Transcontinental Co-Productions

If the connection between the European exploration of Africa and colonialism seems unequivocal in retrospect, it may be surprising that in the 1860s, African travelers, scholars, and politicians invited European scientists to join them, exchanged ideas with them, and supported them in their endeavors. They did so based on their respective motives and strategies, so the course of many pre-colonial expeditions was negotiated among very different – and not solely European – interest groups. In this context, it is necessary to no longer understand such endeavors as projects directed by individual actors but rather as transcontinental co-productions.

In this sense, my dissertation project aims to reinterpret a series of German expeditions from the 1860s and early 1870s that at least temporarily sought to reach the Wadai Empire in eastern Sudan. These expeditions provide a suitable subject of investigation because they represent a significant phase in German African research, where travel activities were not only intensified but also politicized and popularized. Furthermore, these expeditions are relatively well-documented through self-testimonies, offering a fundamentally different perspective than heavily edited travel reports that often continue to shape perceptions of expeditions today. This approach also seeks to provide a new understanding of non-European actors who were crucial to enabling, shaping the trajectories, and conducting the scientific work of these co-produced research journeys. This involves examining the involvement of often subaltern participants such as servants, slaves, or children on the one hand, and exploring the political dimension of these endeavors, where African elites played a role alongside Europeans, on the other.

The dissertation project is part of the externally funded project "Geography and Politics between Northeast Africa and Europe. Self-Testimonies as an Access to a Relational History of Knowledge" (funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation).