German colonialism in Africa and its legacies

The DAAD-University of Cambridge Research Hub for German Studies and the Centre for Geopolitics are delighted to welcome you to this event. Germany's history of domination in Europe and of being dominated by other Europeans has long been well known. More recently, awareness has grown of German involvement in European overseas colonialism, especially in Africa. But what were its motivations and consequences and what are its legacies today? In order to discuss these topical issues the Cambridge DAAD Hub and the Centre for Geopolitics have convened two distinguished experts, Professor Wazi Apoh of the University of Ghana and Professor Tanja Bührer of the University of Salzburg. The event will be chaired by Brendan Simms, Director of the Centre for Geopolitics. Professor Wazi Apoh Wazi Apoh is a Full Professor of Archaeology, Anthropology and Heritage Studies in the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, University of Ghana (UG). He is also the current Dean of the School of Arts, College of Humanities, UG. His specialty is in African archaeology, museology, forensic archaeology, development archaeology/anthropology, the archaeology of slavery, and the archaeology of German missionization and colonization of ‘Togoland’. He also interrogates issues of reparative justice, restitution, and repatriation of looted and illegally acquired African objects in Euro-American museums. He convened the first MIASA-sponsored conference in 2018 on the Theme: Issues of Restitution and Repatriation of Looted and Illegally Acquired African Objects in European Museums. His books include Revelations of Domination and Resilience: Unearthing the Buried Past of the Akpinis, Akans, Germans and British at Kpando, Ghana. Sub-Saharan Publishers, Accra (2019) and ‘Germany and Its West African Colonies: “Excavations” of German Colonialism in Post-Colonial Times.’ (With B. Lundt; 2013). Professor Tanja Bührer Tanja Bührer is Professor of Global History at the University of Salzburg. She studied history and philosophy at the University of Bern, where she completed her PhD in 2008 with a thesis on German colonial security policy and colonial troops. She subsequently held positions as senior assistant and senior lecturer at the University of Bern, and substitute professorships at the Universities of Rostock, Potsdam and LMU Munich. Mobility grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) have taken her to the HU Berlin, the University of Dar es Salaam, the Oxford Centre for Global History, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), the German Historical Institute London (GHIL) and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), among others, as a visiting scholar. She is PI of the sub-project ‘Illegitimate Violence in the French and Austrian Military during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars (1789-1815)’ in the DFG research group ‘Military Cultures of Violence - Illegitimate Military Violence from the Early Modern Period to the Second World War’. Her book publications include ‘Die Kaiserliche Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika: Koloniale Sicherheitspolitik und transkulturelle Kriegführung 1885 bis 1918’ (Oldenbourg, 2011); ‘Cooperation and Empire: Local Realities of Global Processes’ (edited with Flavio Eichmann, Stig Förster und Benedikt Stuchtey, Berghahn Books, 2017); and ‘Illegitimate Violence during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815)’ (edited with Isabelle Deflers and Gundula Gahlen) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2027). This event will take place at 5.30pm on 5 November in the Old Library at Pembroke College (Trumpington St, Cambridge CB2 1RF) and will be followed by a drinks reception. Attendance is free but please register to secure your place. Please be aware that there will be a photographer present at the event. If you would not like to be recorded/photographed, please make yourself known to us at the event.