As I walk across Marienplatz in the south of Stuttgart, the first rays of sunshine in a long time break through the clouds. It might sound idyllic, but it’s one day after Germany’s shocking yet unsurprising general election and this hint of spring fever is a strange contrast. Words are needed but only emptiness comes to mind, and a tight knot sits in my throat. Fear creeps in slowly from my lower abdominal region into my chest and continues to spread insidiously.

I believe that in such moments, literature can be a saving gateway. A gateway we can enter so as not to lose sight of empathy and the many nuanced hues of life. Literature can enable us to form avenues of vulnerability and strength. Inspired by poetry, for example, we can work on creating a more confident future from a fuller imagination.

These thoughts of mine emerge through the words of the Afro-German poet, educator, speech therapist, scientist, and political activist May Ayim (1960–1996), whose artistic and political endeavors continue to captivate – especially for Black Germans today. Johny Pitts’ acclaimed book Afropean: Notes from Black Europe (2019) had caught my eye in the reading room of C& Center of Unfinished Business at Theatre RAMPE Stuttgart. When he gets into the question of what Black identities look like in Germany, Pitts refers to Ayim. I can superimpose his survey of Germany’s political climate over my feelings of emptiness and fear.

There is always literary power in social and political movements

Because the history of the Black German literary tradition has been heavily suppressed, it is not widely known that it does not begin in the 1980s but goes back many centuries. The Black philosopher Anton Wilhelm Amo, for example, wrote about the rights of Black people in Germany in the first half of the eighteenth century, teaching and having an impact before Immanuel Kant wrote most of his work. Another example is Dualla Misipo, from the then German colony of Cameroon, who wrote his first hybrid autobiographical non-fiction novel in the 1920s–30s, Der Junge aus Duala. Ein Regierungsschüler erzählt.

With the publication of the anthology Farbe Bekennen (Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out) in 1986, Black literary production took off and came to have a significant impact on German literary tradition at large. It functioned as a conduit for the Black German feminist movement, but it also allowed Afro-German women to step out of their supposed lack of history for the first time. Audre Lorde made a significant contribution to this; the African American poet and professor spent some years in Berlin and encouraged several Afro-German women to write – one being May Ayim. The anthology collects diverse genres and forms, from eyewitness accounts of National Socialism to poems and parts of Ayim’s thesis, in which she traces the presence of Black people in Germany back to the thirteenth century. The women of this literary movement made the most of their oppressive and tumultuous situations: they wrote a counter-history. For them, writing became a feminist practice of empowerment as they inscribed themselves in the history of Germany and German. The safe space they created for themselves became part of cultural memory.

Political movements are always a productive catalyst for literature. Since the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, Black German-language authors such as Sharon Dodua Otoo, Jackie Thomae, Olivia Wenzel, Alice Hasters, and Ogette Tupoka have gained more traction in the German literary scene. There has been a strong focus on non-fiction books on racism, but fiction has also received more attention. New doors have opened for a new generation of Black German and Afro-diasporic writers. The first Black literature festival, Resonanzen as part of the Ruhrfestspiele, has become an important initiative for increasing the visibility and appreciation of Black fiction in German-speaking countries. It was initiated by Sharon Dodua Otoo, the author and curator who won the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 2016 and who has shown why it is still necessary to speak explicitly of Black literature.

Knowledge of Black German history and literature remained hidden from me and many others for a long time. We must collectively practice an appreciative approach to Black German literature so that it can be seen for what it is: a diverse pool of exciting and critical perspectives. When we do that, we can recognize motifs, images, and text strategies through this specific lens – because white perspectives have somehow become “norms” which do not need to be marked. In curating and directing my own literary festival, Popup-Werkstatt Schwarze deutsche literarische Perspektiven, I have been able to witness how multilayered Black German fiction can be. A new generation of authors such as Raphaëlle Red, Mirriane Mahn, Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo, Chantal-Fleur Sandjon, Melanie Raabe, Melanelle B. C. Hémêfa, and Yandé Seck have one thing in common: with their writing, they find ways to transport us into complex worlds from which we emerge invigorated, enlightened, and inspired.

The C& Center of Unfinished Business is open for visits at Theater Rampe Stuttgart until April 30, 2025.

Yeama Bangali studied German language and literature and vocational and technical education in Stuttgart, before completing her master’s degree in German literature. Her work is located at the interface of art, science, and activism, and it manifests in a variety of activities. In addition to her work as science communicator at an applied research institute, she works as a freelance author, singer/songwriter, curator, and artistic director.