Reading with Prof Dr Natasha A. Kelly from her book “Schwarz. Deutsch. Weiblich.”, moderated by Sophya Kallista Frohberg.

Date: 02.06.2025, 18:00 Uhr
Location: Georg-Neumann-Saal, Jazz Institut Berlin, Einsteinufer 43–53, 10587 Berlin

400 years of Black feminism in Germany – history, analysis and critique point the way to an intersectional future.

Far too often, white women tend to understand feminism one-dimensionally and oppression singularly. What is missing is the understanding that Black women and women of colour are exposed to multiple forms of discrimination. In her new book, Natasha A. Kelly interweaves the stories of Black women who have lived in German-speaking countries for over four centuries with her own biography and shows how elitism and racist prejudices have long dominated Western feminist discourse, preventing a feminism that is open to all.

Prof. Dr Natasha A. Kelly is a communication scientist and sociologist, author and editor, curator and multimedia artist specialising in Black German history, Black feminism and Afrofuturism. Dr Kelly has taught and researched at numerous national and international universities and has been appointed Max Kade Visiting Professor of German Studies at the University of Rhodes Island (USA) and Visiting Professor of Media Studies at the University of Tübingen. Her artistic work has been shown at the Berlin Biennale, the German Historical Museum and the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin, among others. As Chairwoman of the Board of the non-profit organisation Black German Arts and Culture e.V., she is the artistic and scientific director of the first Institute for Black German Arts, Culture and their Sciences in Germany. She is also co-director of the pan-European Black European Academic Network (BEAN) and a founding member of the international collective Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM). In August 2023, her most recent publication “Schwarz. German. Feminine. – Why feminism must demand more than gender justice” was published by Piper Verlag.

More information about her can be found on her homepage.

Sophya Kallista Frohberg is a producer and curator with Haitian roots. In her curatorial and mediating practice, she is particularly committed to the visibility of Black and queer contemporary art. Frohberg studied journalism at the Free University of Berlin and theatre, film and media studies at the University of Vienna. After graduating, she gained curatorial experience at film festivals such as the Queer Minorities Film Festival Vienna and the Berlin International Film Festival. She currently produces for the Studio Hamburg Production Group and works as a freelance sensitivity reader.

The #wessenfreiheit (whose freedom?) action day is a nationwide day of action organised by art universities. Every year since 2018, #wessenfreiheit has been organised at art academies to address institutional and social power in the art system. Gender show gap, gender pay gap, (sexualised) abuse of power, censorship...

#wessenfreiheit poses the urgent question “Who has access to the system and who is excluded?”