edna bonhomme, phd
@jacobinoire
Followers
9K
Following
26K
Media
496
Statuses
10K
Writer • A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN SIX PLAGUES @simonschuster (2025) & Co-editor of AFTER SEX •✍🏾 @lrb @thenation @guardian • Rep @ianbonaparte @JanklowNesbit
Berlin, Germany
Joined October 2010
My husbands phone is dead but he asked me to tweet this
23
1K
15K
After 5 years of living in Germany, I could easily ask, "Why do Germans love Quiet?" . The obsession with policing neighbours' and strangers' volumes is inane. Germany is the only country where I have been shushed outside of a bodega for simply talking.
382
1K
9K
I wrote a whole ass dissertation on the history of th epidemics called “plagued bodies and spaces” in the Middle East & North Africa. I have come to realize that when Black women are experts on subjects that have nothing to do with their identity, publications can’t be bothered.
54
1K
6K
Happy 90th birthday to Lorraine Hansberry, African American writer & playwright. She was the first Black woman to have her play (A Raisin in the Sun) featured on Broadway. She was young, gifted, and Black and the world lost a legend when she died of cancer at the age of 34.
7
831
2K
The assassination of the Haitian president will not only cause further political insecurity in Haiti, national and international forces will use this event as an excuse to further militarise Haiti. Sending my anti-imperial energy to fellow Haitians (diaspora).
5
564
2K
"We will never have a complete definition of fascism, because it is in constant motion, showing a new face to fit any particular set of problems that arise to threaten the predominance of the traditionalist, capitalist ruling class." .-George Jackson, "Blood in My Eye".
6
501
2K
This article really spoke to me, especially as I think about how my writing career has been circuitous, isolating, & fraught given my working class background. I often find that middle & upper class writers have more sense of confidence & community.
13
348
2K
A Nigerian medical student, who had to flee from the war in Ukraine, stayed with my husband and me last year. Since leaving our flat, she has continued to live in Berlin, work, and study remotely at her Ukrainian school. Today, she found out that she passed her medical exams.
18
45
1K
“The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what's that? The freedom to starve?”.― Angela Y. Davis.
2
346
1K
Does any know of any narratives written by incarcerated women/femmes that are similar to Antonio Gramsci's "Prison Notes" or George Jackson's "Soledad Brother"? Statistically, women make up a smaller number of incarcerated people, but I want to know if their works get published.
99
173
798
My second baby of the summer has been delivered. 🥹 . ‘A History of the World in Six Plagues’ will be published on March 2025. I’ll post more about it in the coming months, but you can learn more or pre-order the book through the link in my bio. @OneSignalPub @simonschuster
40
159
755
I've been researching the history of Black maternal mortality & I am enraged to find out that (a) the Eugenics Board of North Carolina was in operation until 1977, (b) of the 7,686 people who were sterilised in the state, 5,000 were Black. America continues to harm the Black body.
13
204
626
bell hooks’ death is especially piercing because her philosophy encouraged a younger version of myself to dream. hooks wrote: “To be truly visionary we have to root our imagination in our concrete reality while simultaneously imagining possibilities beyond that reality.”.
2
111
637
Earlier this month, I was pregnant. Now, I am a parent. July has been a wild.
67
4
600
People are telling me to be especially careful today since white German neo-Nazis are marching thru the streets. As a dark skinned Black woman living in Berlin I experience overt & covert acts of racism on the daily & no one ever says anything. The silence is endemic here.
14
112
537
I'm currently teaching a master's course on the history of epidemics during a pandemic @FU_Berlin I am proud to say that all of texts listed are written by women & people of color; decolonizing the syllabus is an active process
20
107
510
The removal of the rent cap in Berlin is a huge blow to the working class, migrant and ethnic minorities who struggle to find housing. To remove tenant protection during a pandemic is cruel & shows where the allegiance of the #cdu lie. Shame on them. #Mietendeckel.
Germany's constitutional court has ruled that Berlin's rent cap is unlawful.
43
170
483
An error in @jacobinmag The other African countries are inventions bc of colonialism & the migration of Black ppl across the continent doesn’t make them less indigenous to South Africa. The “no one is indigenous” claim is the logic of white settlers to continue their colonization
5
109
436
My mum & sis tested positive for COVID & my aunt who has cancer has been hospitalized since Thursday after fainting at work shortly after her chemotherapy treatment. They are all essential Black Haitian workers living in Miami, Florida. I officially hate 2020.
