1994/03/01 by Philipp Prein · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Global Maritime and Colonial Histories #African history and culture studies #South African History and Culture #Colonialism #German #Resistance (ecology) #Opposition (politics) #Vision #Colonial rule #Population #History #Gender studies #Sociology #Political science #Law #Anthropology #Demography #Politics #Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1080/03057079408708389
openalex publication_date 1994/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This article is a study of African resistance during the last eight years of German rule in South West Africa (GSWA). Having waged a brutal war against the pastoralist populations in the centre and the South for three years, German colonialists were eager to construct a profitable settler economy after 1907. They failed, however. Too many Africans had been killed and the survivors would not let themselves be reduced to the status of mere contract labourers. Much has since been written about the post‐war years, but questions about means and motivations in the resistance of the African population still await closer analysis. Previous authors have emphasised the brutality of colonial rule while stressing Africans’ unbroken will to resist after 1907. Supposedly, Africans’ die‐hard spirit of resistance was powerless under the might of German rule. By contrast, this study argues that Africans did indeed have effective means to resist while their motivations were more complex than a uniform anti‐colonial spirit. Throughout, attention is paid to various layers of conflict in colonial society, which leads to the conclusion that resistance in GSWA after 1907 cannot be explained by an inherent opposition between colonisers and colonised. Rather, it grew out of local, day‐to‐day struggles between people with multiple and colliding visions of society.