This book analyzes the travelogues of four German women who journeyed through Cameroon when it was a German colony (1884-1918). Three of the women - Haase, Rein-Wuhrmann, and Ziemann - present their experiences as exciting adventures in a world that will profit from European progress and the teachings of Christianity. The fourth, Thorbecke, is eventually able to accept the Africans and their customs on their own terms. These travelogues were used as recruiting tools to entice other German women to come to Cameroon, and they are a reflection of the German society's mindset at the cusp of the twentieth century. As documentation of the identity formation and learning processes of their authors, they give testimony to these women's openness, tolerance, and adaptability to the social and cultural environments of various African tribes in Cameroon.
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Editions-Typ
Illustrationen
Maße
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-8204-5538-9 (9780820455389)
Schweitzer Klassifikation
The Author: Karin U. Schestokat is Associate Professor of German at Oklahoma State University. She received her Ph.D. in German literature from the University of Southern California. Her fields of research are contemporary German women's and minority literatures. She has published articles on May Ayim, on Yoko Tawada, on Monika Maron, and on Africans living in Germany.
