Katharina Gerund 
Transatlantic Cultural Exchange 
African American Women’s Art and Activism in West Germany

From Josephine Baker’s performances in the 1920s to the 1970s solidarity campaigns for Angela Davis, from Audre Lorde as »mother« of the Afro-German movement in the 1980s to the literary stardom of 1993 Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, Germans have actively engaged with African American women’s art and activism throughout the 20th century. The discursive strategies that have shaped the (West) German reactions to African American women’s social activism and cultural work are examined in this study, which proposes not only a nuanced understanding of »African Americanizations« as a form of cultural exchange but also sheds new light on the role of African American culture for (West) German society, culture, and national identity.

About the author

Katharina Gerund (Dr. phil.) teaches American studies at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Her research interests include transatlantic cultural mobility, popular culture as well as gender and critical race studies. Current projects focus on the U.S. re-education policies of the postwar years and the figure of the military spouse in the cultural imaginary of the U.S..