Racism without ‘race’: colorblindness, blackness and everyday racism in contemporary Germany

Germany does not officially use or recognize racial categories. Despite this absence, everyday racism is a common experience for Black Germans and others viewed as non-European. Drawing on interviews with Black Germans, this article reveals the multiple ways in which Black Germans are racialized in everyday life. The most common form is 'foreignization' or the presumption that Black Germans are immigrants. This particular form of racialization can be seen as a consequence of the refusal to acknowledge race as a concept, and substituting the language of citizenship and migration for it. Interviews also illustrate how Black Germans' self-identifications are both shaped by and challenge this absence of race as a term. The absence of racial categories maintains the notion of Germanness as white, and Blackness as non-German. Examining race in the German context offers unique insights into the comparative study of race in the contemporary colorblind era.