By Giuliana R, Year 10

On Thursday 12th October, Dr Smale from King’s College University, came to NHEHS to give an assembly and seminars. Our Year 10 German class was fortunate to participate in a seminar about Diversity in German-speaking Literature. In order to raise awareness, this topic has been chosen by the German department to be the focus point of this year’s initiatives and it so happens to be one of Dr Smale’s research topics.

In her seminar, Dr Smale spoke about Afro-German writers during the time of reunification and the challenges they faced; depicting the example of May Ayim’s life and her writing. May Ayim had Ghanaian and German heritage and was born and lived in Germany throughout her early life, meaning she was a German citizen. Despite her having a German passport, she was, however, constantly viewed as someone who didn’t belong, especially during the time of reunification. Whilst many Germans throughout the country celebrated this event, a few number of people like May Ayim, weren’t welcomed into the celebrations. Her struggle of (not) ‘fitting into’ society at the time and defining her own identity can be seen and felt in her poem “Blues in schwarz weiß,” which translates as Blues in Black and White, where she says “⅓ der Welt/ zertanzt die anderen/ ⅔ der Welt sie feiern in Weiß/ Wir trauen in Schwarz.” This translates to “⅓ of the world/ dances over the other/ ⅔  celebrate in white/ we mourn in black”. May Ayim has expressed these types of challenges in all her poetry and has become an inspiration to many Afro-German poets. I was also lucky enough to be on the school trip to Berlin last Christmas with Frau Schindler Smith, who pointed out the road that was named after her; Germany seems to have come a long way.