Human remains from Cameroon in German Institutions: A provenance research.

The present research project is being developed in the context of the restitution debate that currently occurs in Germany about the collections from colonial context. Particularly prominent in the debate of recent decades are human remains, body parts of people which have been collected in colonies during the colonization and are still stored in museums, anthropological repositories and Universities in Germany. Cameroon has also been victim of that phenomenon. In the colonial Cameroon, the German colonial administration was very active and violent at that time. Punitive expeditions were organized against the populations who resisted the German colonial rule. It turns out, that peoples body parts have been collected in the country and are stored in German repositories. Finding a responsible way to address that issue remains a big challenge, for the very circumstances of their acquisition are sometimes controversial and are still to examine. The aim of this work is to contribute to the scientific research on the provenance of the Cameroonian human remains present in Germany, as it is therefore a necessary step to find a responsible way to deal with them. So, the main question leading this work is: which knowledge/ unknowledge is being built around those human remains collections from Cameroon? To conduct this provenance research, two research methods will be used. First, the Historical source research method aims to reconstitute the contexts of collection of those Cameroonian human remains and if possible, the identity those late persons held in the relevant German Institutions. Because archival research generally puts European actors who produced most of the written archives at the forefront of research results and thereby reproduces asymmetric perspectives on colonial history, methods of oral history will be implemented in this work as second method. Interviews with oral historians and village elders will be conducted in the communities from which those Human Remains originated in Cameroon. The following hypothesis are stated in this work: first, a huge number of Human remains have been collected in different regions of Cameroon by German colonizers with different profiles. Second, the circumstances of their acquisition are diverse. For some, they were killed during the wars, and their heads taken away, while for others their graves were desecrated. Third, those human remains have in no way contributed to a better knowledge of foreign peoples and cultures in Germany, but above all to the legitimization of racial ideology. Fourth, their absence in the societies of origin, led to cultural and historical rupture. They are for some of them heroes who struggled against the colonial regime, so they need to be rehumanize, they need to be repatriated.

Keywords: Human remains, colonialism, Cameroon, German institutions, Provenance research.

The title of my thesis is: ‘Not all White people are bad’: racialism and genocide of the West in Rwanda since colonization. The part of the title into quotes was inspired by stories of some of my relatives on colonization and its consequences, in particular the genocidal violence which marked the end of Belgian Trusteeship over Rwanda and the exile that followed.

The research problem starts from an observation that genocide and political violence in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region of Africa are always preceded and accompanied by a racist discourse inspired by the Hamitic ideology.

Our research project intends to demonstrate that the anti-Tutsi racism that led to the genocide in Rwanda and continues to fuel political violence in the Great Lakes region of Africa is a colonial creation. This racism is at the same time an ideology (as a discourse, a set of ideas) and a movement (the instrumentalization of the racist discourse leads to actions of discrimination, violence, and genocide). Through a typology of the anti-Tutsi racist discourse, we will show that it has its roots in the Hamitic ideology; that its instrumentalization was partly put on hold during German colonial rule and Belgian mandate and trusteeship; that it was later structured and systematized in the ideology of Hutu supremacy and instrumentalized into genocidal violence against the Tutsi by the end of Belgian trusteeship; that it became the foundational policy of the post-independence regimes up to the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994; and that it continues to fuel anti-Tutsi and anti-Rwanda hatred and political violence in the region. Throughout those different historical phases, we shall examine the exact role of Westerners in the creation and instrumentalization of that racist ideology.

The focus of inquiry will be to refute a false narrative positing that ‘colonization had favoured the Tutsi and consolidated their “oppressive power” over the Hutu before establishing “democracy and social justice” in favour of the Hutu in time of decolonization’. The truth is that Europeans confused the Tutsi as a group with the ruling class or political organizations like UNAR (Union Nationale Rwandaise) of the 1960s or RPF (Rwanda Patriotic Front) of the 1990s. The second truth is that from the start, Europeans were determined to destroy the indigenous power -and later these political organizations- which they perceived as an obstacle to colonization -or neocolonialism after independence-, and evangelization or the dominant status of missionaries in the Catholic church. The third truth is that since this indigenous power -and the political organizations mentioned above- were identified with the Tutsi, the genocide of the latter was in a way programmed but put on hold.

