If Only she Didn't have Negro Blood in her Veins. The Concept of Métissage in German Colonial Literature

Abstract

Compared to the span of activity of the other European powers, Germany's mere 35-year colonial commitment in Africa -from 1884 to 1918-was quite short. Nevertheless, it was sufficient to leave behind its legacy, particularly for German literature. For not only did the production of colonial literature survive the actual period, but, fostered by the patronage of National Socialist officials, this literature also achieved a veritable boom during the Third Reich. Crucially, this literature was, if not the sole medium, then the predominant medium in disseminating knowledge of the socalled Dark Continent and, therefore, it was capable of determining decisively the image of Africa for its contemporaries and later readers and authors.' One quite neglected aspect in researching German colonial literature in general and the German colonial image of Africa in particular is the depiction of Mischlinge, the offspring of the union married or unmarried -between Europeans and Africans. To be sure, representatives of this minority did enter German literature before Germany's appearance as a colonial power. This line may be traced as far back as, for example, the figure of Feirefiz in Parzifal or Toni in Die Verlobung in St. Domingo (The Betrothal in St. Domingo). But unlike these earlier portrayals, those in colonial literature are founded upon totally new assumptions. With the acquisition of Togo, the Cameroons, German East Africa, and