S4E8: Blackness as Organizing Tools & Principles: Black Student Union at HU Berlin

Decolonization in Action Podcast

Fenja and Alina from the Black Student Union (BSU) at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin join edna bonhomme to share about organizing the BSU at the university. Expanding on the BSU starting in December 2020 and their first actions which included meeting with the Mittelbau (or department administration) at the Institute for Asian and African Studies, Alina and Fenja also share more about the BSU’s current action of an open letter of complaint to hold the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin accountable for anti-Black racism on all levels including the institute’s colonial inception and foundation as well as the ongoing coloniality of its structure and curriculum, everyday student experiences of racism and discrimination, university hiring practices, uses of racialized language within the classroom as well as the German education at large: Open letter of complaint about the conditions in the Seminar for African Studies of the Institute for Asian and African Studies (IAAW) of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Fenja and Alina also expand on BSU’s ongoing work which includes launching a mentoring program for new students focused on creating networks of care and ways of sharing experiences at the HU, building community forms of support and exchange, working towards creating a safe pathways for Black students, and publishing stories about being a part of BSU. Fenja and Alina also share more about organizational uses of Blackness and histories of Blackness with an emphasis on contextualizing Blackness, discussing political Blackness in the UK, Blackness in Germany, Blackness in Nigeria, and Black Student Unions in the US (Mississippi Student Union) as well as direct-action, Black student-led organizations (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) during the Freedom Summer campaigns of 1964 and the US Civil Rights Movement. BSU Website: https://bsuhu.wordpress.com/ Open Letter of Complaint: https://www.change.org/p/frau-prof-dr-kunst-wir-fordern-diskriminierungskritische-afrikawissenschaften-an-der-hu-berlin