Arriving in the Future. Stories of Home and Exile is a english-language anthology that will feature poetry, short stories, and essays by Black writers and scholars in Germany. It will feature contributors of all major publications of Black German history. Furthermore it will entail contributions by several song writers of the Afrogerman music project “Brothers Keepers”.
The goal of this publication is to allow scholars to carve out a synchronic analysis of Black German identity politics in the time span of 2005 – 2012. This frame is chosen deliberately since the last major collection of Black German writing was published in 2004.
The use of english allows to address an international audience. This detail, in addition to large number of contribtors, makes this publication unique.
Part II: Perfomances and readings
In the wake of the actual publication a number of 8 – 10 of the writers and performers featured in the anthology will embark on a 4 week long reading tour to three Eurpoean countries. The writers/performers will be accompanied by the editors and the project leader. During this tour the individuals will read and perform to academic/public audiences in academic and/or public venues; will hold panel discussions with resident scholars, and give workshops with local artists. The endeavor will be documented by a professional German film team. A high quality DVD with all readings, perfomances, interview, and round tables will be made available.
The purpose of this tour is:
a) to present the various layers of Germany’s multicultural society to an international audience.
b) allow scholars of all disciplines of the human sciences an analysis of the negotiation of Black German identity politics. Workshops with local artists, round tables and panel discussion with members of the group and resident scholars will offer further opportunities for discussions on literary production and other topics of relevance. This is of special relevance to literary studies, postcolonial studies, theatre studies, performance studies, linguisitcs, and intercultural anglophone studies.
Tangible goods achieved
– Implementation of a Website
– Anthology “Arriving in the Future. Stories of Home and Exile” published as a book.
– High quality DVD Documentation of various performances, interviews, and round table discussions – to be published in the internet, too.
– Art exhibitions from artistic work by Artists featured in the book. Ranging from Photography, painting to sculptures, dance and musical performances – published as a web-gallery, too
Cultural benefits
– Representation of Black literary production in print form and in actual performance in three European countries to large audiences.
– Academic panel discussions for resident scholars and limited public audience.
– Representation of German intercultural realities to a national and international audience.
Academic benefits
The project encompasses the disciplines of literary studies, linguistics, performance studies, theatre studies, postcolonial studies, and anglophone intercultural studies. It offers a source of information to scholars of all human sciences.
The cultural program draws public attention not only to the writers and performers but also to the different academic disciplines. It therefore has a high promotional value to the institution of human sciences as well as the fine arts.
In addition it offers a high educational value given by the topic at hand: The negotiation of layered identities in today’s multicultural and transnational societies.
The anthology as well as the film documentation of the actual readings, performances and discussion will further prove to be a permanent source for future analyses in all academic fields.
Arriving In The Future 