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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Guns and Top Hats: African Resistance in German South West Africa, 1907-1915
Author:Prein, Philipp
Year:1994
Periodical:Journal of Southern African Studies
Volume:20
Issue:1
Pages:99-121
Language:English
Geographic terms:Namibia
Germany
Subjects:anticolonialism
colonialism
History and Exploration
Ethnic and Race Relations
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/2637122
Abstract:This is a study of African resistance during the last eight years of German rule (1907-1915) in South West Africa (now Namibia). Having waged a brutal war against the pastoralist populations in the centre and the South for three years, German colonialists were eager to construct a profitable settler economy after 1907. They failed, however. Too many Africans had been killed and the survivors would not let themselves be reduced to the status of mere contract labourers. Previous authors have emphasized the brutality of colonial rule while stressing Africans' unbroken will to resist after 1907. Supposedly, Africans' die-hard spirit of resistance was powerless under the might of German rule. By contrast, this study argues that Africans did indeed have effective means to resist while their motivations were more complex than a uniform anticolonial spirit. The study is divided into three parts. The first outlines the political economy of German South West Africa; the second focuses on rural resistance against the expropriation of cattle; the third looks at developments in urban settlements. The study pays attention to various layers of conflict in colonial society, and concludes that resistance in German South West Africa after 1907 cannot be explained by an inherent opposition between colonizers and colonized. Rather, it grew out of local, day-to-day struggles between people with multiple and colliding visions of society. Notes, ref., sum.
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