A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Though Germany strove to establish difference between its citizens and the “peoples” of its colonies through ideas of Deutschtum, this bifurcation shifted to a certain syncretism over time. 13 The tiny proportion of Germans in the colonies mandated a close relationship with indigenous peoples, since German rule could not survive without the acceptance of local social groups. African cooperation necessarily contributed to colonial administration at all levels except the highest, for German control depended upon connections with friendly African chiefs, akidas (native functionaries), interpreters and traders. 14 Without this cooperation, German recourse was only to the firearm, and this policy could not be maintained eternally. Because of this, German colonists and bureaucrats came to realize the necessity of maintaining existing colonial social orders. This realization obviously contradicted German desires for a Herrschaftsutopie that clearly demarcated German and African identity. Flatly contradicting German control fantasies, the 1905 Maji Maji revolt in East Africa led administrators to work towards the minimization of social disruption in order to maintain the colonial economy. The early desire to remake the colonies in the image of the Reich was moderated by the sheer impossibility of the task. Therefore, German society paradoxically consolidated itself by identifying a colonial “other,” yet also sought to establish African society as a mirror of the German while simultaneously negotiating colonial difference in practice. This effort to repress African difference in order to secure the German control of Africa represents the deterritorialization of German social codes in the African context. The unfeasibility of the attempt suggests the reterritorialization of both the German and African situation. These desires also indicate how deterritorialization and reterritorialization can reveal structural dynamics underneath change in the colonies. 42
There was great potential for societal change in the African context as a consequence of German colonialism. But in examining African social groupings, one must always be aware of the danger of hypostatizing an essentialist African that elides the autochthonous foundations of the groups in rhizomatic and heterogeneous familial, tribal and trading connections. Therefore, the search for the deterritorializations and reterritorializations in the African social grouping echoes what Jean-François Bayart has called the “indissoluble” connections between external and internal dynamics. 15 It is consequently important to realize that many of the African tribes experiencing Germanization were already deeply penetrated by European values, like the Khoikhoi people of Southwest Africa who spoke Dutch, practiced Christianity and followed European social codes. It was mostly incidents of native resistance to German efforts that caused substantial transformations in native societies. The 1904 revolt can be seen as the result of the traditional African social structure’s conflict with the imposed German social order. 16 After the revolt, the Herero were completely destroyed as a social group when survivors were either incarcerated or put to work laying railroads. Yet, African groups often exploited German influence to further their own interests. One example of this was the army agent Paul Samba who faithfully assisted German colonialism until leading the 1898 Bulu revolt against his former masters. 17 Traditional tribal enemies would often collaborate against the Germans, or ally with the Germans to defeat political competitors. In addition, certain sectors of tribal society exploited German weakness and established new power for themselves in society thanks to the power dynamics of colonial expansion. Hendrik Witbooi solidified his political and social position as chief of the Nama because of his early assistance to German colonialism, and later used his 43
Page 1 and 2: A Deterritorialized History: Invest
Page 3 and 4: Table of Contents Abstract.........
