Questioning ‘Man’ in Joana Tischkau’s Colonastics: Black Feminist Identity Politics in Contemporary German Theater

Abstract

In my contribution to this volume on Responsive Bodies I want to take a closer look at recent Black feminist identity politics in German theater in order to think about what the Caribbean philosopher Sylvia Wynter calls ‘Man.’ In this regard later in this text I will focus on the video clip series Colonastics (2020) by Joana Tischkau. I will do so in relation to the colonial roots of post-war racism in Germany, more precisely the time after its reunification in 1989. In front of this background my claim is that Afro-German feminist theater makers in the last couple of years have been responding to a certain white dominant culture in the country I am living in as a white German, where right-wing political parties like theAlternative für Deutschland (AfD) are getting stronger again right now unfortunately. The responsiveness corresponding with the aesthetic practices of the theater makers being discussed here questions, I am claiming with Wynter, ‘Man’ as a dominant genre of being human and thereby brings forth a true pluralization of German society.