The presence of Blacks in a number of European societies has drawn increasing interest from scholars, policymakers, and the general public. This interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary collection penetrates the multifaceted Black presence in Europe, and, in so doing, complicates the notions of race, belonging, desire, and identities assumed and presumed in revealing portraits of Black experiences in a European context. In focusing on contemporary intellectual currents and themes, the contributors theorize and re-imagine a range of historical and contemporary issues related to the broader questions of blackness, diaspora, hegemony, transnationalism, and 'Black Europe' itself as lived and perceived realities.
Contributors are Allison Blakely, Jacqueline Nassy Brown, Tina Campt, Fred Constant, Alessandra Di Maio, Philomena Essed, Terri Francis, Barnor Hesse, Darlene Clark Hine, Dienke Hondius, Eileen Julien, Trica Danielle Keaton, Kwame Nimako, Tiffany Ruby Patterson, T. D
Trade Review
"Thought-providing. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice
"An elegant, imaginative, and penetrating intervention in the ethnographies and theories of race and community in the African diaspora. A masterful contribution to the growing field of Black European studies and to diaspora studies."--Mamadou Diouf, coeditor of New Perspectives on Islam in Senegal: Conversion, Migration, Wealth, Power, and Femininity
"Enormously stimulating, this volume is essential reading for those interested in exploring the evolving story of the Black presence worldwide."--David Barry Gaspar, coeditor of Beyond Bondage: Free Women of Color in the Americas
Table of Contents
Foreword ix
Philomena Essed
Preface xvii
Darlene Clark Hine
Acknowledgments xxi
Introduction: The Empire Strikes Back xxiii
Stephen Small
Section1. Historical Dimensions of Blackness in Europe
1. The Emergence of Afro-Europe: A Preliminary Sketch 3
Allison Blakely
2. Blacks in Early Modern Europe: New Research from the Netherlands 29
Dienke Hondius
3. Now You See It, Now You Don't: Josephine Baker's Films of the 1930s and the Problem of Color 48
Eileen Julien
4. Pictures of "US"? Blackness, Diaspora, and the Afro-German Subject 63
Tina M. Campt
5. The Conundrum of Geography, Europe d'outre mer, and Transcontinental Diasporic Identity 84
T. Sharpley-Whiting and Tiffany Ruby Patterson
Section 2. Race and Blackness in Perspective: France, Germany, and Italy
6. "Black (American) Paris" and the French Outer-Cities: The Race Question and Questioning Solidarity 95
Trica Danielle Keaton
7. Black Italia: Contemporary Migrant Writers from Africa 119
Alessandra Di Maio
8. Talking Race in Color-Blind France: Equality Denied, "Blackness" Reclaimed 145
Fred Constant
9. My Volk to Come: Peoplehood in Recent Diaspora Discourse and Afro-German Popular Music 161
Alexander G. Weheliye
10. No Green Pastures: The African Americanization of France 180
Tyler Stovall
Section 3. Theorizing, (Re)presenting, and (Re)imagining Blackness In Europe
11. Black Europe and the African Diaspora: A Discourse on Location 201
Jacqueline Nassy Brown
12. Theorizing Black Europe and African Diaspora: Implications for Citizenship, Nativism, and Xenophobia 212
Kwame Nimako and Stephen Small
13. The Audacious Josephine Baker: Stardom, Cinema, Paris 238
Terri Francis
14. Pale by Comparison: Black Liberal Humanism and the Postwar Era in the African Diaspora 260
Michelle M. Wright
15. Another Dream of a Common Language: Imagining Black Europe... 277
Gloria Wekker
Afterword: Black Europe's Undecidability 291
Barnor Hesse
Notes on Contributors 305
Index 311
