This book is based on Leonor Faber-Jonker’s Research Master's thesis 'More than just an object: A material analysis of the return and retention of Namibian skulls from Germany', runner-up in the... Show moreThis book is based on Leonor Faber-Jonker’s Research Master's thesis 'More than just an object: A material analysis of the return and retention of Namibian skulls from Germany', runner-up in the African Studies Centre, Leiden's 2016 Africa Thesis Award. This annual award for Master's students encourages student research and writing on Africa and promotes the study of African cultures and societies. In September 2011 twenty Namibian skulls were repatriated from the collection of the Charité university hospital in Berlin. The remains had been in Germany for more than a hundred years: they belonged to victims of the 'German-Herero war' (1904-1908) in German South-West Africa, a genocide that cost the lives of eighty per cent of the Herero and half the Nama population. The majority of the skulls had arrived in Berlin as preserved heads, and all had been used for scientific race research in the first decades of the twentieth century. Despite the triumphant return of the skulls, not everything went smoothly. The Charité was criticized for failing to answer questions about the identity of the remains, and the Namibian government and Nama and Herero representatives failed to agree on their final resting place. This had everything to do with the complicated nature of the skulls involved. Faber-Jonker analyses how these human remains – remains of individuals – became war trophies, anthropological specimens, and, finally, evidence, symbols, and relics, by examining how, by whom, why, and in what context the skulls were physically handled in the practices of collecting (1904-1910), studying (1910-1924),- and repatriating (2011). Show less
Based on archival research, this book deals with the mass killings of peoples (particularly Herero and Nama) and conquest of land by German colonial forces between 1904-1908 in what was then known... Show moreBased on archival research, this book deals with the mass killings of peoples (particularly Herero and Nama) and conquest of land by German colonial forces between 1904-1908 in what was then known as German South West Africa (present-day Namibia). Most histories dealing with this Herero-German war at best only make passing reference to concentration camps and the prisoners kept there. The present book retraces the history of the concentration camps, also paying attention to patterns in the way prisoners were treated and what internment in the camps entailed for these people; the history of the Shark Island concentration camp in Lderitz; and the authorities responsible for the concentration camp mortalities. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
This book concerns the early years of German colonial rule in Cameroon. It focuses on the North-Western Province. When Cameroon was declared a German protectorate in 1884 a systematic effort was... Show moreThis book concerns the early years of German colonial rule in Cameroon. It focuses on the North-Western Province. When Cameroon was declared a German protectorate in 1884 a systematic effort was made to penetrate the hinterlands and to impose German rule. The gradual penetration was closely monitored by the Governor's office in Buea, and reports on this process were either published in the 'Deutsches Kolonialzeitung' or in 'Das Deutsche Kolonialblatt' (DKB) or in other German papers. The author concentrates on DKB, which for 29 years (1890-1919) covered the events in the German colonies. Part I is the author's analytic assessment of the articles published in DKB on the western Grassfields. It reviews the data on its peoples, the penetration strategies and the effective establishment of the 'Bamenda Bezirk'. Part II concentrates on the Zintgraff years (1889-1892). Zintgraff's move into the region is documented by the DKB. Part III presents the various exploratory and punitive expeditions that were carried out against the so-called 'rebel tribes' from 1901-1913. An annex carries five articles in German. Show less
