Auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte: Black German Detectives and the Cases of Anäis Schmitz and Fatou Fall

Abstract:The various types of detective work that Black individuals and communities undertake enables them to collect evidence and knowledge and disseminate tactics for resistance. I first contextualize the advent of Black German detection in real life and then turn to fictional Black German detectives in literature and on television. In doing so, I explore the interconnectedness of Black German belonging—both real and imagined—through the act and art of detection. The earliest official, fictional Black German female detectives within these media, Anäis Schmitz and Fatou Fall, allow for an exploration of the intersectionality of race, cisgender, and heteronormative reproduction. Their introduction to this genre overlaps in the timing of their debut appearances (2019), but the characters contrast in terms of representation, due in part to the medium employed and to the racial positionality of their creators. Thus, I investigate how crime novels and crime television shows shift the representation and recognition of Black Germans but remain attuned to how institutional and historically anchored racist structures “frame” Black German belonging.