A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
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However, the simultaneous rejection of singularity and totalization in<br />
deterritorialization leads logically to a charge of relativism on Deleuze and Guattari’s<br />
part. 63 This problem also plagues much literature in world history. The theory can<br />
become excessively holistic and lose touch with empirical reality. Yet, the very nature of<br />
their investigation requires a broad and to some extent relative analysis. Therefore, it is a<br />
relativism subject to the limits and degrees of deterritorialization and this is precisely<br />
what permits its application in a range of contexts in history. 64<br />
Looking at historical change across cultures and through vast sweeps of time<br />
sometimes leads world historians to write mechanistic histories. This is particularly<br />
relevant to colonial histories where historical events can often seem pre-destined by<br />
European impositions, whether economic or social. Deleuze and Guattari avoid the<br />
nomothetic fallacy identified by Immanuel Wallerstein by maintaining that no principles<br />
govern social relations other than the cycle of deterritorialization and<br />
reterritorialization. 65 Nor do they commit an idiographic error by stressing the<br />
determining factor of the uniqueness of specific historical phenomena. 66 Some<br />
determinism is evident in the idea of the eternal repetition of history, but this repetition<br />
includes a transformation, so complete repetition is impossible. Yet the authors’ relativist<br />
stance does not include an attack upon causality in history. Deleuze believes that ideas<br />
do flow naturally from one to another, which demonstrates his belief in causal<br />
relationships. 67 Deterritorialization is therefore a contingent analysis, looking at the most<br />
fundamental of human interactions without positing determinist relations in history.<br />
Deterministic or excessively causal histories are problematic in removing agency<br />
from historical actors. This is particularly significant in colonial studies as Eurocentric<br />
34