Re-Thinking German Colonialism

Overview & Synopsis

Research of the past twenty years has revealed the deep connections between colonial spaces and Central European trade, production, and consumption in the early modern period. This book argues that the results of this research need to be integrated into our understanding of “German colonialism” on a conceptual level. Bridging research on “early modern” and “modern” colonial-isms, the papers in this volume suggest that we need to take the specific character of Central European entanglements with global spaces more seriously. At the same time, the book exam-ines the analytical boundaries of “Germany” and the importance of a transnational perspective for Central and Northern European involvements with colonialism. Zooming in to questions of dependency, the individual contributions interrogate the scope of action of differently posi-tioned actors, often generating surprising results about the possibilities and limits of agency. The ten thematic papers are framed by a historiographical essay and an introduction that proposes a framework for thoroughly re-thinking how we might conceptualize “German colonialism” moving forward.