In the field of racism criticism especially, we seem to have certain discussions again and again, and be unable to connect to existing knowledge because we all too often do not pass it on correctly, or actively "unremember" it[i] [1]. This is particularly evident in the constantly recurring debates about discriminatory language in children's classics, in the context of which 'we' ( the white majority society and the mass media) seem to repeatedly ask the same fundamental questions about the limits of what can be said, rather than building on already formulated considerations. For this reason, this article will not revisit the tired old question - already  raised, discussed and answered many times[ii] [2]- of how we should deal with racist labels and narratives in children's books, nor will it go through the various positions. Rather, the aim is to ask what we risk overlooking when we talk primarily about the 'eradication' of violent terms - trivialized as "bad words"[iii] [3] - not about the reproduction of colonialist and racist structures in these books and, by extension, within the system of action in which we, as artists, evolve.

Claudia Sackl works as a research assistant at ISEK - Popular Cultures at the University of Zurich, teaches at the Institute of German Studies at the University of Vienna and runs training courses for teachers of children's and young adult literature. She studied English and German language and literature at the University of Vienna and her dissertation project is dedicated to Afro-diasporic literatures in German and English.

"artistic freedom / take all words in your mouth / no matter where they come from / and drop them everywhere / no matter who they / touch" (May Ayim)[iv] [4]

There have been regular debates in the German-speaking world about discriminatory language in children's books. Within this discourse, largely dominated by white voices, it is often forgotten that black intellectuals such as May Ayim have already addressed, decades ago, the use of racist language in children's classics. In the book which she wrote with Katharina Oguntoye and Dagmar Schulz in 1986, "Farbe bekennen. Afro-German women on the trail of their history" - considered a standard reference book of the Afro-German movement and even today plays a central role in the field of racism criticism and Black Studies in the German-speaking world - the Afro-German author, spoken word artist and researcher analyzed the extent to which many well-known children's songs and books reproduce "colonial clichés, overt and subtle racism"[v] [5].

However, in the wider German-speaking public, debate about racist language in children's classics - at times heated and influenced by the media - only began around 2013 with the re-edition of Otfried Preußler's "The Little Witch", in which terms used in the original text, such as the N-word, were replaced by more neutral terms. Besides a series of journalistic contributions to the debate ( sometimes more , sometimes less well-founded ), the topic was also finally addressed in the institutionalised field of German literature studies and didactics. In 2015, for example, a volume edited by Heidi Hahn, Beate Laudenberg and Heidi Rösch was published with the title "'Words out! On the debate about non-discriminatory language in children's books", which brought together a wide range of voices on the subject, including from contradictory stances.

In 2020, the debate was finally reopened "on the occasion of the protests against police violence and racism as well as the discussion about a supposed 'cancel culture'"[vi] [6], as a result of which the media, event organizers and publishers increasingly turned to critical discourse of racism or tried to integrate themselves into anti-racist debate. It was not only in the mass media that "new reflections were outlined in the field of children's literature"[vii] [7]. Building on this, Joseph Kebe-Nguema emphasises that the removal of racist terms from texts such as "Pippi Longstocking" or "Jim Button" does little to change their discriminatory narratives, but rather masks their colonialist discourses. He argues for a critical examination of the cultural-historical context of the stories, because "[i]t is not possible to discuss the depiction of black characters in local children's literature in an optimal way if one ignores the German historical relationship to blackness."[viii] [8]

There are as yet no historically critical editions of children's classics with a postcolonial perspective published in German-speaking countries. In November 2021, for example, the conference "Cancel Literature" organized by the ‘Work group for youth literature’took place, in which the relationship between children's and young adult literature and so-called 'political correctness' as well as 'cancel culture' was reflected upon and in which non-white authors and researchers such as Chantal-Fleur Sandjon, Andrea Karimé and Joseph Kebe-Nguema were given a voice. What nevertheless becomes clear in Kebe-Nguema's critical commentary on the conference[ix] [9] is the continuing lack of engagement with whiteness as "de-normed"[x] [10], i.e. made invisible,  a norm that also dominates the children's and youth literature scene. With regard to the workshop he led, Kebe-Nguema reports: "When I asked all the participants - my group consisted exclusively of white Germans - when they had started to deal with their own whiteness, I realized that this had never been an issue for them", and concludes pointedly: "How can one presume to determine how racially discriminated people should deal with negative representations of others if one is not even aware of what it means to be read as white in this Germany?"[xi] [11]