48
42
437
Brazil was the last country in the Americas to officially abolish slavery. Brazil also had the largest Black population outside of the African continent. Black liberation within the diaspora is ongoing and Beatriz Nascimento is part of the Black feminist radical tradition.
1
188
432
I moved from NYC to Berlin, hoping that cheap housing would give me the freedom to write, read & dream. But German politicians decided that it would ignore the financial insecurity that has plagued my generation. We deserve more; the rent is too damn high. #Mietendeckel.
33
45
413
Black Germans coming through.As Sharon says, you can’t say all lives matter until #blacklivesmatter.Berlin stands want justice for #Georgefloyd
9
129
402
The far right in Germany has been brewing for years, & some can be found in parliament, police, & Luddite "aristocrats" with castles. Last year, I wrote about how the anti-vax movement had some anti-Semitic elements for @TheAtlantic
14
128
375
My collaborator & friend @shamshoumah (Dr. Lamia Moghnieh) & I co-organized a workshop last year on the history of medicine in the Middle East & North Africa. Many of the scholars are from the MENA region
0
45
349
Namibia claps back at Germany. Note: Human remains of the Herero and Nama people, stolen by Germans during their genocide in Namibia, are currently held in Germany in spite of African descendants demanding their return. Germany is not a moral example.
Namibia rejects Germany’s Support of the Genocidal Intent of the Racist Israeli State against Innocent Civilians in Gaza. On Namibian soil, #Germany committed the first genocide of the 20th century in 1904-1908, in which tens of thousands of innocent Namibians died in the most
4
124
317
PSA: Black people need genuine policies that improve Black lives such as the redistribution of wealth, the end to policing, prison abolition, guaranteed housing, not spineless politicians kneeling while wearing African print.
5
99
276
Rizvana Bradley offers a response in @Artforum on the Loophole of Retreat: "Black women have always been difficult for the world, which relentlessly demands their labors, but disdains the exorbitance their labors bring forth."
4
77
251
If you want to know about the works of other folks who write about epidemics in the ME you can follow the work of Seçil Yılmaz who has written about the history of sex & syphilis in the Ottoman Empire (Turkish speaking lands)
0
38
256
I wrote an essay for @esquire about the first time I visited Haiti and my childhood memories. But more importantly, the ways that my perception of the country has often contrasted with media reports. But mostly I reflect on what it means to leave & remain.
7
68
258
Happy to announce that I have a new book deal. So grateful for @ianbonaparte for his labor on making this happen and @nick_ciani for believing in my work.
Honored and grateful to steward such an important, necessary work as @jacobinoire's CAPTIVE CONTAGIONS into the world. Edna is a polymath/mensch/superstar!
42
13
258
Thousands of people gathered in Berlin today under one banner, “the rent is too damn high.” We believe in prioritising people over profit & a safe home over everyone. We started off in Neukölln and marched thru Kreuzberg with children, BIPOC, & working class people in support.
1
43
229
Today, I volunteered at the Berlin central train station to welcome people fleeing from Ukraine. There was a Roma family with Ukrainian citizenship who claimed they were initially denied resources from German authorities because they didn’t believe that they were Ukrainian.
2
53
234
This makes my heart melt.
Dr. Angela Davis identifies as follows:. Watch BQTH: Black Joy tonight at 6:30p on YT -
3
38
239
This is my short review in @PublicBooks of Simone Leigh's Venice Biennale Pavilion, Loophole of Retreat, a symposium that conjured brilliant minds. Grateful to @taoleighgoffe for the commission & @bravohotelpapa for their editing
4
66
229
On Saturday, I hosted a gathering outside my flat in Berlin where I read an excerpt from my forthcoming book. Because of the state repression of pro-Palestine activism in Germany, I am finding how essential it is to convene from a basis of compassionate & principled creativity.
6
20
226
Two days, I volunteered in Berlin to help African and Arab people who fled from Ukraine and the racism & trauma from displacement they experienced was so horrific. The hierarchy of empathy in Europe has been taxing to witness.
1
86
222
Rather than address anti-Semitism & other forms of racism in German security forces & society, the government is banning people from having a vigil to commemorate Shireen Abu Akleh. Banning Palestinian solidarity demos is more favorable than dispensing with white German extremism.
