Racial warfare in German women’s colonial memoirs

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The colonial memoirs of German women reflected and often overtly supported the structurally racist assumptions that naturalized German rule in Africa and the Pacific. When it came to describing the reasons for colonial uprisings and wars, however, few focused on broad notions of ‘racial warfare’, foregrounding instead the primacy of the battle for political independence and territorial sovereignty. Via a study of the memoirs of Magdalene von Prince, Margarete von Eckenbrecher and Frieda Zieschank, Fitzpatrick’s article questions the applicability of the flattening descriptor ‘racial warfare’ when describing colonial wars, and demonstrates that German women offered a clear sense that the line of demarcation between wartime allies and enemies often mapped poorly on to racial divides.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)111-132
Number of pages22
JournalPatterns of Prejudice
Volume57
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Keywords

  • colonial memoirs
  • colonial violence
  • German colonialism
  • German Empire
  • German racism
  • women’s history

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Racial warfare in German women’s colonial memoirs'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this