Black Lives Matter: Global Perspectives

    From France to Belgium and from Britain to the Netherlands, Black Lives Matter movements have sprung up across the globe. In fact, three African American women created the 2013 hashtag in the United States. Addressing systematic and everyday racism, the carceral state, economic migration, and the afterlives of colonialism, these international movements have sought concrete changes that confront white supremacy, ethno-nationalism, and right-wing populism. Given the recent protests against police violence and the impact of COVID-19 on communities of color in Britain and the United States, it is important to trace the historical precedents of these movements and their members’ politics especially in Europe. Black diasporic communities have incessantly pushed for recognition, rights, and liberation in European metropoles and in the colonies. In doing so, they made political claims and expanded definitions of European identity, citizenship, and belonging. This class will trace the how Black lives mattered in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in Europe, and it will also focus on earlier historical periods (ancient, early modern, etc.). The course will not be restricted to the Europe alone, as it will explore experiences in the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the United States. In the class, students will also have an opportunity to participate in transatlantic exchanges with international students at the University of Cologne in Germany; students there are taking a similar BLM course. Ultimately, the course will introduce students to the dynamic experiences of Black European communities and other Black diasporic communities.