@dianabuttu @StefanieDekker Germany bans vigil in memory of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli occupation forces
2
63
214
Heartbreaking to read that deaths of pregnant people in the US increased during the pandemic. What is even more striking is that Native and Black Americans were the two groups that that were disproportionately impacted.
4
87
214
To all my Audre Lorde fans, her sound recordings of seminar sessions and readings have been archived and made accessible to the public by the @FU_Berlin.
Im Audre-Lorde-Archiv wurden umfangreiche Materialien, z.B. auch Tonaufnahmen von Seminarsitzungen und Lesungen, archivarisch erschlossen und der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht.
0
73
203
Last month, I wrote an obituary about Faith Ringgold for @friezeofficial In the text I discuss her artistic scope, activism, and so much more. As an author and performer, she was able to bring beauty in the world and do so with uplifting her community.
1
83
215
Jennifer Derr's book on the History of the Nile River and the diseases that emerged under British colonialism can give you a taste of how a changing environment produces new diseases in the Middle East
0
34
207
Today in Berlin we will be showing up for a demo with masks on.Justice for all Black people who have to endure this ongoing trauma. #BlackLivesMatter
7
64
195
"give your daughters difficult names. give your daughters names that command the full use of the tongue. my name makes you want to tell me the truth. my name doesn't allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right.". - Warsan Shire.
4
68
204
Brooklyn is that place where white people live in majority Black neighbourhoods and actively avoid socialising with or speaking to Black people who aren’t serving them. 🤷🏾♀️.
4
41
198
Reading Tsitsi Dangarembga does not disappoint. Nervous Conditions is not merely a story about an African girl trying to assert herself, but it is also about what it means to write oneself especially when the men you consider kin do not want you to be seen.
7
45
206
I am humbled and elated to be a recipient of the Robert B. Silvers Foundation grant with such a brilliant collection of writers. Looking forward to bringing my work on reproductive freedom into fruition.
The Robert B. Silvers Foundation is pleased to announce the 15 winners of the 2023 Silvers Grants for Work in Progress:.
21
16
203
I am humbled to be an arts writer awardee of the Andy Warhol Arts Foundation for 2023. And extend warm congratulations to the other recipients. @artswriters.
A huge congrats to all the 2023 Arts Writers Grantees! @kemi_aa @BayoumiMoustafa @jacobinoire @thisiskimco @yinkaElujoba @wfenstermaker @kaleemhawa @Femme__banale @urimac731 @daramadan @DetroitMixtape @scholarwright @gregzinman and all the rest!.
20
20
190
There are days when the world seems to be falling apart & during those moments, I turn to leftist literature & whiskey. Black Feminist thought provides me with much needed oxygen in moments when the air around me is dissipating. @haymarketbooks #blackfeminism
4
26
169
Do people have any recommendations for any poems, novels, short stories or literary criticism that tackle social isolation? Especially works navigating interpersonal strife or repair within romantic relationships, familial bonds, class ascension, and waning friendships.
28
52
190
So I opened my big mouth and said some thangs about what we need to do to fight against racism. For @dw_europe .#blacklivesmatter.
"Modern racism and slavery were invented by Europeans." . As #BlackLivesMatter protests continue, historian @Jacobinoire breaks it down:
5
68
178
I am so glad that she and some other African students that were based in Ukraine during the war have been able to live and study in Germany. Sadly, some European countries have not even allowed non-Ukrainians who were displaced from the conflict from even entering their country.
1
10
178
Hey Berlin based friends, there will be a demo in Hermannplatz to challenge the #Mietendeckel ruling. We need to imagine & cultivate a world where we prioritised people over profit, provided free housing for everyone, and valued people’s the space to create community.
Falls der #Mietendeckel kassiert wird,.sehen wir uns morgen, Do., 18 Uhr auf dem Herrmannplatz. Bezahlbarer Wohnraum für alle! .Stadt für alle!.
9
53
176
Want to take a break from #covid19 news? Then read my article for @thenation on the legacy of black American radicals like Maya Angelou traveling to Africa & how that relates to #Ghana's campaign known as the Year of Return.