Some archival indications corroborate the above assertions, and here, we will only mention those related to the German colonial period:

• In 1899, Richard Kandt (who was then an explorer and became later the first German civil Resident for Rwanda since 1907) wrote: ‘I used to write, yes Rouanda is a country full of hopes when we could destroy the power of the Watusi’.
• In 1902, French White Father Alphonse Brard (the founder of Save, the first catholic mission in Rwanda in 1900) wrote: 'today, the Batusi no longer have a future, the appearance of Europeans will ruin their power everywhere...'.
• In 1903, Lieutenant Von Parish (one of the very first German colonial officials in Rwanda) suggested the settlement of White colonists in part of southern Rwanda because of the good climate, fertile land and cheap labour. But they had first to get rid of the Tutsi: ‘We should first remove the Batutsi or at least remove their influence’, he wrote. ‘To achieve this, one would enjoy the warm support of the Bahutu while the Batutsi could only count on the support of the Batwa’.

There are several academic publications on the subject of ‘racialization’ of Rwandan society, and all refer to Hamitic ideology. The criticism of Hamitic ideology can be considered as the greatest milestone and one of the best advances in the historiography on Rwanda. Two authors deserve special mention in this regard: Edith R. Sanders with her 1969 article titled ‘The Hamitic Hypothesis; Its Origin and Functions in Time Perspective’ in The Journal of African History, and Jean Pierre Chrétien with his numerous publications on Rwanda and Burundi especially. Our study intends to push even further the criticism of the Hamitic ideology by showing that its successor, the anti-Tutsi racism structured for the first time in the ideology of Hutu supremacy is just as much a colonial creation. Testimonies and recent publications such as those of Kimenyi (2019) and Gakwenzire (2017) confirm this line of research which unfortunately does not seem to have caught the attention, so far, of influential scholars on the subject.

The study will apply an interpretive and decolonial approach. A mix of three data collection methods will be used in this study: individual focused interviews; Focus Group Discussions (FGDs); and the study of written documents and other media constituting primary and secondary sources. The study of documents and other media will focus mainly on archival documents of the German colonial rule and Belgian mandate and trusteeship.

Individual and focus group interviews will be administered to resource persons in Rwanda among political operators, in the administration, academia, civil society and the youth. We wish that the data collected through this fieldwork be an integral part and a necessary complement to our study of archives and other documents, so that our research project achieves scientific quality with regard to sources and better aligns on our interpretive and decolonial approach. Therefore, the phase of interviews and group discussions will be the most participatory and the most representative of the opinion of Rwanda on our research topic.

Kigali, Rwanda, February 2023.

German Colonial Policies/Practices and Indigenous Agency in the Bamenda Grasslands of Kemerun, 1902-1916

Colonisation was a huge enterprise that has left indelible imprints on the colonised peoples around the world. This is also true of the German colonisation of Cameroon which has animated scholarly and political discourses across a wide range of academic specialisms. However, though the general phenomenon of German rule in Cameroon is known, the narratives on this subject have au fond, been viewed from a field of vision that privileges the German perspective, leaving the indigenous frame of reference largely obliterated. The paper draws from this lead-up to argue not only that the outcomes of German colonial policies/practices among the indigenous peoples of the Bamenda Grasslands present a sordid reality of factionalism, diffidence and neglect but also the techniques adopted by the peoples of the Bamenda Grasslands to countenance and pull through the heavyweight of excruciating policies of a perceptible superordinate foreign entity, the Germans. Making appeal to copious extant literature, field experience, oral information and testimonies as well as archival material, the study untangles the manner in which: the colonised people negotiated the terms of their domination; how the indigenous people from a background of a siege mentality refused to submit defenselessly to intrusive policies of an alien intruder; how through an indigenous agency, the people whose labour and soldiery were badly needed by the Germans especially during the WWI sent the “master-race” into submission by supporting the enemy camps as a means of manifesting a “Germanophobe” tendency; how the colonised people influenced German policy on them and were able to retain their civilisation in spite of the strong German cultural overtures that surrounded them and also significantly; how the German administration responded to the indigenous agency, that posed as a threat to their colonial agenda. The study reveals that narratives on German rule in Cameroon is incomplete without an appropriate attention to the indigenous agency.

