Overview
- Analyzes the limitations of colonial rule and the power of colonial subjects in Africa
- Explores the micro-politics surrounding transport and policy-making in German East Africa
- Examines the inner workings of German colonial administration, revealing contradictions and mixed agendas
Part of the book series: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies (CIPCSS)
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
Table of contents (7 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book explores the role of caravan transport and human porterage in the colony of German East Africa (present-day mainland Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi). With caravan mobility being of pivotal importance to colonial rule during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the exploration of vernacular transport and its governance during this period sheds new light on the trajectories of colonial statehood. The author addresses key questions such as the African resilience to colonial interventions, the issue of labor recruitment, and the volatility of colonial infrastructure. This book unveils a fundamental contradiction in the way that German administrators dealt with precolonial modes of transport in East Africa. While colonizers championed for the abolishment of caravan transport, they strongly depended on porters in the absence of pack animals or railways. To bring this contradiction to the fore, the author studies the shifting role of caravans in East Africa during the era of ‘high imperialism.’ Uncovering the extent to which porters and caravan entrepreneurs challenged and shaped colonial policymaking, this book provides an insightful read for historians studying German Empire and African history, as well as those interested in the history of transport and infrastructure.
Reviews
“The European claim to colonize mobility was characterized by weakness and violence. Illustrating the example of caravan transport and human porterage in German East Africa, Andreas Greiner offers a sophisticated analysis of the dynamics and tensions that shaped colonial policy-making, as well as of the potential of Africans to participate in this process. This superbly researched and clearly argued book provides fresh insights into the limitations and legacies of colonial rule and the transformations it engendered.” (Andreas Eckert, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Andreas Greiner is a research fellow in global and transregional history at the German Historical Institute Washington (GHI), in the USA.. Before joining the GHI, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Max Weber Program at the European University Institute in Florence and a research assistant for the Chair of Modern History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). His research specializes in East African history, the history of the German Empire, and the history of global infrastructure networks in the long nineteenth and early twentieth century. In 2021, he received the Walter-Markov-Prize of the European Network in Universal and Global History for his research on Tanzanian porters.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Human Porterage and Colonial State Formation in German East Africa, 1880s–1914
Book Subtitle: Tensions of Transport
Authors: Andreas Greiner
Series Title: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89470-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-89469-6Published: 08 November 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-89472-6Published: 09 November 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-89470-2Published: 07 November 2022
Series ISSN: 2635-1633
Series E-ISSN: 2635-1641
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 271
Number of Illustrations: 13 b/w illustrations
Topics: African History, Imperialism and Colonialism, History of Germany and Central Europe, Labor History