#GreatWarInAfrica: “Loyalty” does not explain why African soldiers fought in East Africa in World War I

Michelle Moyd of Indiana University seeks to dispel the myth of blindly loyal colonial troops during World War One

In Service of Empires: : Apaches and Askaris as Colonial Soldiers,

Peer reviewe

Making History in the Midwest: A Tale of Two History Harvests

This brown bag documents the early stages of a community-engagement project with digital foundations. Our “History Harvest” is an ongoing invitation to community members to help shape an archive about identity and material culture at IUB. We’ll talk about the teaching, research, and ethical considerations that framed partnerships between IUB community members, two research centers, the libraries, and an undergraduate and graduate course and walk through some practical responses to those considerations that will shape the History Harvest as it moves forward

Askari, Gurnah's Afterlives, and History : Some Reflections

The history of African soldiers (askari) who fought in the German colonial army (Schutztruppe) in German East Africa (1890-1918) garnered new attention in 2020 when Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Afterlives was published. Gurnah’s Nobel Prize for Literature win in 2021 brought his body of work to much wider audiences. Where do fiction and history meet in his acclaimed novel? Reflecting on over two decades of historical research on the askari and their roles in the First World War in eastern Africa, I discuss how insights from Gurnah’s recent fiction have shaped my thinking about the askari and the German colonial past. I also situate Afterlives within a growing literary landscape of novels, short stories, and film that feature African colonial soldiers as central subjects.Non UBCUnreviewedFacult

Jambo, Ihr Jungmannen und Jungmädchen : Reclaiming Lost Colonies for German Youth in the Magazine Jambo, 1924-1943

Between 1924 and 1943, the colonial advocacy organization Deutsches Kolonialgesellschaft (DKG) published Jambo, a monthly magazine for youth. The magazine was part of the DKG’s wider effort to educate German reading publics on the perceived importance of keeping German colonial memories alive after the First World War, when German defeat resulted in its being stripped Germany of its colonies. Jambo included short fiction, poems, essays, and graphic representations of Africa and Germany’s colonial past on the continent. Much of the magazine’s content referenced military activities and big game hunting, perpetuating stereotypical racist depictions of African peoples and environments. This lecture will reflect on Jambo’s place within the wider politics and violence of this period in order to show the persistence of colonial thought within German memory, as well as German imperial imaginations.Non UBCUnreviewedFacult