 

The Moravians, Berlin Lutherans and Medical Services in Southern Highlands Tanzania from 1891 to 1918

My research project discusses the Moravians, Berlin Lutherans and medical services in Southern Highlands Tanzania during the German colonial period from 1891 to 1918. The study focuses on the Moravians and Berlin Lutherans because they were among the first German missionaries in Southern Highlands Tanzania whose contribution to medical work is widely acknowledged. This study use South-west Tanzania or Southern Highlands of Tanzania particularly the Mbeya, Njombe, and Iringa regions to examine the role played by the Moravians and Berlin Lutherans in the provision of medical services from 1891 to 1918.

The study aims to investigate the interplay between locals, missionaries, and German colonial officials in regard to missionary healthcare services in the region. The purpose of the study is to broaden the understanding of missionaries as social agents in the delivery of healthcare and how their involvement in medical work affected local communities in the study area. Additionally, the missionary medical marks are still remembered by those who have lived in Southern Highlands Tanzania for quite a long time. Therefore, with the careful handling of oral recollections, the legacy of mission medical works in the study area from 1891 to 1918 will therefore be shown. The research is, however, at a crossroads of colonial history, particularly medical colonial history and critical mission history that integrates postcolonial theory and African agency approach. Thus, in order to comprehend the mission medical work at the local level and African responses, the study depends on a number of methodological approaches.

Scholars have, however, acknowledged the role and contribution of missionaries in incorporating western medical principles as the feasible option to challenge Africans pluralistic medical tradition and how that remained a matter close to their heart as evangelical and medical care became intertwined since the late nineteenth century. It is that effort and perseverance taken by the missionary in the struggle for the body and the soul, making medical care more accessible to the rural population and provision of holistic care which attracted this historical study. Therefore, this study intends to add to the rich historiography of missionary enterprise in Africa by looking at the interplay between missionary medical work and colonial health policy at the local level as a line of analysis that scholars paid relatively little attention. A more focus on the exchange in a micro-history which is needed has never been done by historians of medical missions in the modern history of mainland Tanzania. Thus, this historical study will help to widen the knowledge in the historiography of Christianity and medical care in German East Africa from 1891 to 1918.

Politics of Polarization: Exploring German Foreign Relations with Local Resistance in Colonial Southeast Asia and South Pacific from late 19th to early 20th Century using Complex Systems Approach

This study explores the role of diplomatic relations of Imperial Germany with local resistance by tracing and comparing ideological synchronization, friction, and reaction co-created by distant decision-makers in the seat of power and by those on the ground carrying out German interests abroad. This will lead to materials in advancing regional strategic studies and comparative empire studies by looking at the ideology of German foreign policy, and how it became instrumental or detrimental for resistance movements in Southeast Asia and South Pacific as a historic strategy in polarizing power in the region. There is no shortage of literature concerning the impacts of colonialism in the Pacific that mostly dealt with the United States, Great Britain, Japan, Spain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands. Few studies have evaluated German entanglement both with powers as well as with the population in the region. Imperial German policies have played a part in the formation and polarization of what is now maritime Southeast Asia and South Pacific islands through the imperative of rulers from European capitals and by those on the ground working towards the completion of these imperial goals. The complexity of later colonialism in the concert of imperial powers that Germany would later join has contributed to the polarization of politics that affected the contours of power in the region. This research will trace Germany’s strategy in installing itself within the politics of the region during late colonialism by investigating the malleability of political organizations and by interrogating the cohesiveness of German integration within Austronesian conception of power. Concepts complexify when they operate and materialize through strategy. Strategy is the expression of ideology but under the pressure of the immanence of contradictions within itself. Traditional history reconstructs the evolution of power by the coordinates of actors responding to events, from the standpoint of decision-makers (in this case Kaiser Wilhelm II and his chancellors) and subsequently to those on the ground carrying out its completion (i.e. German Admirals, Colonial administrators, diplomats and other agents). History from a complex systems approach takes into account and treats the evolution of power not only as a product of pragmatic decision making measures but as a process of ideologies taking shape through the motion of its materialization. Polarity therefore is part of the process of this complexification. The more complex the force the more it yields to polarization. Most studies concerning anti-colonial scholarship were focused on the role of ideologies like Social Democracy, Anarchism, and Marxism in nationalists and anti-colonial movements in the early part of the 20th century. Recent scholarships have only begun surfacing albeit short and fragmented on the role of diplomacy, geopolitics, and inter-imperialist dynamics. This dissertation attempts to create an integrative study of the roles of strategic designs of diplomacy and the tactical nature of local resistance by understanding the motion and dispersion of forces at play during the late colonial period.

