GERMAN RULE, AFRICAN SUBJECTS, state aspirations and the reality of power in colonial Namibia, translated by Anthony Mellor-Stapelberg

421pp., maps, paperback, First SA Edition, Johannesburg, 2022.

Originally published in German in 2001 as Deutsche Herrschaft über Afrikaner: Staatlicher machtanspruch und wirklichkeit im kolonialen Namibia.

First English language edition published in 2021, with a new preface by the author.

“[Zimmerer] traces the history and origins of racial, labor, and population regulations throughout the entire history of the German occupation, showing that they were not peripheral but absolutely central to the entire enterprise … The most detailed view to date of the operations and mind of the German colonial administration.” The American Historical Review

“Very impressive … Zimmerer clearly delineates the objectives, policies, successes, and failures of German efforts to control and exploit the native population.” German Studies Review 

Jürgen Zimmerer is Professor of Global History at the University of Hamburg and director of the research cluster 'Hamburg's (post-)colonial legacy'.