Could This Be Love?

"You remind me of how much I am supposed to love you. You remind me of everything you’ve done for me. You remind me of the gratitude I forgot to express. You remind me that my feelings are valid, then you remind me that they are all wrong." ~ Jennifer Neal

"Is our Black-and-white love the evidence of racial progress? I spent a lot of 2020 crying over what I heard of racist violence, both in Germany and the US, so count me among the skeptics." ~ Tammi L. Coles

"For a white person to love you, they have to permit you to go beyond niceness. To stop hiding your reality. You pluck up courage. You break the silence. They frown in hurt. They ask, ‘But what does this have to do with us?'" ~ Clementine Burnley

Stefanie Hirsbrunner (Hrsg.)
Extract

Could This Be Love?

Personal essays in interracial relationships

Stefanie Hirsbrunner (Hrsg.)

Translated into German/English by Stefanie Hirsbrunner, Venice Trommer, Charlotte Wührer, Michael Kegler

Description:

Love as a unique experience is what we make of it individually. Still, how equal and free are we really when it comes to choosing a partner? What do some couples go through, in their daily attempts to simply be together?

In this collection of personal essays, authors from different walks of life bravely offer a glimpse into their personal lives. What happens in romantic relationships, once race, differing backgrounds and cultures come into play? Using their own experiences as a point of departure, they embark on a contemplative and often rousing quest to illuminate the question: Can we build a life together in a world still so deeply divided?

With contributions by Marie-Sophie Adeoso, Tshiwa Trudie Amulungu, Josephine Apraku, Aseman G. Bahadori, Clementine Ewokolo Burnley, Tammi L. Coles, Jude Dibia, Katrin Diop, Kalaf Epalanga, Stefanie Hirsbrunner, Bhekisisa Mncube, Goitseone Montsho, Jennifer Neal, Ifeatu Nnaobi

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  • Binding: Hardcover
  • Publishing date: 31.08.2022
  • ISBN: 978-3-9823281-2-6

Stefanie Hirsbrunner

Stefanie Hirsbrunner is a political scientist with a focus on Africa. She is the author of several non-fiction books, including “Sorry about Colonialism” and “Hotel Fünf Sterne” (engl. “Hotel Five Stars”). She most recently co/edited the anthology “Afrika: Radikal neu denken?” (engl. Africa: rethink radically?) , which was published in 2016. She moderates and teaches intercultural competence and business ethics. Since 2018 she has been running the bookstore InterKontinental in Berlin, which was honoured with the German award for bookstores (“Deutscher Buchhandlungspreis”) in 2021. Furthermore, she is a board member of the InterKontinental association which seeks to promote African literature in Germany.

Stefanie Hirsbrunner

Stefanie Hirsbrunner is a political scientist with a focus on Africa. She is the author of several non-fiction books, including “Sorry about Colonialism” and “Hotel Fünf Sterne” (engl. “Hotel Five Stars”). She most recently co/edited the anthology “Afrika: Radikal neu denken?” (engl. Africa: rethink radically?) , which was published in 2016. She moderates and teaches intercultural competence and business ethics. Since 2018 she has been running the bookstore InterKontinental in Berlin, which was honoured with the German award for bookstores (“Deutscher Buchhandlungspreis”) in 2021. Furthermore, she is a board member of the InterKontinental association which seeks to promote African literature in Germany.

Venice Trommer

Venice Trommer studied African Studies at Humboldt-University in Berlin. She reads, sells, and translates books - preferably by writers from Africa and its Diaspora. She translates from English, French, Portuguese and Swahili into German and works and lives in Berlin.

Charlotte Wührer

Charlotte Wührer is a writer, translator and subtitler from the UK. She currently lives in Berlin, and has translated plays for theatres including the Berliner Ensemble, Deutsches Theater Berlin, Maxim Gorki Theatre, Volksbühne and Schauspiel Stuttgart. She is currently translating a collection of short stories and is working on her first novel.

Michael Kegler

Michael Kegler wurde 1967 in Gießen geboren und hat einen Teil seiner Kindheit in Liberia und Brasilien verbracht. Er arbeitete als Buchhändler und Journalist und übersetzt seit Ende der Neunzigerjahre aus dem Portugiesischen, darunter afrikanische und afrodiasporische Autor*innen wie Mia Couto, José Eduardo Agualusa, Yara Monteiro und Ondjaki. 2014 erhielt er den Straelener Übersetzerpreis.

Press

  • "Your love looks like your oppressor, enjoys the privileges of your oppressor. If safe space is where you believe you are free from emotional harm, your white love looks like unsafe space. And dating white feels like betrayal."


    – Tammi L. Coles, "One Black-and-White Love in Seven Acts"