Forthcoming: 'Afropean - Documenting Black Europe'

 " Berlin. I visited the famous artist squat Tacheles which this month [September 2012]  lost it's long fought battle to stay open."  @Photo and text by Johny Pitts

Early next year Penguin Books will publish 'Afropean: Documenting Black Europe' by Afropean co-founder Johny Pitts.

One of the reasons Johny wrote the book (and set up Afropean with Nat Illumine and Yomi Bazuaye) was to create a network of like minded people across the continent. At the end of the book, Johny would like to create a list of Afro-European-related organisations to increase exposure of the work they are doing.

Introducing afropean.com - Adventures in Black Europe

The Afropean is a new online multimedia, multidisciplinary journal exploring the social, cultural and aesthetic interplay of black and European cultures, and the synergy of styles and ideas brought about because of this union. 

Photo book: "An Afropean Odyssey" - A Black European Travel Narrative

@Photo by Johny Pitts

I left London on a gloomy afternoon in October to travel Europe for five months, searching for the interplay between Black and European cultures, writes Afropean British writer, photographer and TV host Johny Pitts on his website The Afropean. 

The vibe of the Heesterveld Creative Community in Amsterdam Bijlmer

Less than five years ago the housing complex Heesterveld was a no-go area in the predominantly Black neighbourhood in Amsterdam Bijlmer. A lot of (youth) crime, pollution and nuisance had set the complex up for demolition, but a creative urban development plan changed the neighbourhood completely.

Meet Black British 'Afropolitan' writers of Granta list 2013

Photo: Taiye Selasi

In 1983, Granta magazine's list of the 20 most promising young British novelists under 40 predicted the authors who would dominate British fiction over the years to come. A decade late the exercise was repeated and in 2003 the list included Zadi Smith. This year the list includes tree promising black British writers: Taiye Selasi, Nadifa Mohamed and Helen-Oyeyemi.

Video: StereoTypes Paris - French African vs. African American?

What's it like to be a black person in France? What's the immigrant experience for people of African descent? StereoTypes host Ryan Hall hits the streets of Paris to find out.

Video: Black British conductor appointed at leading German orchestra

British conductor Wayne Marshall was thrilled to accept the new position: “I am honoured and delighted to be the next Chief Conductor of the WDR Rundfunkorchester. It’s a fantastic opportunity to work so closely with this wonderfully versatile group of musicians and I look forward enormously to building the partnership. I relish working on the eclectic range of repertoire for which WDR Rundfunkorchester is so well known and to sharing the music-making with the widest possible audience.”

Short films: struggling sisters in "Our Rhineland" and Black disillusion in Notting Hill

How does it feel being Black/mixed race in Germany during the Third Reich period in 1937 when you have to fight against forced sterilisation by the Nazis? How does feel being Black in London's Notting Hill in 1958 when you feel British, but have to cope with racial tension, violence and isolation. These are the topics of the award wining American short film "Our Rhineland" and the British short film "Sorry We don't help Darkies”. Two great short films about the Black experience in Europe

Video: Spanish Concha Buika's new album, World tour and Cómo era

Afro-Spanish singer and Grammy Award winner Concha Buika released her new album La Noche Más Larga (The Longest Night) on the 4th of June. The singer is now on a World tour to promote her new album and will be visiting several European countries from July till November. In the video the single Cómo era (As it was).

Whose Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité? Black in France Today

In 2007 French artist Alexis Peskine voiced his anger in his exhibition "The French Evolution: Race, Politics & the 2005 Riots”  at the Museum of contempory African Diasporan Arts in the US.  But has anything changed after the riots?

The migration of Black people from the Caribbean to Europe

The Windrush generation in Britain

Between the 1950ties and 70ties many black people from the former Caribbean colonies of Britain and the Netherlands and from the overseas territories of France moved to Europe. They thought they were part  of the 'motherland', but they soon found out the reality in Europe was different.  

Magazine: TRANSITION 111 - "New Narratives of Haiti"

 The day when Haitians as a people and Haiti as a symbol  are no longer representatives of or synonymous with poverty, backwardness, and evil is still yet to come.

-Gina Athena Ulysse, "Why Haiti Needs New Narratives Now
More than Ever"
 
Issue 111, "New Narratives of Haiti," is a step toward answering Ulysse's call. To this end, Guest Editors Laurent Dubois and Kaiama L. Glover have invited contributors to think about the world in ways that place Haiti at its center. Thought pieces by Madison Smartt Bell, Jonathan Katz, Gina Athena Ulysse and others, as well as translations of Frankétienne, Lyonel Trouillot, and Michel-Rolph Trouillot, dispel trenchant clichés that have long plagued representations of Haiti in literature and scholarship.

Dutch black people: My celebration of 150th anniversary abolition of slavery

@Johan Gerrits. In the middle the door of no Return - Cape Coast castle

"The door of no return" is a classic image of the Atlantic slave trade. Somewhere between the 16th and 18th century my ancestors walked on a path like this and never returned back to Africa.  On the 1st of July The Netherlands will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the Dutch colony of Suriname and the Dutch Caribbean in 1863. But somehow it seems like yesterday.