Dualla Misipo: Der Junge aus Duala. Literaturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf ein frühes Werk der Schwarzen deutschen Literatur
literatur für leser:innen
[Dualla Misipo: Der Junge aus Duala. Literary Perspectives on an Early Work of Black German Literature]

Der Junge aus Duala [The Boy from Douala] is a novel that is rarely found in schools or universities and is not included in literary history. It is currently unavailable in bookshops. It highlights a gap in the canon, both in German-speaking countries where the study of Black literature is often still regarded as the domain of “German Studies Abroad,” and within Black German Studies, which has primarily established itself in the United States. There, engagement with Black German-language literature typically begins with Farbe bekennen (1986), the foundational text of the Afro-German movement, and the poetry of May Ayim. However, as literary scholar Jeannette Oholi emphasizes, gaps in knowledge within the canon also offer an opportunity: they encourage us to reflect on and discuss processes of evaluation and canonization in academic disciplines and take collective action to close these gaps. This perspective also informs our special issue. Our aim is to contribute to “expanding and ‘complicating’ the understanding of Black German literature” by focusing on Dualla Misipo’s novel, which was written between the 1920s and 1960s and is an early example of this genre. (publisher’s blurb)

Table of contents

• Der Junge aus Duala zur Einführung: Entstehung, Genre, ästhetische Verfahren
  Sandra Folie, Gianna Zocco
• Koloniale Migration und Integration in der »zweiten Heimat«: Dritte Räume im Jungen aus Duala
  Giresse Teikeu
• Dualla Misipos Zeichnungen zwischen Illustration und Intervention: Postkoloniale Bildkritik im Jungen aus Duala
  Sandra Folie
• Die Soundscapes in Der Junge aus Duala: Literarische Repräsentationen kolonialer Gewalt und ästhetische Strategien des Widerstands
  Marlen Rieffel
• Von kolonialen Beutegeschichten, traurigen Löwen und einem Papagei namens Lorchen: Tiere im Jungen aus Duala
  Gianna Zocco