Versäumte Bilder, versäumte Geschichten? Zu Erzählungen afroeuropäischer Frauen über Sichtbarkeit und Selbstbestimmung

This talk is part of the public lecture series “Versäumte Bilder: Wissenschaftlerinnen und Pionierinnen sichtbarmachen” that takes places at the Forum am Domshof in Bremen in summer term 2026. It focuses on autobiographically inspired texts by women of African descent in Europe that have long been overlooked—not because they did not exist, but because they lacked visibility in society. The focus is on specific examples from collections of texts, in which these authors recount their experiences. They tell of life as “racialized Others” in European societies, of exclusion, but also of strategies for “survival” and self-determination. Literature thus becomes an archive of “other” knowledge that often finds no place in official historical narratives. In dialogue with the exhibition_Versäumte Bilder_, the talk explores how visibility can also emerge through collective writing—and thus language and new narratives—that allow these women to define themselves through collective solidarity.