Diverging Memories: A comparative analysis of interpretations of the 1904-8 genocide in Namibia and the Majimaji War in Tanzania

This PhD project aims to com­paratively analyse circum­stances and conse­quences of inter­pretations of violence in post-colonial relation­ships, specifi­cally in relation to the atrocities committed by the colonial govern­ment during the 1904-8 genocide in former German South West Africa (GSWA) and during the 1905-7 Majimaji War in former German East Africa (GEA). It asks how and why the post-inde­pendence inter­pretations of these histories differ (or else mirror each other) in Namibia and the Herero and Nama diasporas and in Tanzania, as well as what role their inter­pretations play in the starkly different inter­national treat­ment of these histories. Additionally, it will ask whether and how narratives of historical events inter­relate with different forms (or intensities) of civic and political engage­ment in relation to them. In this sense, this project would contribute to a greater under­standing for the processes involved in the attribution of meaning to historical events and the conse­quences that these inter­pretations of violence can have for collective agency in local and in trans­national arenas. Further­more, this project promises to con­tribute to a growing public discourse on how to cope with the vast array of atrocities committed during colo­nialism in post-colonial relation­ships today.