German Colonialism in a Global Age

by Bradley Naranch

Overview

This collection provides a comprehensive treatment of the German colonial empire and its significance. Leading scholars show not only how the colonies influenced metropolitan life and the character of German politics during the Bismarckian and Wilhelmine eras (1871-1918), but also how colonial mentalities and practices shaped later histories during the Nazi era. In introductory essays, editors Geoff Eley and Bradley Naranch survey the historiography and broad developments in the imperial imaginary of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Contributors then examine a range of topics, from science and the colonial state to the disciplinary constructions of Africans as colonial subjects for German administrative control. They consider the influence of imperialism on German society and culture via the mass-marketing of imperial imagery; conceptions of racial superiority in German pedagogy; and the influence of colonialism on German anti-Semitism. The collection concludes with several essays that address geopolitics and the broader impact of the German imperial experience.

Contributors. Dirk Bönker, Jeff Bowersox, David Ciarlo, Sebastian Conrad, Christian S. Davis, Geoff Eley, Jennifer Jenkins, Birthe Kundus, Klaus Mühlhahn, Bradley Naranch, Deborah Neill, Heike Schmidt, J. P. Short, George Steinmetz, Dennis Sweeney, Brett M. Van Hoesen, Andrew Zimmerman

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780822357230
Publisher:	Duke University Press
Publication date:	01/07/2015
Series:	Politics, History, and Culture Series
Pages:	432
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

Bradley Naranch is Visiting Assistant Professor of History at the University of Montana.

Geoff Eley is the Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Nazism as Fascism: Violence, Ideology, and the Ground of Consent in Germany, 1930-1945, and A Crooked Line: From Cultural History to the History of Society.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction German Colonialism Made Simple Bradley Naranch 1

1 Empire by Land or Sea? Germany's Imperial Imaginary, 1840-1945 Geoff Eley 19

2 Scientific Autonomy and Empire, 1880-1945 Four German Sociologists George Steinmetz 46

3 Science and Civilizing Missions Germans and the Transnational Community of Tropical Medicine Deborah J. Neill 74

4 Ruling Africa Science as Sovereignty in the German Colonial Empire and Its Aftermath Andrew Zimmerman 93

5 Who Is Master in the Colony? Propriety, Honor, and Manliness in German East Africa Heike I. Schmidt 109

6 A New Imperial Vision? The Limits of German Colonialism in China Klaus Mühlhahn 129

7 Experts, Migrants, Refugees Making the German Colony in Iran, 1900-1934 Jennifer Jenkins 147

8 Classroom Colonialism Race, Pedagogy, and Patriotism in Imperial Germany Jeff Bowersox 170

9 Mass-Marketing the Empire Colonial Fantasies and Advertising Visions David Ciarlo 187

10 Colonialism, War, and the German Working Class Popular Mobilization in the 1907 Reichstag Elections John Phillip Short 210

11 Colonialism and the Anti-Semitic Movement in Imperial Germany Christian S. Davis 228

12 Internal Colonialism in Germany Culture Wars, Germanifcation of the Soil, and the Global Market Imaginary Sebastian Conrad 246

13 Pan-German Conceptions of Colonial Empire Dennis Sweeney 265

14 Maritime Force and the Limits of Empire Warfare, Commerce, and Law in Germany and the United States before World War I Dirk Bo Nicer 283

15 The Rhineland Controversy and Weimar Postcolonialism Brett M. Van Hoesen 302

16 Colonialism, Imperialism, National Socialism How Imperial Was the Third Reich? Birthe Kundrus 330

Bibliography 347

List of Contributors 407

Index 411

What People are Saying About This

A. Dirk Moses

"This landmark collection showcases the latest research in many areas of German colonialism. As a state-of-the-art expression of a vibrant field, German Colonialism in a Global Age will set a new benchmark and become a standard reference."

German Women for Empire, 1884–1945 - Lora Wildenthal

"The volume offers both sophisticated historiographical reflection and rich empirical contributions. It is the best single volume on German colonialism."

Editorial Reviews

"German Colonialism in a Global Age is a solid contribution to the study of German imperialism. It expands the study of Germany's colonialist past beyond earlier scholarship. However, its greatest contribution is to provide the wider community of scholars a window (or perhaps more accurately, a number of windows) into current research into the nature of German colonialism as part of the larger European colonial venture." --Theodore Nitz "H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews" (7/1/2015 12:00:00 AM)

"The collection incorporates creative scholarship that offers insight into previously unexamined or underexamined dimensions and agents of German colonialism. . . . German Colonialism in a Global Age is a welcome addition to the growing literature on German imperialism."--Daniel J. Walther "Central European History" (12/16/2015 12:00:00 AM)

"These essays succeed magnificently in documenting the new vitality of German colonial studies. Naranch and Eley are to be congratulated on a volume that will be the starting point for all future research on the subject."--Joachim Whaley "Journal of European Studies" (6/1/2016 12:00:00 AM)

"This edited volume does an admirable job of tackling the task set before it and by widening the definitions of what colonialism meant for those who imagined themselves as colonialists, invites us to reconsider imperial history and the global interactions that played a fundamental role in shaping it."--Mahon Murphy "LSE Review of Books" (7/14/2015 12:00:00 AM)

"This excellently edited collection summarizing the latest research on German colonialism will be extremely useful for faculty and students alike. . . . Highly recommended."--M. Deshmukh "Choice" (7/1/2015 12:00:00 AM)

From the Publisher

"This edited volume does an admirable job of tackling the task set before it and by widening the definitions of what colonialism meant for those who imagined themselves as colonialists, invites us to reconsider imperial history and the global interactions that played a fundamental role in shaping it."

LSE Review of Books - Mahon Murphy

"The collection incorporates creative scholarship that offers insight into previously unexamined or underexamined dimensions and agents of German colonialism. . . . German Colonialism in a Global Age is a welcome addition to the growing literature on German imperialism."

Central European History - Daniel J. Walther

"German Colonialism in a Global Age is a solid contribution to the study of German imperialism. It expands the study of Germany’s colonialist past beyond earlier scholarship. However, its greatest contribution is to provide the wider community of scholars a window (or perhaps more accurately, a number of windows) into current research into the nature of German colonialism as part of the larger European colonial venture." 

H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews - Theodore Nitz

"These essays succeed magnificently in documenting the new vitality of German colonial studies. Naranch and Eley are to be congratulated on a volume that will be the starting point for all future research on the subject."

Journal of European Studies - Joachim Whaley

"This excellently edited collection summarizing the latest research on German colonialism will be extremely useful for faculty and students alike. . . . Highly recommended."

Choice - M. Deshmukh

"The volume offers both sophisticated historiographical reflection and rich empirical contributions. It is the best single volume on German colonialism."

German Women for Empire, 1884-1945 - Lora Wildenthal

"This landmark collection showcases the latest research in many areas of German colonialism. As a state-of-the-art expression of a vibrant field, German Colonialism in a Global Age will set a new benchmark and become a standard reference."

A. Dirk Moses