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Who is the author of Afropean?

The author of Afropean is Johny Pitts.

Society & Culture

Afropean Book Summary - Afropean Book explained in key points

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Afropean summary

Name: Afropean
Rating: 4.5 (37 reviews)
Author: Johny Pitts

Johny Pitts

Notes From Black Europe

4.5 (37 ratings)

26 mins

Brief summary

'Afropean' by Johny Pitts is a non-fiction book that documents the experiences of black Europeans and explores the intersection of their culture with wider European society. Through personal accounts and historical analysis, it sheds light on a complex and often overlooked aspect of European identity and history.

Topics

Colonialism & Imperialism Memoirs African History

Table of Contents

Afropean
Summary of 9 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 9

What’s in it for me? Discover the hidden narratives behind Black Europe.

Europe, just like America, likes to present itself as an open-minded, diverse, and multicultural continent. But many people in and outside of Europe still use “European” as a synonym for “white.”

Black Europe is barely present in mainstream narratives of the continent’s history and culture – despite centuries of colonialism entangling the fates of African people and their European colonizers. As a result, many Afro-Europeans who’ve lived in Europe for generations often feel like their home country doesn’t have a place for them.

As a British-born Black kid from Sheffield, author Johny Pitts experienced this feeling of displacement himself. He often felt forced to identify either as British-European or as Black – but never as both.

That’s what inspired Johny to set out on a journey to the heart of Black Europe. Traveling through Paris, Brussels, and Moscow, he wanted to experience for himself how Black history and culture have shaped Europe. On his journey, he met Surinamese-Dutch activists, Congolese artists, and Black French militants. He discovered a rich mosaic of Black writers, workers, and activists who were forging a new identity for themselves: Afropean.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how Africans and Black Americans celebrated Blackness in 1920s Paris;
how a Surinamese community center in Amsterdam is preserving Black history; and
how Afropeans in Lisbon have created a tight-knit community.

In Sheffield, Johny witnessed his multicultural neighborhood crumble under socioeconomic pressures.

As a kid, author Johny Pitts didn’t think too much about what it meant to be Black in Europe.

His dad was a Black American singer from Brooklyn, and his mom came from a white, working-class British family with Irish roots. The two had met in the 1960s, when Johny’s father was touring Britain with his bootleg band, The Fantastic Temptations. They eventually settled down in Sheffield, where Johny was born.

But in Firth Park, the area where Johny grew up, his mixed heritage wasn’t all that unusual.

The key message here is: In Sheffield, Johny witnessed his multicultural neighborhood crumble under socioeconomic pressures.

Firth Park is a working-class district in Sheffield. It started as a housing project for immigrant workers from British colonies in the late nineteenth century. Today, it’s made up of a mix of those workers’ descendants; white working-class families; second-generation immigrants from Yemen, India, and Jamaica; and, more recently, refugees from Syria, Somalia, and Kosovo.

Johny remembers Firth Park as a rough but vibrant, dynamic, and racially tolerant neighborhood. From the window of his childhood bedroom, he observed many of the multicultural dramas and comedies that played out on the streets below – from Yemeni weddings and reggae parties to gang shootings and drug deals.

It was this atmosphere that, from the 1970s to the 1990s, made Firth Park a hot spot for one of the most important Black cultural movements: hip-hop. His white friend Leon and his Yemeni friend Mohammed introduced Johny to the Black underground hip-hop culture of Sheffield, which included illegal block parties and the pirate radio station SCR.

But by the mid-1990s, when Johny was a teen, the vibrant social and cultural life in Firth Park had begun to crumble. Globalization and free trade had eroded many of the local industries that the working-class and immigrant communities relied on. Under this increasing socioeconomic pressure, an air of depression and desperation began to creep into life at Firth Park. Many of the friends Johny grew up with found themselves trapped in debilitating poverty and turned to alcohol, drugs, and crime.

Sheffield had once provided Johny with a proud, multicultural working-class identity. This changed after his studies in London. He increasingly felt that he had neither a place in the Black and Brown communities he’d grown up in, nor in the majority-white country that rejected them.

He began to wonder what it meant to be Black and European – and especially what it meant to be both at the same time. He decided that the only way to answer these questions was to go backpacking across the continent and find out for himself.

Paris revealed the deep historical connections between Europe, Africa, and Black America.

Outside of communities like Firth Park, Black Europeans can seem invisible. Many are first- or second-generation immigrants from former European colonies such as Mozambique and Ghana. They work long and odd hours as cleaners, taxi drivers, or security guards. And many live tucked away in housing projects at the outskirts of their cities.

This creates the illusion that there’s no such thing as “Black Europe.” But it took only one stop in Paris to convince Johny that this is a major misconception.

Brussel’s Black community pioneered the new Afropean identity.

