This panel explores the evolving field of Black German Studies, from its foundational articulation in Farbe bekennen to new cultural and scholarly directions shaped by the contemporary moment. We invite papers engaging literature, visual culture, performance, and media that reflect how Black German identity and diasporic presence are being reimagined in the 21st century. Topics may include Afrofuturism, digital culture, children's literature, transnational networks, pedagogy, and aesthetic innovation—recognizing trauma’s significance while also centering joy, creativity, and futurity in Black German cultural production.

The 1986 book Farbe bekennen: Afro-deutsche Frauen auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte (Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out) by May Ayim, Katharina Oguntoye, and Dagmar Schultz marked a foundational moment in the articulation of Afro German identity and also in the development of Black German Studies. It sparked an ongoing conversation about the histories of anti-Blackness, silencing, and exclusion in the German context, while also foregrounding the political and epistemic force of self-definition and collective testimony. In the decades since, knowledge about Black German Studies has emerged and found its place in multidimensional ways– ranging from literature, children’s literature, visual culture, popular media, and performance amongst others.

While systemic marginalization and colonial legacies remain central to the field, recent cultural and scholarly work has also expanded the scope of Black German Studies to engage with questions of aesthetic innovation, diasporic connection, speculative futures, and Black life beyond legibility through trauma alone. The 2020 resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement also served as a catalyst for new cultural productions and scholarly interventions that reflect this expanded horizon.

This panel invites papers that engage with Black German literature, visual and performance culture, and diasporic media, particularly works emerging in or after the 21st century i.e from 2000 till date. We are especially interested in contributions that reflect on how the field continues to evolve, revisiting the past while also exploring new forms of knowledge, memory, and imagination within Black German cultural production.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

- Intersections between German studies and Black Diaspora Studies

- The Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement and Blackness in Germany

- Children Literature and Representations of Blackness in Germany

- Comparative Media

- German Citizenship and belonging

- Afropean Experience

- Visual Media and Black experience

- Afrofuturism

- Pedagogies of Blackness in German Educational Contexts

- The Digital Space and the Contemporary Black German Archive

- Translation, Circulation, and the Transnational Life of Black German Literature.

Please submit abstracts (250–300 words) as well as a short bio of (250 words) to Bisola J. Ajibade (joy.ajibade01@gmail.com) or Temitope Awe (adetoyesetd@gmail.com) by August 31, 2025.