Page 5 and 6: Introduction In the late nineteenth
Page 7 and 8: colonialism. Ronald Robinson and Jo
Page 9 and 10: A frequent argument in the thesis o
Page 11 and 12: carried further by another. Similar
Page 13 and 14: etween German and African societies
Page 15 and 16: The German Setting The growth of Ge
Page 17 and 18: that the colonial expansion was not
Page 19 and 20: In 1883 the economic motives for co
Page 21 and 22: European competitors’ exclusionar
Page 23 and 24: interest in 1888 in acquiring a col
Page 25 and 26: 1908. There were also plans to conn
Page 27 and 28: limited to abstract academic invest
Page 29 and 30: where change is performed upon an e
Page 31 and 32: implies a deterritorialization of p
Page 33 and 34: extension of deterritorialization t
Page 35 and 36: eciprocal reterritorialization mean
Page 37 and 38: Deterritorialization rejects focus
Page 39 and 40: historiography has traditionally re
Page 41 and 42: problems of colonial history, but a
Page 43 and 44: epresented a vital dynamic within G
Page 45: of economic, social and political i
Page 49 and 50: Frauenbund were vehemently opposed
Page 51 and 52: medicine, social organization and m
Page 53 and 54: y the K-A, the Admiralität, and th
Page 55 and 56: society actually facilitated treati
Page 57 and 58: But the Pan-Germans’ relationship
Page 59 and 60: Nonetheless, not all German papers
Page 61 and 62: discourses surrounding cultural art
Page 63 and 64: the civilization of the Germans wit
Page 65 and 66: Through such cultural deterritorial
Page 67 and 68: claim to further African territory,
Page 69 and 70: Foucauldian collection of knowledge
Page 71 and 72: establishment of boundaries and tri
Page 73 and 74: Chapter 3 The social and cultural e
Page 75 and 76: profits. The expansion of colonial
Page 77 and 78: Yet, while there was much associati
Page 79 and 80: the colonies in a new manner, since
Page 81 and 82: security that in turn motivated som
Page 83 and 84: In addition to territorial disenfra
Page 85 and 86: capital does not only reterritorial
Page 87 and 88: the state’s assumption of soverei
Page 89 and 90: the RKA bureaucracy and the local a
Page 91 and 92: settlers, administrators and soldie
Page 93 and 94: dominated by memories of war and hy
Page 95 and 96: German popular desires were intrins
Page 97 and 98:
colonial policy and declared that t
Page 99 and 100:
German colonial imposition. But aft
Page 101 and 102:
policy. 98 However this still does
Page 103 and 104:
commercial rights for German compan
Page 105 and 106:
101 Though law played an important
Page 107 and 108:
appeals to the Reichstag usually fo
Page 109 and 110:
Conclusion 105 This study has focus
Page 111 and 112:
Lastly, Deleuze and Guattari’s pa
Page 113 and 114:
colonialism is impossibly simplisti
Page 115 and 116:
Deterritorialization helps the hist
Page 117 and 118:
113 Much like the new images of col
Page 119 and 120:
9 D.C.M. Platt, “The Imperialism
Page 121 and 122:
A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and
Page 123 and 124:
56 H. Pogge von Strandmann and Eric
Page 125 and 126:
11 The phrase “perpetual displace
Page 127 and 128:
the notions of labour and independe
Page 129 and 130:
56 Sartre, xiii. 57 Deleuze, Empiri
Page 131 and 132:
Chapter Two 1 Stoecker, 155. Taylor
Page 133 and 134:
Bülow’s Colonial Writings,” in
Page 135 and 136:
46 This is poignantly evidenced in
Page 137 and 138:
70 Ulrich van der Heyden, “Afrika
Page 139 and 140:
94 R1001 8 Deutsch-Ostafrika. 8.9 E
Page 141 and 142:
6 In fact, the Southwest African co
Page 143 and 144:
23 R1001 8 Deutsch-Ostafrika. 8.12
Page 145 and 146:
49 R1001 1 Allgemeine Angelegenheit
Page 147 and 148:
68 Heyden and Zeller, 74. 69 Grosse
Page 149 and 150:
promised death for all Herero found
Page 151 and 152:
111 R1001 1 Allgemeine Angelegenhei
Page 153 and 154:
Herero and Nama wars were similarly
Page 155 and 156:
AA Auswärtiges Amt Appendix Guide
Page 157 and 158:
Periodicals Beiträge zur Kolonialp
Page 159 and 160:
Behnen, Michael. ed. Quellen zur De
Page 161 and 162:
Epstein, Klaus. “Erzberger and th
Page 163 and 164:
Holland, Eugene W. “’Deterritor
Page 165 and 166:
Mongia, Padmini. ed. Contemporary P
Page 167 and 168:
1907-1915.” The International Jou
Page 169 and 170:
Thomas, Nicholas. Colonialism’s C
show all

A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?