German Colonialism and the Concept of Transnational History Print
Lecture Series at the University of California, San Diego and Irvine campuses, co-sponsored by the GHI Washington DC

In 1897 Chancellor von Bülow claimed "einen Platz an der Sonne" (a place in the sun) attempting to justify the recent and, as it turned out, comparatively short-lived German imperial ambitions. By the end of World War I, Germans colonial endeavors were already a thing of the past. The former German colonies quickly merged into other European empires and German society was hardly influenced by the brief imperial episode - or so it seemed. Following the lead of recent scholarship on transnationalism the lecture series "The Aftermath of German Colonialism" reopens the case. Historians from Germany and the United States will explore whether and to what extent imperialism shaped Germany and its former colonies and possibly continues to do so.

Colonialism as Counterrevolution: Rethinking the Pre-colonial
May 21, 2012, 4 pm, University of California, San Diego
Speaker: Andrew Zimmerman (George Washington University)
Commentator: Rebecca Plant (UC San Diego)

Global Empire and Naval Ambitions in Wilhelmine Germany
May 7, 2012, 12 pm, University of California, Irvine
Speaker: Dirk Bönker (Duke University)
Commentator: Edward Dickinson (UC Davis)

Race War and Cultural Genocide in German Southwest Africa
April 23, 2012, 12 pm, University of California, Irvine
Speaker: Jürgen Zimmerer (Universität Hamburg)
Commentator: Robert Moeller (UC Irvine)

Which Way to Expand? And How? Imperial Rivalries in the ‘Third Reich'
April 9, 2012, 4 pm, University of California, San Diego
Speaker: Dirk van Laak (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen)
Commentator: Uta Poiger (Northeastern University)

In the Wake of Empire: German Missionaries in China and the Consequences of Failure
March 5, 2012, 12 pm, University of California, Irvine
Speaker: Albert Wu (University of California, Berkeley)
Commentator: Quitao Guo (UC Irvine)

A Forerunner of German Colonialism? Karl F.A. Gützlaff and the Project of Transnational Imperialism in China, 1827-1851
February 13, 12pm, 2012, University of California, Irvine
Speaker: Thoralf Klein (Loughborough University)
Commentator: Jeff Wasserstrom (UC Irvine)

In cooperation with the University of California, San Diego and University of California, Irvine, and Fritz Thyssen Foundation.

GHI Fall Lecture Series 2011: German Colonialism and the Concept of Transnational History