This seminar deals with how encounters between Europe and the African Diaspora changed notions of race, nation, identity and belonging from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Despite the heterogeneous cultures existing within its borders, for centuries Europe has thought of itself as a white, Christian continent. Yet, for centuries, Europe has represented at times a necessary and at other times an attractive destination for people of African descent. Furthermore, Europeans' tendency to imagine themselves as white did not foreclose their acceptance and even celebration of Black culture. From the colonial period to the present, Blackness has posed both an allure as well as a danger for Europeans, especially those who view Black culture as challenging "old world" traditions. How does one explain Europeans' fear and simultaneous love of Blackness? How have many Black intellectuals and artists responded to this puzzling binary? How has the construction of Blackness in Europe changed as a result of historical shifts e.g. from colonialism to postcolonialism and from the nation-state to the European Union? Today, as minority populations increase and the EU rethinks its borders, Europeans are faced with the task of breaking away from earlier narrow thinking in order to accept its changing demographics. Examining how Blackness has been perceived in Europe throughout the modern period is useful for understanding why many Europeans still stubbornly cling to the notion that Blackness and European culture are irreconcilable. And what do discourses on and encounters with Blackness mean for Europe's future?