African History

The primary research interest on African History carried out in Hannover is the political, social and cultural parameters and forms of expression of African modernity, which developed in the intertwining of unequal but reciprocal relationships in the Atlantic and (post) colonial era. In terms of time, the paradigm shifts and epoch breaks of the “long” 19th and “short” 20th centuries are paramount; Spatially, the focus is primarily on regions in the west (Senegambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia) and the east (Tanzania, Kenya). Thematic priorities are political and social restructuring processes (territorialisation, border regimes and violent regimes, ethnicisation, religious change), changes in production methods, forms of settlement and mobility structures (market economy, urbanisation, migration), differentiation and individualisation (gender, family and generational relationships) as well as self-perception and world views (knowledge and belief systems, cultural practices).

Doctorate Projects

Completed Doctorate Projects

„Disparate Zukunftsvorstellungen. Kolonialbewegte Jugend zwischen der Weimarer Republik und dem Mandatsgebiet Südwestafrika“

Record in the catalogue of the German National Library: d-nb.info/1159783918


Researcher: Dr. Susanne Heyn
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Reinwald / Prof. Dr. Kirsten Rüther (Universität Wien)
Funding: Hans Böckler Stiftung

„Afrikanische Initiativen zur Abolition an der Goldküste, 1841-1897. Die Einstellung lokaler Akteure zu Sklaverei und Sklavenhandel“, published entitled: „Von Sklaverei und Freiheit. Afrikanische Initiativen zur Abolition an der Goldküste (1841-1897) (Frankfurt/Main: Campus 2019)

Record in the catalogue of the German National Library: d-nb.info/1170358632


Researcher: Dr. Steffen Runkel
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Reinwald / Prof. Dr. Jan-Georg Deutsch (†), Universität Oxford
Funding: DFG (Joint project „Nach der Sklaverei. Die Karibik und Afrika im Vergleich“)

 

"Traditions can be changed: Tanzanian nationalist debates around decolonizing ‘race’ and gender, 1960s-1970s”

Researcher: Dr. des. Harald Barre
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Reinwald / Prof. Dr. Mathias Bös (Institute of Sociology, LUH)

Ongoing Doctorate Projects

"Fachkräfte für die Entwicklung. Fortbildungskooperationen zwischen Ghana und den beiden deutschen Staaten, 1956-1976"

Researcher: Jana Otto, M.A.
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Birthe Kundrus (Universität Hamburg) / Prof. Dr. Brigitte Reinwald

„Erwerbsstrategien und Wissensproduktion von Objekten der kolonialen Kamerun-Sammlung des Landesmuseums Hannover" (working title)

Researcher: Bianca Baumann, M.A.
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Reinwald
Funding: VolkswagenStiftung (Joint project: Provenienzforschung in außereuropäischen Sammlungen und der Ethnologie Niedersachsens - PAESE)
https://www.postcolonial-provenance-research.com/

 

„Fragmente kolonialen Sammelns. Erinnerungskulturen zur Kamerun-Sammlung von Kurt Strümpell (1872-1947) im Museum und der mündlichen Überlieferung“ (working title) Researcher: Isabella Bozsa, M.A. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Reinwald Funding: VolkswagenStiftung (Joint project: Provenienzforschung in außereuropäischen Sammlungen und der Ethnologie Niedersachsens - PAESE) www.postcolonial-provenance-research.com/    


Ongoing Research Projects

The project Knowledge for Tomorrow–Post-doctoral Fellowships in the Humanities in Sub Saharan and North Africa has been funded by the Volkswagen Foundation since 2013 and coordinated by Prof. Brigitte Reinwald and Rahel Kühne-Thies.

www.vwfoundation-humanities.uni-hannover.de

 

Anthropology and Contemporary Visual Arts from the Black Atlantic: between the Art Museum and the Ethnological museum in the Global North
A series of three International Summer Schools (Dakar, Senegal - March 2019; Hanover, Germany - April 2020, and Salvador de Bahia, Brazil - June 2021) funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.

The symposium "Dealing with Violence - Resolving Conflicts in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean" will take place from September 29 to October 1, 2021 in the Tagungszentrum Schloss Herrenhausen, Hannover.
Funding: Volkswagenstiftung
Applicants: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Reinwald, African History, History Department, Prof. Dr. Christine Hatzky, History of Latin America and the Caribbean, History Department, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Gabbert, cultural anthropology / Sociology, Institute of Sociology.

To the Subject Area African History
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