A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
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medicine, social organization and moral beliefs. 32 By introducing <strong>German</strong> social values<br />
to African communities, missionaries functioned as a colonial avant-garde, diffusing<br />
<strong>German</strong> ideas into African societies and paving the way for future assimilation. In this<br />
respect, missionaries’ efforts were especially effective in targeting the tribal elites for<br />
integration into the structure of <strong>German</strong> colonial rule.<br />
The connections between missionary organizations and the <strong>German</strong> government<br />
are well-documented. Under the auspices of the missions, <strong>German</strong> schools were<br />
established in all four of the African colonies. The missions and their schools performed<br />
a vital service to the <strong>German</strong> state by reinforcing <strong>German</strong> values. 33 Colonial labour<br />
policy and businesses in general received vital assistance from <strong>German</strong>y’s pastors who<br />
inculcated the Protestant work ethic in Africa’s people. The Catholic <strong>German</strong>ia attacked<br />
this open collusion between the government and the missionaries through which<br />
Protestantism was overtly favoured in the colonies. 34 It was obvious that it was<br />
government acceptance that permitted missionaries to proselytize in Africa and that the<br />
missionary organizations had to court government favour in order to survive.<br />
Government efforts were obviously successful, for tribal leaders like Hendrik Witbooi of<br />
the Nama tribe threw out missionaries who refused to preach the “Kaiser’s gospel.” For<br />
this reason, Horst Drechsler, Jeremy Silvester and Jan-Bart Gewald explicitly connect the<br />
missionary with <strong>German</strong> colonial expansion by naming him the “advance agent of<br />
<strong>German</strong> control.” 35<br />
Yet the <strong>German</strong> missionary organizations did not always act in the state’s best<br />
interests. Nils Ole Oermann questions Drechsler, Silvester and Gewald by providing a<br />
more-nuanced investigation and concluding that missions played an important part in<br />
47