A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

Chapter 3
The social and cultural elements of the German colonial expansionist discourse
help reveal the foundational forces of the commercial and political facets of colonialism
that are the topic of this chapter. The economic and political dimensions can be viewed
as more elite manifestations of colonial expansion since it was mostly leaders,
businessmen and administrators who articulated the themes under discussion. Yet these
economic and political frames were not entirely the formulation of German or African
elites, for other strata of society also shaped them. The economic and political are further
vital to this investigation because the expansive force of liberal free-trade economics and
disputes over political sovereignty represent poignant examples of expansionist
colonialism and deterritorialization. For this reason, the analysis works to respect all of
the economic and political aspects of colonialism by acknowledging African as well as
German peoples.
The Economic Aspects of Colonial Expansionism
The contemporary German context and the beginning of colonial expansion
placed economics at the forefront of colonial rationales through the catalytic effect of the
“Great Depression.” Linkages between administrative and commercial organs like the
Anglo-German Kharaskhoma Syndicate, and its closeness to the Reich render the
economic dimension a potent explanatory device for colonial growth. But do the
Marxist-informed arguments for the intrinsic links between monopoly capital in the
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