"The three Ps (personnel, program, public) are the decisive points at which social change can be enabled or blocked in the cultural sector." (Philipp Khabo Koepsell)[xii] [12]

In fact, artists such as Philipp Khabo Koepsell, Chantal-Fleur Sandjon, Sharon Dodua Otoo and Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo have already spoken at the "First Indaba of Black Cultural Creatives in Germany" - a two-day networking meeting held to mark the 130th anniversary of the Berlin Congo Conference.  In 2015 this was held at the Ballhaus Naunynstraße theater in Berlin and was documented in writing in a self-published[xiii] [13] publication edited by Philipp Khabo Koepsell - it showed that black people and people of colour are often perceived neither as potential consumers nor as significant producers of literature:

"To date, the (mostly white) decision-makers have almost exclusively defined a white target audience. This is not a conscious decision, but rather the ignoring of demographic dynamics and the inherent fallacy that people with a so-called migration background (here meaning mostly non-white people) are neither interested in culture nor are they a serious culture-producing [sic] factor. As a consequence, the form, content and development of cultural literary output is oriented towards the paradigm of a white majority society."[xiv] [14]

The participants of the Indaba[xv] [15] show how these assumptions shape, restrict and often even prevent the work of black creatives by describing their experience of gatekeepers at cultural institutions and decision-makers in cultural policy. These make it clear that both authors and readers in the German-language literary market are still predominantly imagined as white - and that the infrastructures within the literary industry are also aligned with these ideas, opening up spaces and paths for certain artists while closing them off to others, thus consolidating existing power relations.

With regard to children's and young adult literature, Élodie Malanda has shown in a recent article how texts by black authors on the German-language book market are marginalized in multiple ways within these established structures.[xvi] [16] The processes of minoritization to which black children's and young adult authors and their texts are subjected include not only the narrative that their publications are niche products, but also the assumption that the examination of racism, colonialism and postcoloniality are 'black' themes, only of interest to a few readers (as well as the aforementioned fact that non-white people are often not perceived as potential recipients).

The debate surrounding racist terms and narratives in classic children's books also bears witness to this widespread view. Joseph Kebe-Nguema has already pointed this out in previous discussions : "[t]he development, self-awareness and everyday reality of readers [...] have rarely been taken into account"[xvii] [17]. The lack of or limited ability to empathize (on the part of the white majority society), which is evident in many statements on the debate, was summed up by a young reader in a much-cited letter to the German weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT in 2013: "You can't imagine [sic] how that [sic] feels to me [sic] when I have to read or hear the word"[xviii] [18], wrote nine-year-old Ishema Kane  to the editors. M. Mustapha Diallo explained the effects of discursive violence in his contribution to the volume "Wörter raus!?" using a vivid metaphor:

"Contrary to popular belief, it is not about whether children can handle the term or would learn to become racists by reading it [...], but about the use of violence. In order to grasp inadequacy of the words used, one has to imagine linguistic violence in concrete terms, e.g. the N-word as a slap in the face. This would be the [...] rejection of a change with reference to consciousness as the decisive factor: After all, the fact that black people are no longer slapped does not mean that racism no longer exists. Nor could one say: I understand that black people are slapped when they read, but I am still in favor of keeping it that way, even if there is an alternative. In this respect, the unconditional defense of literary authenticity not only reveals an ignorance of linguistic violence, but suggests to those affected that they should not read the texts -  an implication that contradicts the argument for literature, insofar as the statement means the exclusion of a group."[xix] [19]

If racist words and narratives are denied their (re)traumatizing potential, or if this potential is ignored or downplayed, those people who are already marginalized in our society are further excluded as potential readers. Whiteness is once again reproduced as a norm and continues to be made invisible. The perspective of white creatives continues to be made central when they claim the authority to interpret what may be considered racist, instead of those affected by racist discrimination.

