Tiffany Florvil: Black European history || People of Color in German academia
In this episode, we talked to Tiffany Florvil who is an Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, United States. Our main topics are Black German history and the normalization of whiteness as well as the history of race and racism in Europe.
PAST (00:02:10): Tiffany describes her own experiences with racism while studying in Germany and how it sparked her interest in Black German experiences, Black German culture, and racism against People of Color in Germany. She talks about African Diaspora, the colonial past, and the normalization of Whiteness in Germany and Europe. Also, Tiffany explains the significance of intersectionality when writing about Black European history.
PRESENT (00:27:30): We discuss Black women in the French self-imagination of the 19th century, based on the book by Robin Mitchell (2020). Among other things, this book illustrates how science is never subjective but always shaped by societal and cultural dynamics of the times.
FUTURE (00:37:35): Tiffany explains why Germany needs more Black scholars and professors of Color. Furthermore, she explains why we need to look into the past to understand how race and exclusion function in the present.
Full references of this episode:
Ayim, M., Oguntoye, K., & Schultz, D. (2021). Farbe bekennen: Afro-deutsche Frauen auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte (3. Auflage). Orlanda.
El-Tayeb, F. (2001). Schwarze Deutsche: Der Diskurs um “Rasse” und nationale Identität 1890-1933. Campus.
Florvil, T. N. (2020). Mobilizing Black Germany: Afro-German women and the making of a transnational movement. University of Illinois Press.
*Mitchell, R. (2020). Vénus noire: Black women and colonial fantasies in nineteenth-century France. The University of Georgia Press.
Further inspiring authors mentioned in this episode:
May Ayim, Audre Lorde, Maisha-Maureen Auma, Tina Campt, Pricilla Layne, Michelle M. Wright, Peggy Piesche, Fatima El-Tayeb, and Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw.
