Race and Gender in Southwest Africa: A Study of German Colonial Women Writers

Authors

Amanda J. Anderson, Brigham Young University
Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Kelling, Brigham Young University

Keywords

race, gender, Southwest Africa, German colonial women, writers

College

Humanities

Department

German and Russian

Abstract

Overlooked historically, women’s colonial literature has helped shape perspectives on race, gender and power. Male and female colonists alike carried glorious imperialistic fantasies, which can be found in the literature of the time. Specifically, German colonialism occurred much later than all other nations and lasted for only a brief thirty year period, 1884 through the end of World War I. Many women wrote on the subject. Lora Wildenthal shows in her book German Women for Empire, 1884-1945 that women colonial writers wanted to promote colonization and the role of women in it. Like most texts, this book only mentions the colonial writers Clara Brockmann and Helena von Falkenhausen in passing, which means there is a whole perspective of history that is often overlooked.

Recommended Citation

Anderson, Amanda J. and Kelling, Dr. Hans-Wilhelm (2013) "Race and Gender in Southwest Africa: A Study of German Colonial Women Writers," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 821.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/821