Burundi under German rule, 1896-1916

Somewhat surprisingly, the history of German colonial rule in Burundi has been given little attention. The German period in Burundi can be regarded as a “forgotten history”. Many studies have largely focused on the bigger part of the colony namely Tanzania and left out Burundi and this study wants to foreground African agency. Its emphasis is mainly on the German colonization of Burundi and the Burundian responses to it. This study demonstrates that the Germans who colonized Burundi encountered resistance and had to apply brutal force to establish and sustain their rule until their eviction from the territory during the First World War. Even those who initially received the Germans (kilima and Maconco) ended up suffering from the ruthlessness of their heartless imperialism.

This study is guided by the following questions:  How did Burundians respond to the German colonization? What were the motives for establishing German Rule in Burundi?  What strategies did the Germans adopt to establish and consolidate their power in Burundi?

The qualitative approach is proposed for this study. In addition, historical-critical analysis, discourse analysis and the use of varied types of sources and archives are used as method in this study.  Sources of information of this research are the writings emanating from the first Europeans to visit Burundi, German accounts of the period, annual reports on the development of protected areas in Africa and Archives (archives of Burundi, Federal Archives in Berlin, Tanzania National Archives in Dar-es-Salaam, and Whites Fathers archives in Roma).

The aforementioned project is of great significance to understanding the History of German Colonial Rule in East Africa as Burundi, like Tanzania mainland, was under German colonial rule until the First World War. The study expects to contribute knowledge to the historiography of German colonial rule in Africa. Besides, it would provide a good readership for people who would wish to know more about German colonial history. It was also expected that the study would inspire other scholars and researchers to carry out related studies elsewhere in Burundi and Africa as a whole.

Debating Colonial Destructive Administration: The interface between German and Indigenous health systems in North Eastern Tanzania, 1884 -1914.

This study investigates the interface between German health policies and the indigenous health system in North-eastern Africa from 1884 to 1914. It is an attempt to uncover the rich but under research topic in German colonial history by examining the interplay of German and indigenous health systems in North-Eastern Tanzania, in the former German East Africa. Specifically, the study examines Indigenous health system plea to colonization in North-eastern Tanzania, the imposition of German health system and policies during German colonial era in North-eastern Tanzania. Equally, it analyzes the reactions of indigenous people towards German health policy and investigates how these two-health care systems co-existed, conflicted or deviated from each other. The research data will come from oral interviews and archival records. It is expected that this kind of history that will be an outcome of this study will be of benefit to the public, researchers, and scholars interested in researching the history of German health system and medical history in general. Furthermore, the government and other institutions will benefit from this research, as it will chart the degree of co-existence and deviation of the health systems of both German and indigenous and learn how the challenges have been dealt with over time.

Labour Regimes in Namibia: A Long-Term Study from German Colonial Rule to Post-Independent Namibia.

Namibia gained its political sovereignty in an environment where there was so much social inequality and an economic system that was heavily dependent on the former colonial master. Through the literature we learn that the economic independence of the Namibian population could not coexist because that of the Germans depended on the expropriation of the wealth of the Namibian population, through the conquest of trade routes, expulsion of their land, livestock, etc. German colonial rule took place from 1884 to 1915 when South Africa took over from 1915 to 1990. After being taken over by, the regime preserved and retained most of the German labour policies south of the Redline and even moved into northern Namibia.

