Rude Girl

At a conference, the graphic novelist Birgit Weyhe is accused of cultural appropriation. Is she exploiting her privileges as a white writer when she tells stories about Black people?

She tries a new approach with Priscilla Layne, an African American professor of German studies with Caribbean roots. Growing up, Priscilla is labelled an ‘Oreo’: too white for her Black classmates, too Black for the white kids. By joining the skinhead movement and becoming a rude girl, she discovers a community where she feels valued. Music, clothes, hair, food, class, race, gender, education – her life and identity are a complex composite.