Remembering Africa: The Rediscovery of Colonialism in Contemporary German Literature

Abstract

Remembering Africa is, as its author states, “the first comprehensive study of contemporary German literature's intense engagement with German colonialism and Germany's wider involvement in European colonialism” (14). It focuses on German-language writings about Africa published over the past twenty years, including works that appeared as recently as 2012, and offers original commentary on a wide range of narratives, some of which have thus far not seen critical attention. The considerable corpus of texts is situated within the longer history of German literary writing about Africa, and also draws on texts from other linguistic traditions for comparison. The sheer number of fiction and nonfiction narratives that are at the center of Göttsche's discussion—sixty-three works by forty-seven authors are listed in one of the indices, which does not include the much larger number of texts that are referenced more briefly—is impressive, and any doubts about the relevance of the topic are easily dispelled in light of the wealth and richness of the material discussed here. Göttsche does not consider German-language postcolonial literature—that is, Black German writing and writing by African immigrants—though he does refer to a number of relevant titles throughout his study (and has written elsewhere about this substantial body of texts, which continues to grow in volume; see “Recollection and Intervention: Memory of German Colonialism in Contemporary African Migrants' Writing,” in German Colonialism Revisited: African, Asian, and Oceanic Experiences, ed. Nina Berman, Klaus Mühlhahn, and Patrice Ngangang, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014, 245–58).The study is almost encyclopedic in its review of the extensive corpus of texts, and provides a meticulous scholarly apparatus. Göttsche organizes his survey into an introduction, five main chapters, a conclusion, a bibliography, and helpful indices. The introduction offers a general overview of the study and articulates its main goals. Göttsche situates the literature under review in the framework of an interconnection between Germany's engagement with its colonial past and a renewed interest in contemporary Africa. Salient fiction and life-writing are understood not only as forms of collective memory work and coming-to-terms with another chapter of violent history, but also as involving an encounter with current developments.The first chapter charts the theoretical and methodological terrain, and reviews the emergence of postcolonial studies in Germanistik and German studies more broadly. Göttsche in fact suggests that German-language literary authors “embraced postcolonial thought and the postcolonial politics of memory earlier than (most) German, Austrian, or Swiss academics” (24). He also stresses the relevance of interkulturelle Germanistik/Literaturwissenschaft, which he translates as “cross-cultural (German) studies,” for the literary engagement with Africa. Whereas Göttsche acknowledges the limitations inherent in the approaches of some proponents of cross-cultural German studies, he also insists on the significance of some of its theoretical premises, approaches, and findings. Göttsche specifically mentions critics such as Herbert Uerlings, Norbert Mecklenburg, and Axel Dunker who have made vital contributions to the field. Göttsche also highlights the invaluable contributions of the Hanover school of African literary critics (established by Leo Kreutzer) and the University of Bayreuth to fostering a critical engagement with Germany's colonial past in Africa and the contemporary engagement with Africa. Memory studies emerges as the third theoretical pillar central to the study; Michael Rothberg's notion of collective memory as “multidirectional,” Jan Assmann's idea of “communicative memory,” as well Astrid Erll's distinction between the “memory of literature” and “memory in literature,” among others, are evoked as guiding Göttsche's approach. The introduction also provides an overview of the longer history of German literary writings about Africa and colonialism in Africa.The following four chapters are organized thematically, and include brief synopses and discussions of individuals texts, ranging from a couple of pages to, in one case, almost eighteen pages (Hamann's Usambara, 389–407). The second chapter investigates texts that center on territories colonized by Germany. Writings about Namibia and East Africa dominate here, while the lack of texts about Cameroon and Togo is described as “a mystery” (65); perhaps an explanation can be found in the fact that economic, political, and even missionary ties between West and East Germany and the territories of today's Namibia and Tanzania were more significant than with francophone Togo and Cameroon. Chapter 3 focuses on texts that emphasize cross-cultural and transcultural perspectives, and that broaden the scope beyond German colonial territories proper to reflect on European colonialism more widely. Chapter 4 also refers to the larger European context, and centers on topics such as exoticism, the history of exploration, trade, resistance, settlement, decolonization, and neocolonialism. The narratives brought together in the last chapter focalize the exploration of colonial history through the telling of family history. The conclusion sketches possible directions for future studies, and particularly stresses the relevance of black German and immigrant writing for a full consideration of the German-language engagement with Africa.Göttsche's analysis of this large body of texts highlights, among other foci, instances of texts exemplifying a “postcolonial gaze” (e.g., Kramer; Schulz; Timm; Trojanow), cross-cultural and transcultural perspectives (e.g., Buch; Kühn; Vosseler; Winter), as well as uncomfortable continuities of colonialist thinking and modes of representation (e.g., Blaeulich; Bossen; Dietl; Paluch and Habeck; Seyfried) and exoticism (e.g., Ackermann; Gercke; Hilliges; Jary; Mennen; Meyer). Narratives that display a more complex and self-reflective aesthetic approach (e.g., Capus; Hamann; Hartmann; Kracht; Kühn; Stangl; Timm; Trojanow; Widmer) display a greater potential to successfully debunk stereotypes and develop innovative approaches to German-African histories and encounters.The study is comprehensive in many regards, and the lacunae we can identify only confirm the significance of the field outlined in Göttsche's study. Missing from the author's assessment of the contemporary German engagement with Africa are the large number of texts originally written in languages other than German, and that are accessible to German readers in translation. These translations are relevant to assessing the larger German discourse about Africa. Claude Njiké-Bergeret's popular autobiographical narratives, which also fill the gap of texts about Cameroon, are exemplary here. The second point also concerns the question of reception and audience: two of the most popular texts of the past two decades, Stefanie Zweig's autobiographically inspired novel Nirgendwo in Afrika (1995) and Corinne Hofmann's autobiography Die weiße Massai (1998, with three sequels), while mentioned briefly, are not discussed in detail. Die weiße Massai is undoubtedly the best seller among German-language Africa texts of the past fifteen years, with four million copies sold and the text translated into thirty languages, facts that raise many questions. Göttsche also does not consider one significant thematic cluster, namely, narratives that are tied to development aid and various forms of humanitarian activities and interventions. Another challenge results from the fact that an evaluation of what is or is not a “misrepresentation” or an instance of exoticism requires an in-depth discussion of the economic, political, and social factors that would elucidate a text's relationship to the subject of representation, something impossible to accomplish in the space available in such a grand survey, but that should be of vital concern in future analyses of the narratives featured in Göttsche's study.These observations are not meant to detract from the tremendous value of Göttsche's study; in fact, they are proof of its relevance. Göttsche's volume may be seen as a foundational text inaugurating the birth of a subfield of German literary studies. I look forward to seeing the results of the further productive efforts this study is sure to inspire.