A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

discussions of motivations for the expansion. The implications of the uncertainties
elaborated above, as well as developments in the field of German colonial history,
inevitably lead to the question of which interpretative framework to utilize in order to
most accurately interpret the expansion of German control over Africa.
The theories elaborated in Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s two volume work,
Capitalism and Schizophrenia offer an approach through which the understanding of
German colonialism can be better extended and deepened. 28 This analysis will employ
primarily their ideas of the deterritorialization and concomitant reterritorialization of
forces, but will also incorporate some of their other concepts like schizoanalysis,
nomadology and the rhizome. The ability of Deleuze and Guattari’s idea of
deterritorialization to encompass the economic, social, political and cultural facets of an
entity makes it a potentially attractive interpretative structure. For this reason, their
notion of deterritorialization and reterritorialization will form the theoretical
underpinning of this investigation. As Ian Buchanan declares, “[i]t is hard work being
Deleuzian,” but the measured and critical incorporation of several elements of Deleuze
and Guattari’s thought can open up significant and novel areas of investigation. 29
Deleuze and Guattari’s ideas of deterritorialization, schizoanalysis, rhizome and
nomadology shed light on the German colonial expansion in several respects. Their
theories can resolve the problem in world history of the occlusion of the so-called
“people without history” by Eurocentric historiography’s focus upon the nation-state, for
the authors would stress the collectivities and individuals within both Germany and
Africa. 30 Following Ranajit Guha’s and Edward Said’s assertions that all cultures are
involved in one another, this examination works in awareness of the inter-connections
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