7
59
182
Today, 19 Feb marks the anniversary of the white suprematist hate crime in #Hanau The violence did not happen in isolation by some “lone wolf” but part of the ongoing anti-Muslim sentiments and policies in European society. #SayTheirNames
4
100
177
@ztsamudzi Not one bit. And it's been refreshing that the first time I had a session with my therapist in Berlin (non-German and non-white), she affirmed that Germany is a deeply racist and xenophobic society.
2
6
169
Honored that my article on my infertility journey is included on the Best Guardian Long Reads for 2022. The list includes other writers that I admire, so I recommend browsing these other texts. Gratitude for @davidedgarwolf @ClareLongrigg @guardian .
6
22
164
Omnia Elshakry's book, The Arabic Freud, is a must read if you want to understand how Muslim scholars were reading & interpreting psychoanalysis. Also, Professor Elshakry is both brilliant & funny IRL
1
23
156
Neo-Nazis Coronavirus Skeptics are marching right now through my neighborhood in #Berlin Apparently, #neverforget was short lived in the German imagination.
3
37
156
For the first time in my life, my name is on the cover of a magazine. 🥹 Now I have to get at least 20 copies of @thenation and send it to my parents and a fraction of my 8 million cousins.
8
22
151
After 3 years, I have completed my Postdoctoral Fellowship @MPIWG . I look forward to continuing creative and literary projects in Berlin grounded on Black feminist world making and care.
5
0
149
Listen to my final episode with the @decinaction podcast where I interviewed @ztsamudzi about Black radical politics, German colonial science, etc. I hope to continue sharpening my storytelling through radical imagination & writing
10
37
157
A year ago today, I wrote an article about student loans & my student loan debt was $120,000. After spending last week trying to renew my income driven payment noticed my amount owed jumped to $140,000. We need to cancel all debt.
0
48
145
My latest article in @AJEnglish which touches upon German colonialism in East Africa, Robert Koch, the unethical dimensions of human experiments on Black people and more.
"When faced with a deadly novel disease, European colonial officials did not think twice before using Africans as test subjects, without seeking their acquiescence or informing them of the risks." — #AJOpinion, by @jacobinoire
4
57
148
I am happy to announce that I am teaching a master's course for the Global History program .@FU_Berlin. this fall entitled "Fear of a Pandemic"
9
14
137
George Floyd is dead but we are still here, to live another day and to plant the seeds of abolition.
0
18
136
This Berlin snowfall is really growing on me. It makes for a serene studious session.
4
1
135
It is not surprising that academia uplifts & rewards a whole ass white person masquerading as Black when there are unambiguously dark skinned Black women who continue to get ignored & dismissed by scholars (of color). How are people dismantling colorism in activism & publishing?.
2
43
126
Germany is the place where they will co-opt artistic expressions of people of colour, only if it is convenient, and at the expense of other marginalised subjects.
0
37
142
@tnflorvil Thanks. I can hear the waves from the Mediterranean Sea crashing against the rocks. What a good time to be alive.
1
1
140
Also I have noticed more Africans in Berlin at the grocery store, metro and restaurants. Whether or not they were impacted from the war, I hope that they feel welcome in Germany.
0
2
126
The Rent cap is necessary against the rapidly rising rents in the Berlin, as is affordable rent for everyone. The CDU, FDP & the real estate lobby have attacked cheap rent at all levels—not struggling writers & artists. Stop blaming us foreigners for conservative German policies.
2
21
126
It is not uncommon for the labor of Black women to be erased but this is a new low. Shame on "60 Minutes" for excluding the work of Black women scientists. Their names are Joy Buolamwini, Timnit Gebru, and Deborah Raji.
1
53
126
Good morning to all the people who make Marxist themed memes; I see you and adore you. —An anti-capitalist Black feminist living in Berlin, Germany
0
18
119
Black womxn do the most and are what keep our movement of Black liberation going.
1
19
116
@rwjdingwall @tomslater42 Wow. The lack of representation of Black people in the British academy is astounding and it is not because of lack of talent and/or people who are trained but the structural racism within these academic institutions.
3
7
115
A legal collective in Germany representing two Palestinian families is bringing a case against the German government for being complicit in perpetuating genocide in Gaza.