Brussels, Johny’s next stop, was once voted “Europe’s most boring capital.” But the clean, bureaucratic surface of the city hides a particularly brutal chapter of Afropean history. Belgium’s colonial rule in the Congo in the early twentieth century claimed the lives of over ten million Congolese people.

Here’s the key message: Brussel’s Black community pioneered the new Afropean identity.

In Amsterdam, young Afro-Surinamese activists are preserving the legacy of African American revolutionaries.

Did you know that the New York districts Brooklyn, Harlem, and Bedford-Stuyvesant are all named after Dutch cities?

Like Paris, the Netherlands and its capital, Amsterdam, have deep historical connections to New York – many of which run through Amsterdam's Black community.

Berlin is home to a white-washed anti-fascist movement – and a thriving Rastafarian community.

When Johny checked into his hostel in Berlin, the receptionist explained to him that he was about to encounter “an ugly city full of beautiful, open people.” Indeed, to Johny, Berlin in winter appeared quite harsh and unwelcoming, and when he wanted to join an anti-fascist demonstration in the city center, he first thought he’d accidentally run into a group of skinheads.

But he quickly learned that the 4,000 or so rowdy-looking youths in dark clothes were actually members of the Antifa – an international anti-fascist organization with roots in Nazi resistance movements.

Stockholm boasts many Afropean success stories – but can be blind to the roots of racial injustice.

To many people, Scandinavian countries like Sweden represent a kind of European utopia: a good social security system, free health care and education, and a progressive, tolerant culture. For Johny, Sweden was a refuge from the racial tensions prevalent in many other European countries.

Here’s the key message: Stockholm boasts many Afropean success stories – but can be blind to the roots of racial injustice.

Modern Moscow bears little trace of the Soviet Union’s old multicultural ideals.

Of all the places he’d planned on traveling to, Johny was least excited about going to Moscow. In recent years, Russia has seen a rise of racist attacks against immigrants, especially African students. When he’d applied for a visa in London, even the clerk at the Russian consulate warned Johny not to walk alone at night.

But Russia wasn’t always such an unwelcoming place for Black people. For example, one of the most important figures of modern Russian literature, Alexander Pushkin, was of African descent. His great-grandfather Abram Gannibal was born in Ethiopia, kidnapped and enslaved by the Ottomans, and later sold to Count Peter Tolstoy.

In Marseille, Johny found a little Afropean utopia.

Bringing his journey full circle, Johny traveled from Russia back to France. This time, he took a train around Provence, stopping a few times to admire some of the beautiful villas along the coast. Many of these luxurious buildings are relics from colonial times – and, more or less literally, awash in the blood of African people.

The Villa Leopolda in the coastal village Villefranche-sur-Mer, for example – the most expensive villa in the world – was built by Belgian King Leopold II with his Congolese blood money. And the Villa del Mare in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin once belonged to Congolese military official Joseph Mobutu, who conspired with Belgium and the US to assassinate Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. One of the old French villas, however, was home to a true Black icon: James Baldwin.

In Lisbon, Afropeans from former Portuguese colonies have built their own little world.

Of all the cities he’d visited, multicultural, working-class Marseille had come closest to his personal dream of Afropea: a multi-faceted but interconnected community of African Europeans and European Africans, where people, histories, and cultures merged to stand against racism, fascism, and economic exploitation.

In Lisbon, he found another example of this kind of intercultural, working-class solidarity.

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What is Afropean about?

Afropean (2020) is a travelogue tracing the hidden history and culture of Black people in Europe. Exploring cities such as Paris, Berlin, and Moscow, author Johny Pitts reveals the diversity of African-descendent communities in Europe – and shows how they are forging new identities for themselves beyond the continent’s colonialist legacy.

Afropean Review

Afropean (2019) by Johny Pitts is an eye-opening exploration of the experiences and identities of people of African descent in Europe. Here's why this book is worth reading:

Offers a fresh perspective on the African diaspora, delving into the complexities of Afro-European culture and identity.
Through powerful storytelling and personal narratives, it sheds light on the challenges faced by Afropeans, while also celebrating their diversity and resilience.
Goes beyond stereotypes to present a nuanced and thought-provoking portrait of a continent grappling with issues of race, belonging, and cultural hybridity.

Best quote from Afropean

I felt I wasnt black enough for my old black friends, not white enough for my old white friends.

—Johny Pitts

Who should read Afropean?

Young Europeans navigating questions of nationality, identity, and community
Backpackers, wanderers, and other travel addicts
People interested in Europe’s hidden Black history and culture

About the Author

Johny Pitts is a British writer, photographer, and journalist. His online journal, Afropean, which highlights art, literature, and events from the Afro-European diaspora, has become a network for Black Europeans across the continent. Before the eponymous book, he collaborated with author Caryl Phillips on a photo essay about London's immigrant communities for the BBC.

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