Brauner Osten – weiße Westen

An Introduction

Abstract

In the introduction, the editors take up the debates about "Brauner Osten", i.e. the right wing East, and problematize who is thus trying to get a clean slate (“weiße Westen”). On the one hand, they discuss how the West is whitewashed by referring right-wing violence and attitudes to the East. On the other hand, they show that this makes it more difficult to understand right-wing violence and attitudes in specific (East German) contexts and to act against them. Based on the contributions and approaches collected in this volume, the introduction discusses how the simultaneity of processes of othering the East (Ossifzierung) and right-wing realities in East Germany can be taken into account. The editors argue for a differentiated, intersectional, racism-critical and empirically based analysis and show how the methodological and epistemological approaches of European ethnology can contribute to this.