Students discussed the African Diaspora in Europe during an event organized and hosted by Commonwealth College at the University of Massachusetts last week.
The lecture, entitled "Europe and the African Diaspora," was presented by Sara Lennox, director of the social thought and political economy program, and professor in German and Scandinavian studies department at the University.
As the students ate their pizza slices from Antonio's, Lennox took the opportunity to go around the room and ask them their names and majors. She concluded that despite the wide array of majors reported in that room, none of them had a concentration in the presence of "black Europeans."
Lennox explored reasons why generations of the African Diaspora have lived and continue to live in Europe.
"We are here because you were there," Lennox said, using a very familiar saying amongst black British citizens that explains their presence in Europe.
With the overhead projector on, Lennox tried to help the students visualize the connections Africa has had with Europe and the Americas. With the help of laminated slides of the transatlantic slave trade and the European colonies in Africa, Lennox helped the students connect with Africa.
"[Everything] in Africa has been occupied by Europeans. The transatlantic slave trade allowed Africa to go to the Caribbean," Lennox said.
She discussed colonialism as a means to explain the African Diaspora in Europe.
"The whole point of colonization was to extract the resources of the land; economies were severely affected. Colonizers organized the countries to work for them," Lennox said.
According to Lennox, the main reason the African Diaspora is in Europe is economics.
Lennox claimed that historically, Africans have been present in Europe since the 16th century, and she showed the students a painting that supported her claim. She told the audience it was very fashionable for white aristocrats to be painted next to black page boys since they wanted the portrait to show contrast, making them seem whiter.
The economic movement of African descendants to Europe started mainly after the scramble for Africa, "when Europeans decided this is going to be yours and mine," Lennox said.
The African presence in Europe has grown steadily ever since.
Lennox posed the question, "What do white Europeans think about people of African Diaspora?" According to Lennox, she asked this in order to understand the opinions white Europeans have about the African Diaspora. European culture needs to be taken in consideration, she said.
"One thing different about Europe is that they are not countries of immigration. The understanding until recently is homogeneous, everyone else is foreign," Lennox said.
In order to understand the attitude white Europeans have towards the African descendants, Professor Lennox explained the evolution of the concept of race in Europe. She explained how philosophers in the 18th century wanted to explain the existence of the people in Africa.
"The Europeans felt that Africans were different people; they thought, 'We are superior to them, we represent civilization. We need to help them,'" said Lennox.
In the lecture, Lennox discussed how in the beginning of the 19th century, Europeans thought less about race through philosophy and more about race through science, especially with the introduction of Darwin's survival of the fittest. She claims that the genocide that took place in Herrero nation in Africa by the Germans in 1904 seemed righteous to Europeans because it was the "law of nature."
According to Lennox, the attitude of Diaspora in Europe reflects how each country views race.
"Europe to be multi-cultural - not a pretty sight. It might be racist to talk about race [in Europe]," Lennox said. "Different countries are compelled to talk about [race]."
According to Lennox, the United Kingdom has been the most successful in creating sensitivity towards different ethnic groups because "England is being progressive because they share the same culture, education, longest history of migration," Lennox said.
France, on the other hand, has a completely different way to think about race, explained Lennox.
"Identity cannot be hyphenated," Lennox said.
According to Lennox, the idea of the French Republic model is really enforced, where there is a debate about whether the Muslim population in France can wear headscarves.
"This shows that you are proclaiming you are different," Lennox said.
Lennox's concentration in race theory, cultural studies and German social thought theory allowed her to take a particular look at Germany's outlook on the African Diaspora. Lennox noted that Germany grants citizenship via blood, similarly to countries like Austria, Korea and Japan. This can be a real problem, Lennox explained, as people of Turkish decent in living in Germany for three and four generations are still considered foreigners.
"In Germany, immigrants are a problem; they have to assimilate completely," she said.
A student posed a question of how racism is displayed in Europe. Lennox said that is very similar to how it is in the United States, and that it can range from overt racism from right wing neo-Nazis in Germany to "subtle everyday racism" across Europe.
The difference between the racial climate in the United States and Europe lies in the presence of laws that punish discrimination.
"Race is not in category in France and Germany. [Black Europeans] cannot advocate for civil rights. Europe needs to set up anti-discrimination policies and regulations," said Lennox.
The research of black European studies has been a collaboration of Lennox and black German scholar Randolph Ochsmann, from the University of Mainz in Germany. Both professors collaborated and were able to receive a grant from the Volkswagen foundation in 2003, which allowed them to host conferences in 2005 and 2006 about black European studies.
Lennox hopes to bring black European studies to UMass. Deliberations have taken place of possibly hiring a faculty member to teach the course in the languages, literatures and cultures department at the University.
Gisel Saillant can be reached at gsaillan@student.umass.edu.
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