Are there really black Germans? Who are they? Such were the student questions after a screening of Oliver Hardt's (Hardt & Brunn, 2005) documentary on blacks living in Germany, Black Deutschland. Hardt's German-language film was the first event of a month-long cultural program associated with the international conference Remapping Black Germany: New Perspectives on Afro-German History, Politics, and Culture, hosted by the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) on April 21-23, 2006. Though recognition of the existence of black Germans in Germany is a significant goal in increasing the awareness of diversity in German studies, the inclusion of black German studies in research and in the curriculum also illuminates new perspectives on the social and historical forces that contribute to contemporary political discourse on minorities and people of color in both the United States and Germany, while it turns renewed attention to notions of diaspora and culture within the contemporary context of globalization.

McGaughey, Sarah. Black German Studies: Curriculum Initiatives for Diversity in German Studies. In Diversity Across the Curriculum: A Guide for Faculty in Higher Education, edited by Jerome Branche, John W. Mullennix, and Ellen R. Cohn, 75-80. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Co., 2007.

Sarah McGaughey is a professor of German at Dickinson College.

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