WueRD: Knowledge about racism - contemporary history as reflected in the biographical (experiential) knowledge of people discredited by racism in East and West Germany

The research project examines the historical dynamics, discourses, and forms of racism in Germany over the last 40 years and its repercussions in the present day.

Based on biographical-narrative interviews and group discussions with people who have experienced racism as well as a contextualization of the information with the help of contemporary historical documents, experiences, and collectively shared knowledge of Black people, People of Color, Sinti:zze and Romn:ja and people who describe themselves as migrants are examined and analyzed as knowledge about racism in Germany. Through contemporary historical contextualization and a qualitative interpretative approach in the sense of grounded theory, the still socially and academically marginalized knowledge of racially discreditable subjects is reconstructed. The articulations are related so that differentiations, commonalities, divergent diagnoses, and possible contradictions within groups experiencing racism and their intersections with gender, class, and socio-spatial location (East and West Germany) become visible.

Firstly, the project aims to collect, analyze, and reconstruct experiential knowledge about racism. Secondly, it explores the forms, conditions, and consequences of human differentiation based on racial constructions as a contribution to the contemporary history of East and West Germany. Thirdly, in close cooperation with two practice partners - RAA Sachsen e.V. and IDA-NRW - from East and West Germany, the project aims to transfer the results into educational formats and materials and an interactive, digital, and publicly accessible exhibition platform. The result is a panorama of social events and knowledge in East and West Germany that presents contemporary German history from a racism-critical perspective.

To the project page