Afro-Austrians
The term Afro-Austrians or Black Austrians refers to people with Austrian citizenship and African (more precisely: sub-Saharan ) descent. In a broader sense, people of sub-Saharan origin who live in Austria but do not have Austrian citizenship are also called Afro-Austrians.
Word origin
The term Afro-Austrian was developed parallel to terms such as Afro-American or Afro-German and should include a. Curb discrimination based on origin and replace names such as Neger or Mohr . In addition to people of sub-Saharan descent, the term New Austrian also describes Austrians from other parts of the world.
history
The first documented African immigrant was baptized in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna in 1629; it is assumed that it was a refugee slave of the Ottoman sultan. The immigration of African people during the times of the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy is strongly linked to economic exploitation. Africans and people of African descent became servants and slaves ( chamber moors ); only rarely did they have the opportunity of social advancement.
Some of the Afro-American soldiers stationed in Austria during World War II entered into a relationship with Austrian women, the children of whom were colloquially referred to as occupation children . After the Second World War, the number of students of African descent in Austria grew from 19 in the 1953/54 winter semester to almost 640 in the 1961/62 semester.
In the last few decades the number of Africans migrating to Austria has risen sharply (1970: <100 refugees , 1991: 1,639 refugees). The reasons for this include the end of the Cold War , the opening of borders and the latest global economic developments.
Current situation
According to estimates, around 40,000 people with dark skin lived in Austria in 2010, most of them in the federal capital . Lately the number of racist attacks in Austria has increased significantly; According to Erwin Ebermann from the Institute for Cultural and Social Anthropology, the cause is the reasons for migration, which have changed over time. This means that even integrated Austrians of sub-Saharan descent are marginalized. A survey from 2012, in which 717 people from Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck took part, showed that around 50% of people of African descent feel discriminated against and are racially abused or harassed in public.
See also
literature
- Erwin Ebermann (ed.): Africans in Vienna. Between mystification and demonization. Lit, Münster 2002, ISBN 3-8258-5712-3 (1st chapter as PDF file; 193 kB; 19 pages and further reading samples on afrika-wien.at).
Web links
- People of African Origin in Austria: The Statistics
- Migration and integration: from Soliman to Omofuma. African diaspora in Austria.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Diploma thesis "Perception of oneself and others: Afro-Europeans and Afro-Austrians - limits of the black and white construction" (page 8) by Irene Gröpel
- ↑ a b Africans in Austria - A Brief Overview - medienservicestelle.at
- ↑ Black people in Austria - skin color is our Star of David - diepresse.com