Katharina Oguntoye

Katharina Oguntoye (born January 1959 in Zwickau, East Germany)^[1] is an Afro-German writer, historian, activist, and poet. Oguntoye founded the nonprofit intercultural association Joliba^[2] in Germany and is perhaps best known for editing Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out (Book) in 1986 with May Ayim and Dagmar Shultz. Oguntoye has played an important role in the Afro-German Movement.

Early life

Katharina Oguntoye was raised in both Nigeria and Heidelberg, Germany.^[3] She grew up with a younger brother and recalls their awareness of race and racism as they got older.^[4] She describes growing up amongst other black people unlike other Afro-Germans. She grew up with her father and other African relatives. This allowed her to see her Blackness in a positive way and she missed that when she returned to Germany at 9 years old. That move back was hard and she often describes internalized racism and how she has struggled. In a conversation with the editors of the Showing Our Colors anthology she states, "Because of the time I spent in Africa I'm conscious of the parts of me which are alive there and simply don't exist here in Germany. Because nobody wants to get to know them here, especially not my friends. I think about why that is, and I believe that racist structures prevent us from talking about it. Furthermore, there's a lot of unacknowledged fear underlying this^[5]" Oguntoye had much to bring to the conversation.

Poetry

Within "Showing Our Colors", Katharina Oguntoye features her own poetry. Much of this poetry focuses on her own understanding of Afro-Germanness, her Afro-German subjectivity, and the relationship between Afro-German women and white German feminism. Poetry is very important to Oguntoye and she recalls a bad experience with poetry when she was young.^[6]

References

Further reading

• African Diasporas: Afro-German Literature in the Context of the African American Experience