"Language [...] does not have to leave the piazza offended, it can also evolve." (Leila Essa)[xx] [20]

The frequent accusation that it is only in children's literature that one would presume to change the 'holy grail' of the original text (all too often, narratives of 'censorship' are also invoked here, which equate the reproduction of hate speech with the right to freedom of expression) can be countered with a current example: In her novel "Identitti" (2020), in which Mithu Sanyal negotiates the litigiousness and ambivalence of cultural identities in a postcolonial world, the author draws on racist terms in two places. As Leila Essa writes in an article for ZEIT ONLINE, after the publication of the first edition, "two black colleagues had pointed out to Sanyal how much the reproduction of racist vocabulary in two passages of the text had thrown off the narrative"[xxi] [21]. However, instead of presenting herself as a victim of a supposed 'cancel culture', Sanyal changed the passages - which incidentally, in their initial version, were already "the result of much thought  and consultative conversations" - and found a way to "prioritize marginalized perspectives on the text here as well"[xxii] [22] for the second edition of her successful book, in which "people affected by racism in particular should be able to 'just swim along'". Sanyal leaves the interpretative authority on what can be perceived as hurtful and racist to those people who are labelled by the term she reproduces - and with her decision to revise her original text in response to her readers' feedback, she also turns against established ideas of literature with a singular and self contained work.[xxiii] [23]

In addition, it is important to note, with Magdalena Kißling, that a postcolonial reading is not only appropriate in relation to those texts in which racist language and stereotypes are explicitly negotiated. Rather, the (re)production of "white normality"[xxiv] [24] must also be critically scrutinized, especially in books that do not appear to deal with racialization and racism. As Christine Lötscher put it in an article for "Geschichte der Gegenwart" with regard to the discussions surrounding Amanda Gorman's poem "The Hill We Climb", "[t]he question of how political literature must or may be [...] is a false one. It is always already political."[xxv] [25]

In this sense, the question often formulated in the debate about the racist use of language in classic children's books as to how political the mediation of literature and reading 'may', or 'should be, ' must also be regarded as a false one. Both are always already political. Even, or rather especially, the suppression and non-thematization of racializing structures (Nicola Lauré al-Samarai as well as Lann Hornscheidt and Adibeli Nduka-Agwu have coined the term "de-naming"[xxvi] [26]) are political decisions - and a privilege of a white majority society, which has so far claimed not only the sovereignty of production but also the sovereignty of interpretation over literature. Offering other voices - voices hitherto largely disadvantaged -  a larger platform both in the field of literature and that of literary studies and criticism is long overdue, as is the need to create spaces and structures that enable social change, including with regard to the production and reception of children's classic literature.

This article first appeared in the Austrian trade journal "1001 Buch" No. 3/2023: In the issue of the magazine for children's and young adult literature "Old, but good. Old, but good?" is all about the classics of children's literature.

An abridged version of the article was also published on November 12, 2023 in the online magazine "Geschichte der Gegenwart".

[i] [1] With the concept of "de-remembering", Kien Nghi Ha describes a reproductive act of memory that de-historicizes and conceals Black history(ies) while normalizing white representations of history(ies). Cf. Kien Nghi Ha: Macht(T)raum(a) Berlin - Germany as a colonial society. In: Maureen Maisha Auma [here Eggers] / Grada Kilomba / Peggy Piesche / Susan Arndt (eds.): Myths, Masks, Subjects. Critical whiteness research in Germany. Münster: Unrast 2005, pp. 105-117.

[ii] [2] Recommended in particular are: Joseph Kebe-Nguema: Wrong debate? In: JuLit 1/2022a, pp. 22-27; M. Mustapha Diallo: Sprachliche Gewalt und literarische Authentizität. Comment on the debate about discriminatory terms in children's books In: Heidi Hahn / Beate Laudenberg / Heidi Rösch (eds.): "Words out!?" On the debate about non-discriminatory language in picture books. Weinheim / Basel: Beltz Juventa 2015, pp. 39-47.

[iii] [3] For example Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer / Jörg Meibauer: Should we replace "bad words" in children's books? Conflicts of norms, character speech, footnote. In: Heidi Hahn / Beate Laudenberg / Heidi Rösch: "Words out!"? On the debate about non-discriminatory language in picture books. Weinheim / Basel: Beltz Juventa 2015, p. 14-38.

