African Europeans: An Untold History

The Black Lives Matter movement also brought the lives of Black people into the public eye in Europe. Yet the history of the continent still often leaves out the Black presence. Olivette Otele finally fills this all too white spot in the historiography of Europe with her comprehensive historical account, which leads from Sweden via Germany to Greece.

Otele tells of individual fates and scenes of encounter, of the close exchange between Africa and Europe since the Roman expansionist movements and of Black saints, rulers and intellectuals who are often forgotten today. In this way, she elucidates the conjunctures of the – by no means consistent – oppression of black people in Europe. From the horror of slavery to Black physicality and its exoticization to Black resistance movements and brotherhoods, Otele paints a revolutionary portrait of a Europe that has always been “African.”

Moderated by Mahret Ifeoma Kupka

In cooperation with Wagenbach Verlag