A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...
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the civilization of the <strong>German</strong>s with the “exotic” nature of their colonial wards. The<br />
DKG-sponsored 1896 Colonial- and Transvaal-Exhibition was a major attraction,<br />
bringing more than two million visitors to Berlin in seven months and showcasing the<br />
people, art, technology and products of colonial Africa. 70 It is of note that this<br />
construction of an Afro-<strong>German</strong> culture implied direct violence to Africa as many of the<br />
Africans exhibited in the Berlin zoo cages at the exhibitions had been forcibly removed<br />
from their homes. Other representations of Africa-in-<strong>German</strong>y and <strong>German</strong>y-in-Africa<br />
were the statues and memorials built to reflect colonial themes. These can be linked to<br />
expansion, for many had the explicit purpose of advancing the cause of colonial<br />
intervention. The DKG made obvious efforts by erecting memorials scattered throughout<br />
<strong>German</strong>y stressing “Friendship” between Africans and <strong>German</strong>s in addition to the<br />
exertions of colonialism. 71 For example, the society planned to build a replica East<br />
African station in a Berlin suburb to demonstrate the travails and exoticism of colonial<br />
life. 72 For the purposes of memory and propaganda, commemorative plaques were<br />
erected for the fallen soldiers and veterans of African wars. 73 Reciprocally, statues of<br />
Bismarck, the explorer Carl Peters and others were erected in various colonial towns to<br />
display <strong>German</strong> remembrance and power. These sites of colonial memory altered the<br />
cultural landscape of <strong>German</strong>y and Africa. Such cultural negotiations of difference and<br />
the interactions between <strong>German</strong>y and Africa relate deterritorialization and<br />
reterritorialization to the motives and discourses underpinning <strong>German</strong> appropriations of<br />
Africa. Obvious desires to transform <strong>German</strong> public opinion by introducing an idealized<br />
vision of the colonies and consequently gaining public support for expansionism<br />
underline the social, economic and political content of these cultural expressions.<br />
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