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Analysis Of Ayim's Blues In Black And White

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In the above poem Ayim tries to fit in her hyphenated/two part identity into one inseparable whole. Although she states that: “[her] fatherland is Ghana, [her] mother tongue is German” (Ayim, Blues in Black and White 46), her Afro-German identity is adaptive to and inclusive in her surroundings: “I have been living and working in West Berlin and feel more at home in this city than anywhere else” (Blues in Black and White 47). However, racism causes her to feel estranged even after the unity of the two Germanys: “The new “We” in “this our country”—Chancellor Kohl’s favorite expression—did not and does not have a place for everyone” (Blues in Black and White 48). Not all immigrants are treated on equal footing. Some, including Black Germans of course, are categorized as foreigners “and cannot be real Germans” (Blues in Black and White 51). The case was altered in 1990, since immigrants were given a chance to express themselves and, indeed, “not only were painful wounds were left over but also equal fruitful initiatives for real collaboration between black and white women came out of them” (Blues in Black and White 55). In 1992, there was a new wave of “a racist and anti- Semitic assaults” (Blues in Black and White 57).
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