902902-40-5

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