Globalizing German Colonialism

Despite exhortations to examine colonialism as a dynamic interplay between subjects and rulers, histories of German colonialism still largely tend to either study the structures of colonial rule in the colony or to map the politics and culture of colonialism in the metropole. This essay reviews recent books in the field of German colonialism that offer a diverse array of subject matter, chronologies, methodologies, and sources. Work reviewed includes Sebastian Conrad on the transnational construction of German nationalism; Sandra Mass on the gendered implications of colonial heroes and black savage warriors in Weimar-era propaganda; Andrea Schultze on the Berliner Mission's land ownership in South Africa; and Karin Schestokat on German women travel writers in Cameroon. By means of a detailed analysis of each book, the reviewer suggests that the effort to connect colony to metropole-and especially, to trace the impact of the colonies on German metropolitan society and culture-might ultimately be a futile one; for the larger metropolitan constructions of 'race' emerged in the first place to prevent just such an exchange.