Ein Anwältinnen-Kollektiv hat heute Strafanzeige gegen dt Regierungsvertreter wg Beihilfe zu Völkermord gestellt. Nadija Samour, die die Klage einreichte, sagte: „Das sendet eine klare Botschaft: Sie können nicht weiter Komplizen dieses Verbrechens sein. Wir fordern Rechenschaft“
2
30
115
Not only am I suspicious of white people who carry national flags while purporting “freedom,” I am agitated by white Germans who dismiss the #COVID19 skeptics as trivial. 17,000 marching in Berlin is a large number & most of these people have a right to vote in Germany & I do not.
1
14
112
@lauraejung Some years ago, when I was sitting on a balcony chatting with four Black friends and one white friend on a Friday afternoon in Neukölln, one of my former racist cowardly neighbours yelled out the N-word. I moved out of that building months later.
2
1
108
Professor Soha Bayoumi's work is also pressing and I'm looking forward to reading her upcoming book which will explore health and social justice in Egypt @SohaBayoumi
0
19
102
As I reflect on my childhood in Miami, I am reminded of how living through Hurricane Andrew feeds my insecurities about housing. However, Luther Hughes' poem "The When Did What the Wind Came to Do" offers another reading of how we can tend to the storm.
2
28
111
Chauvin is guilty as charged but many of us know that the entire system is guilty.
0
16
104
Berlin is always fun when talking shop & talking smack with @ztsamudzi while breaking bread at my favorite noodle spot in the city.🥹💜🥰
9
0
100
Happy Haitian Revolution Day! 🇭🇹 I will try to honour my Haitian ancestors who fought for their freedom by fostering their incendiary spirit and being dat Bitch in 2021.
1
13
98
A stunning historical treasure linking Haiti to Japan. Thank you @ibn_kato for bringing this to my attention.
Article on Toussaint Louverture, which lionized him as "a black hero" and "a great man whose matches cannot be found in history." Published in a Japanese magazine for children. In 1891. Didn't know the Haitian hero received attention in Japan already in the 19th century. Amazing.
1
31
100
Props to these activists who are in #solidarity with people who can't afford the metro ride. No one should be criminalized for not affording not being able to pay for public transportation.
People protest NYPD policing the MTA by mass hopping the turnstiles
0
21
96
This type of journalism in Germany, not only lacks integrity, but it misses the point of what climate activists have been doing to address the ongoing crisis. Such a disgrace.
Is Greta Thunberg anti-Semitic, or just incredibly naive? Her comments in Amsterdam last weekend left little doubt as to where she stands on the Middle East conflict. The iconic activist's actions now threaten to divide the climate movement and the left.
0
12
99
Rest in Power Freddie Gray ✊🏾💜.
0
18
98
In case my Berlin friends were wondering where I’m at, I have a fellowship at @MCGlobalHistory in Munich for the next 2 months where I will complete my book (contract w/ @haymarketbooks) which explores the global struggle for reparations & restitution thru autobiography & history.
A very warm welcome to our new fellows @acker_antoine, @jacobinoire and @IsmayMilford, who joined the centre recently and bring back intellectual life to our long-deserted corridors! Good to have you all here! More info: #globalhistory.
15
3
96
To all the voters in Germany, please vote for the measure to socialize housing in Berlin. We would all benefit from a state sponsored subsidized housing especially those of us who face discrimination from the private rental market.
Heute ist es soweit: Wir gegen die Miethaie.💪. Unsere Gegener:innen sind groß, aber wir haben euch. 💜💛.Schnappt euch eure Nachbar:innen, eure Omi, eure Freund:innen, geht gemeinsam zur Wahl und stimmt mit Ja für die #Vergesellschaftung. 🗳. Eure Stimme gegen die Mietenkrise!
1
11
90
Whether you are in Germany like me, Nigeria, or in the United States, the struggle for Black lives still continues and we need to dream big by continuing to push for prison abolition, defunding the police and ending the surveillance state. #BlackLivesMatter.
0
21
90
Ella Baker didn’t take no sh*t.
Ella Baker’s socialist views are still largely ignored by most of the American Left, and y’all might not understand how much of our swag comes from her, so we decided to put together a thread of some highlights from Barbara Ransby’s “Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement.” 😎
0
21
95
My latest article in @thenation magazine on the legacy of femonationalism, the rise of the far right, and what we can do to reclaim feminism for the 99% #feminism4the99percent #blackwritersmatters.
0
49
93
Also check out Sherine Hamdy who works on bioethics, bodies, and transplants in the Middle East
0
13
89