A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

Conclusion
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This study has focused upon the expansion and consolidation of German rule
because expansion provides a connecting thread between the diverse strands of the social,
cultural, economic and political aspects of German colonialism in Africa. Expansion also
proves the motivating force for German actions in all of these fields. As Noyes argues,
colonial expansion often caused a distancing from home and metropolis since focus upon
the colony involved neglecting the metropolis and challenging ideas held there, an idea
that parallels the model of deterritorialization. 1 Deterritorialization consequently
conceptualizes in an outstanding and unprecedented manner how the German state was
transformed by the relations of colonial expansion.
These shifts manifested themselves in all four of the fields under investigation.
Social beliefs in Germany were distorted and contested by attempts to create a colonial
Herrschaftsutopie. The failure of these efforts established an awareness of both alternate
cultures and absolute binaries that differentiated between European and African. It is
also remarkable how social imperialism so manifestly failed, and in fact created more
antagonisms within German society. German culture was altered by African syncretism
in various literary, architectural and artistic articulations. Imaginaries in German art
represented social desires for the colonies which were frustrated by German and African
circumstances. These colonial fantasies reveal much about how Germans saw themselves
and the colonies. Similarly, notions of German “civilization” were challenged by the
events of African colonialism as German cultural desires clashed with African realities.
Utopian desires in Germany for traditional cultural and social values therefore indicate an