Herrschaftswissen

The German colonial school is a cultural contact zone for indigenous and non-indigenous people, a space where colonial knowledge is generated and which offers a workplace for German teachers. Their profession-al biographies, ranging between 1885 and 1929, offer insights into an under researched chapter of German colonial history. They tell of social discipline and paternalism, of linguistic interventions in indigenous languages and cultural standardisation, of personal ambition and the need to negotiate colonial rule in everyday life. This study illustrates colonial school practices in Africa and the Pacific in the contexts of administration, religion, settler colonialism and imperial competition.