“I want Black children to know that they should never, ever, ever settle for things that society wants to give to them”: Self‑published Black French and Black German Children’s Literature as Blacktivism1

2023/06/14 by Élodie Malanda · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Gender Roles and Identity Studies #Media, Gender, and Advertising #German Colonialism and Identity Studies

paper · doi:10.7202/1100564ar

openalex publication_date 2023/06/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/10

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze self‑published children’s books by Black French and Black German authors as a form of Blacktivism. I study how the authors’ comments about their work echoes with an activist narrative, and how they participate in a fight for racial justice, not only through the message of their children’s books, but through their choice of self‑publishing. First, I examine their motivations for writing and relate them to what I call “kidliteractivism,” to then show how self‑publishing can be a form of literary and racial insubordination, and finally I shed light on how self‑published children’s books by French and German authors of African descent are linked to broader Blacktivist movements in France and Germany.

Citations

• L’édition hors édition : vers un modèle dynamique. Pratiques sauvages, parallèles, sécantes et proscrites
• Literature’s Vexed Democratization

Discussions

• Élodie Malanda analyzes self‑published children’s books by Black French and Black German authors as a form of Blacktivism. She studies how the authors’ comments about their work echoes with an activis [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]

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