Klerck (2008) argues that this historical context has significantly impeded Namibia´s independent government from maintaining redistributive compromise “between the imperatives of economic growth and the necessities for greater social equality” (p.356). The legacies of German colonialism and South African segregation continued to shape social relationships in the workplace. Apartheid, in particular, produced labour hierarchies that were consolidated along racial lines. Although the German’s presence in Namibia was short-lived, this colonial legacy still exists, visible through language, culture, architecture economic activities, patterns of settlement and transportation.

The main objective of this study is: First, to examine how colonial labour regimes (Contract labour, forced labour, exploitative labour) were established under German rule. Second, to investigate how labour practices were adopted, developed, and transformed into an Apartheid system under South African rule. Third, to investigate how these legacies are currently affecting Namibia’s work systems at present and finally, to examine the different political economies and power constellations that facilitate the different labour regimes during different historical periods.

The study also mainly focuses on how German colonial rule shaped Namibia’s labour laws and policies and how this colonial rule prepared Namibia for the world of work over a long period of time. Although labour policies have changed over the years, labour practices that cater to the formerly disadvantaged population (particularly in the agricultural sector) have not necessarily changed. The major gap justifying the purpose of this study is, the lack of academic research on the historical legislatures as a means of understanding contemporary legislation by providing an outline of the motivations, conditions and enactment of all these legislatures under the different regimes. The proposed study will combine historical and sociological approaches to provide a detailed account of the labour history experience of colonial-apartheid in Namibia and how it shaped industrial relations, utilising the conceptual prism of labour regimes. The study will make a crucial and valuable contribution to the study of labour systems in Namibia and Namibian labour laws and policies.

This study will use qualitative research methods. The study will use semi-structured interviews. The study will gather key information from the institutions managing labour resources in Namibia.

Keywords: Labour, labour regimes, labour laws, labour Policies legislations, colonial rule, Apartheid, German, South Africa, Namibia

Health Policy and Discrimination under German Colonial Rule. A critical analysis of the objectives and motivations of disease control in Cameroon and Togo (1884-1914).

The present research project addresses the question of whether health policy in the German occupation period was primarily about colonial mission, and is based on the view that the European colonial project aimed entirely at economic interests, alongside civilising mission and disease control. Its memorial function of reappraising German health policy in colonial Africa was basically to capture a different interpretation of colonial mission and its implications in the policies implemented in Africa, that is, a different interpretation and interpretation of German colonialism. Such a comparative study is predominantly what this research project is about under German colonial rule, since the two countries (Togo and Cameroon) knew almost the same socio-political developments from the period of foreign occupation to independence. From this view, first a critical examination of the German health system is bypassed instead of a global critical analysis of German colonialism or a caricature of the colonial project and then an exploration of colonial practices in different areas of colonial administration. From the usually dominant thesis or discourse that Europeans fought disease and eradicated epidemics, the intention is to tell the story of colonialism differently from its own point of view, to counter-history with a deconstructive view of German colonialism. The research deals with three main pillars, namely: tropical diseases and colonial rule firstly, medical practice and discrimination secondly, and thirdly, purposeful medical care, which will be dealt with from a critical point of view.

With the help of categories of postcolonialism -as a theoretical basis- it will be attempted to answer the question through a deconstructive strategy or perspective and to trace the history from "below". Since many types of diseases, epidemics or pathologies were researched and cured by German health institutions, one can ask whether this health policy was the main goal of colonial policy or was based on a purely philanthropic mission. In this context, one can also ask how the health policy in the two German colonial possessions (German West Africa) proceeded. What motivated the colonial administration to establish a health system in the colonial territories and what were the reasons for restricting it to certain geographical locations?

Above research questions can be based on this general view that health policy was for the time being to stabilise the colonial administration for the development of the plantations and that colonial administration considered health control important to save the economic interests in the colonial mission. The main elements of this critical argument underlie the different meaning of the terminology in the context of colonialism.

Keywords: colonial rule, health system, colonial practices, postcolonialism, deconstruction.