Audre Lorde’s Intersectional Feminism and the Afro-German Women’s Movement

This week I am talking about poet, activist and philosopher Audre Lorde: her legacy in Germany, and her little-discussed impact on German feminism and racial justice. Widely credited with coining the term “Afro-German”, Lorde’s work amplifying the voices of Black German women poets and writers helped to rewrite a feminism that was largely centered on white women. Her writing from the city of Berlin, and the networks of women she was able to create, encouraged women to share their own stories and perspectives, and view social justice movements as fundamentally intersectional.

Ultimately, Lorde’s contributions helped reposition Germany as a “diasporic place” with a responsibility to its Black and Afro-German population, enabling a global feminism to take root in the country. In this episode I hope to draw attention to Lorde’s little-studied transatlantic legacy, and the extent of her impact as a writer and activist.

ources:

Audre Lorde | Poetry Foundation

Lorde, Audre. “Berlin Is Hard on Colored Girls.” Callaloo, no. 26 (1986): 89–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/2931057.

Lorde, Audre. “This Urn Contains Earth From German Concentration Camps: Plotzensee Memorial, West Berlin, 1984.” Callaloo 14, no. 1 (1991): 43–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/2931426.

Lorde, Audre. “The Dream of Europe—Remarks.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 23–26. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.6.

Farber, Paul. “‘I Cross Her Borders at Midnight’: Audre Lorde’s Berlin Revisions.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 148–62. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.17.

Gerund, Katharina. “Transracial Feminist Alliances?: Audre Lorde and West German Women.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 122–34. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.15.

Kraft, Marion. “Bonds of Sisterhood / Breaking of Silences: An Interview with Audre Lorde.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 41–54. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.8.

Piesche, Peggy. “Inscribing the Past, Anticipating the Future: Audre Lorde and the Black Women’s Movement in Germany.” Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, edited by Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, 222–25. University of Massachusetts Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cx3sqx.23.

Rowell, Charles H., and Audre Lorde. “Above the Wind: An Interview with Audre Lorde.” Callaloo 23, no. 1 (2000): 52–63. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3299518.

Audre Lorde’s Berlin - The New York Times