“Like a Black Island in a White Sea” : Black Teachers in Germany: Their Experiences with Discrimination and Racism and Their Strategies to Cope with Them

Abstract: This paper explores the experiences of discrimination and racism that Black teachers in Germany face. Moreover, this work sheds light on the strategies those teachers can engage in, in order to navigate through a pre-dominantly white school system. Thereby Critical Race Theory (CRT) offered a theoretical framework for the analysis of four problem-centered interviews with Black educators, which were then analysed with the qualitative content analyse. Findings from the study illuminate that Black people in the educational system in Germany face experiences of discrimination and racism throughout their schooling, from their studies to their own work as teachers. Additionally, the findings showed that the teacher developed multiple strategies in order to negotiate the institutional structures at predominantly white institution. This study adds to the field by centring the voices of Black people.