An African Diaspora in the Making

This book addresses the timely research field of Afropean identity politics and provides a first account of the lived experience of Afroczechs and Africans in Czechia. Against the background of country-specific evasive politics on race and a discourse of colonial exceptionalism, the book explains particularities of racial formations. While critical race theory serves as an analytical tool, the book shows that there are also limits to its applicability in the Czech context. Ethnographic data focusing on racialisation and racism as fundamentally shared experiences which unite Africans and Afroczechs demonstrate that there is a momentum in which young and primarily female Afroczech activists are currently creating a diasporic space which forges a racially just and black Czech society. The book yields new insights into the specific conditions which concretise how race, hegemonic whiteness, and essentialist cultural identity ideologies co-construct each other and translate into context specific racial identity politics.

Stephanie Inge Rudwick is an Associate Professor at the University of Hradec Králové and a researcher at the Ethnology department of the Czech Academy of Science. As a linguistic anthropologist she publishes primarily on raciolinguistic identity politics and social injustices in South Africa and, more recently, in Czechia. Angela Nwagbo is an Afroczech performance artist and anthropologist working across dance, physical theatre, film, and drama. Her research and practice explore identity, belonging, racial mixedness, and cross-culturalism, particularly among people of African descent. As co-author of studies on Afroczech identity, she advances the democratization of knowledge through performative means. Martin Schmiedl is an Assistant Professor at Mendel University in Brno, Czechia, and received his Ph.D. in Political Science and African Studies at the University of Hradec Králové. He researches politics and international relations in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on violent conflicts, protests and democracy.

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Historical Background.- Chapter 3: Racial Formations in Czechia.- Chapter 4: Studying, Settling, and Struggling.- Chapter 5: Being, Becoming and Belonging.- Chapter 6: Conclusion.