The first Main Hall forum of this academic year features the much-touted Afro-German historian, screenwriter, and lecturer Fatima El-Tayeb. In this second visit to Lawrence, she will talk about her film, Alles wirt gut (Everything will be Fine), and she will also give the first Main Hall forum on German national identity.El-Tayeb graduated from Hamburg University with degrees in modern and medieval history, in addition to a degree in American Studies. Also from Hamburg, she received her Ph.D. in German history. She has toured the United States extensively, giving lectures at universities and conferences across the country. Her writings have received much acclaim from both European and North American critics.
Following a showing of Everything will be Fine in the Wriston auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, El-Tayeb will discuss her film. The film is a German romantic comedy that examines how Afro-German lesbians, who live among racists, deal with the conflicts they face.
On Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., El-Tayeb will discuss the interplay between race and national identity in Germany. Her speech is based on her recent book, Schwarze Deutsche: Der Diskurs um Rasse und Nationale Identitat (Black Germans: The Discourse on Race and National Identity).
She titled her lecture, “We are Germans, We are White, and We Want to Stay White!” She will give this lecture in Main Hall room 202. Both of the events are free and open to the public.