Despite historical and social differences between countries, there are overlaps in the themes and aesthetics of contemporary Black European literatures. This talk examines how Black authors from Germany, France, and England subvert and queer the dominant narrative of ‘Europeanness.’ Defined by Fatima El-Tayeb, this narrative portrays Europe as homogeneously white while marginalizing Black people and People of Color, reducing their identities to a ‘single story’ and placing them outside Europe. Using El-Tayeb’s notion of ‘queering’ and concepts like the ‘postmigrant,’ Afropean, and Afropolitanism, I argue that literary texts pluralize Black identities through content and aesthetics, subverting this narrative. Afropean aesthetics, marked by movement, connection, and ambiguity, transcend genres, creating dynamic and unexpected forms that challenge conventions.
Dr. Jeannette Oholi is a postdoctoral researcher who earned her PhD from Justus Liebig University Giessen in 2023 and spent two years as a Mellon Postdoc at Dartmouth College. Her dissertation, "Afropäische Ästhetiken: Plurale Schwarze Identitätsentwürfe in literarischen Texten des 21. Jahrhunderts", was published in 2024, followed by the anthology "Schwarze deutsche Literatur: Ästhetische und aktivistische Interventionen von den 1980er Jahren bis heute" in May 2025. Her research focuses on 20th- and 21st-century German-language literature, especially by minoritized writers, with interests in migration, resistance, antiracism, and memory.
Chair: Rémi Tchokothe
Tuesday, 18th November 2025, 5:15 pm
Department of African Studies, Seminar room 1
University Campus, court 1.11., Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna
afrika@univie.ac.at, afrika.univie.ac.at
