I nomi degli altri nella letteratura coloniale per ragazzi sull’Africa orientale (1890-1945)

Abstract

With regard to colonialism, Germany had not only been a latecomer but also its colonial power lasted just about 30 years. Nevertheless, colonial fantasies had formed long before and became even more intense after the end of the actual empire in 1918. Therefore it is no surprise that there had been a sizeable production of German novels set in – real or imagined – overseas colonies. Colonial literature celebrates the colonizers’ domination of a foreign people while justifying the domination on grounds of the colonizers’ mission to civilize the allegedly inferior Others. The underlying colonial ideology is expressed by the storyline in general and by stereotyped and mostly negative representations of the Others. In this article I argue that a number of names given to African characters in 23 novels set in German East Africa and published between 1891 and 1941 also emphasize their bearers’ alleged otherness and inferior status.