Johny Pitts is unhappy with the way he is seen and sees himself - half black, half this, half that.

He is searching for an identity that feels complete. One day he boards a train in Sheffield and sets off for Europe, hoping to meet people who, like him, do not see themselves as national but as Afro-American. His travels and his encounters in England, Germany, France, Portugal, Belgium, in the favelas on the outskirts of Lisbon, in the Muslim district of Rinkeby in Stockholm, in "Little Africa" in the 18th arrondissement of Paris or in a Ghanaian Rastafarian community in Berlin-Friedrichshain - are collected in his book »Afropean« that has been translated into German in 2020 as well as been honored with the Leipzig Book Award for European Understanding.

At M. Bassy, Johny Pitts takes us on a journey directly into life between the continents and tells us about the vision and reality of an Afropolitan Europe through many stories and encounters. At the same time, Johny Pitts tells us more about the Afropean network, which he and others have been running from Sheffield for years.

Johny Pitts

Johny Pitts (born in Sheffield, England) is a TV presenter, photographer, and writer. The son of an African-American father and a British mother, he grew up between hybrid cultural worlds. He studied poetry with Debjani Chatterjee, has written for numerous magazines and newspapers and won the Decibel Penguin Prize for young writers and the ENAR (European Network Against Racism) Award. He is the founder of the online platform Afropean.com.

Afropean.com

2021 – Talk mit Johny Pitts, Datum (tbc)

Entrance (donation): 10,- EUR
Only with reservations: reservation@m-bassy.org

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The series AFROPA is supported by the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S.
The M.Bassy Program is supported by the Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg.