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