[iv] [4] May Ayim: künstlerische freiheit. In: This: going further. Poems. 2nd ed. Berlin: Orlanda 2020 [2013], p. 82. The quote comes from a poem by May Ayim written in 1992 and first published in 1996. It was already used as a motto by M. Mustapha Diallo in his article "Sprachliche Gewalt und literarische Authentizität" (2015) and was taken up again here, inspired by it.

[v] [5] May Ayim/Opitz: Racism here and now. In: May Ayim / Katharina Oguntoye / Dagmar Schulz (eds.): Showing your colors. Afro-German women on the trail of their history. 3rd ed. Berlin: Orlanda 2021 [1986], pp. 169-190, here p. 169.

[vi] [6] Kebe-Nguema (2022a), p. 22.

[vii] [7] Ibid.

[viii] [8] Ibid.

[ix] [9] Joseph Kebe-Nguema: Many blind spots and missed opportunities. Commentary on the "Cancel Literature" conference. In: Eselsohr 3/2022b, p. 26.

[x] [10] Lann Hornscheidt / Adibeli Nduka-Agwu: Der Zusammenhand zwischen Rassismus und Sprache. In: This (ed.): Racism in good German. A critical reference work on racist language acts. 2nd ed. Frankfurt a. M.: Brandel & Apsel 2013 [2010], pp. 11-49, here p. 43.

[xi] [11] Kebe-Nguema (2022b), p. 26.

[xii] [12] Philipp Khabo Koepsell (ed.): Erste Indaba Schwarzer Kulturschaffender in Deutschland. ePubli 2015, p. 10 [Italics in original.

[xiii] [13] Not least due to prevailing prejudices in the literary industry (cf. Koepsell 2015), Black authors in particular are often forced to self-publish their texts, which further marginalizes their publications. See also Élodie Malanda: Afro-German and Afro-French children's and young adult books. A "very, very small" literature? In: #breiterkanon from 27.1.2022, https://breiterkanon.hypotheses.org/568 [2.6.2023].

[xiv] [14] Koepsell (2015), p. 5.

[xv] [15] The word "indaba" comes from the South African isiZulu and means meeting, assembly or conference, but also facts, matter, affair (cf. ibid., p. 1).

[xvi] [16] Cf. Malanda (2022), n.p.

[xvii][17] Kebe-Nguema (2022a), p. 26f.

[xviii] [18] Ishema Kane in her letter to DIE ZEIT of 19.1.2013; reproduced in Lisa Mayr: "Neger" im Kinderbuch. Why a girl could end the "Negro debate" in an instant. In: Der Standard from 22.1.2013, https://www.derstandard.at/story/1358304356344/ein-brief-sagt-mehr-als-1000-worte [2.6.2023].

[xix] [19] Diallo (2015), p. 45.

[xx] [20] Leila Essa: Die Wir-Identität. Mithu Sanyal and Asal Dardan. In: Zeit online, 23.3.2021, https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2021-03/mithu-sanyal-asal-dardan-cancel-culture-rassismus-identitaet-marginalisierte-gruppen/seite-2 [1.6.2023].

[xxi] [21] Ibid.

[xxii] [22] Ibid.

[xxiii] [23] Cf. ibid.

[xxiv] [24] Magdalena Kißling: Weiße Normalität. Perspectives on postcolonial literary didactics. Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2020 (Postkoloniale Studien in der Germanistik, vol. 10), p. 356.

[xxv] [25] Christine Lötscher: Zähne ziehen. Literature and legitimation. In: Geschichte der Gegenwart from 10.2.2021, https://geschichtedergegenwart.ch/zaehne-ziehen-literatur-und-legitimation/ [15.1.2024].

[xxvi][26] Cf. Nicola Lauré al-Samarai: Inspirited Topography. Über/Lebensräume, Heim-Suchungen und die Verortung der Erfahrung in Schwarzen deutschen Kultur- und Wissenstraditionen. In: Maureen Maisha Auma [here Eggers] / Grada Kilomba / Peggy Piesche / Susan Arndt (eds.): Myths, Masks and Subjects. Critical whiteness research in Germany. 4th ed. Münster: Unrast 2020 [2005], pp. 118-134; Hornscheidt / Nduka-Agwu (2013).