The idea for the series came to me one day as I thought about how little people know about life in Germany as a Black person - or how dated this knowledge is. Even within Germany, discourse around ethnicity and diversity goes something like this: "if the foreigners learn German, they will integrate then there will be no problems". And yet, Black people have lived in Germany for over 300 years. Black Germans can be found in all fields from science to art, from education to sport, from music to entrepreneurship. Where there are problems, these rarely have to do with lack of proficiency in the German language.
It is also incredible how little voice Black people within Germany have, despite decades of activism, academic research, creative publications and performances.
So I thought - fine! If we don't find recognition within Germany, we surely can on an international stage.
The Witnessed book series aims to enable English-speaking readers to access literature by Black authors who live (or have lived) in Germany and are from (or residing in) English-speaking countries, which bear witness to the experience of being Black in Germany.
The gaze is reversed.
Witnessed will be launched - with the publication of "Imagine Black Artists Actually Mattered?" (http://www.edition-assemblage.de/imagine/) - in Autumn 2012.