Michael Rösser

12/2016
Promotionsstipendiat des Max-Weber-Kollegs für kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Studien, Universität Erfurt.
Dissertation: “‘Islands of Sovereignty‘ – Labour, Recruitment and Command in German East Africa“.

12/2017–03/2018
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Lehrstuhl für Geschichte der Europäischen Expansion (19./ 20. Jahrhundert), Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf.

05/2016–11/2016
Wissenschaftliche Hilfskraft am Lehrstuhl für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, Universität Regensburg.

03/ 2016–11/2016
ASA-Stipendiat, Engagement Global gGmbH. Projektpraktikum: „Ausstellungskonzeption für postkoloniale Erinnerungsarbeit in Mwanza“. In Kooperation mit den Partnerkommunen Würzburg und Mwanza (Tansania).

2015–2016
Studentische Hilfskraft am Lehrstuhl für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, Universität Regensburg.

2014 – 2015
Studentische Hilfskraft am Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Regensburg.

2012–2013
Studium der Geschichtswissenschaft als ERASMUS-Stipendiat am University College Dublin (UCD).

2009–2016
Studium LA Gym. Geschichte/ Englisch/ Philosophie-Ethik an der Universität Regensburg.
Abschlussarbeit: “Forced Labour in German East Africa – Between ‘Colonial Amnesia‘ and Structural Similarities to WWI in Europe“.

2008–2009
Studium der Geschichtswissenschaft sowie Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Universität Wien.

‘Islands of Sovereignty’ – Labour, Recruitment and Command in German East Africa

German colonial rule in East Africa depended decisively on local African power structures. According to the concept ‘Islands of Sovereignty’ (Inseln der Herrschaft), the German colonial administration could, at best, exert comprehensive rule only in the direct environments of governmental strongholds, such as military stations or centres of civil administration. I will argue in my study that not only colonial administrative centres, but also other colonial undertakings, may be regarded as ‘islands of sovereignty’, which were highly dependent on East African determinants. That applies to plantations, scientific excavation sites (Tendaguru), but especially to the construction site of the central railway that was slowly progressing, from coastal Dar es Salaam to Kigoma on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, between 1905 and 1914. All the colonial protagonists responsible for these endeavours obtained only limited powers to fulfil their tasks, and were strongly dependent on local determinants, particularly in the fields of labour and labour recruitment.

Even though German colonial rule was far from comprehensive in East Africa, the colonial centres – the ‘Islands of Sovereignty’ – were also not microcosms entirely isolated from their surroundings. African intermediaries often directly employed by the colonial administration either managed to partly maintain and adapt pre-colonial infrastructure to the colonial environment, or they established new quasi-hybrid links between the German colonial administration and the local (African) population. They acted not only as intermediaries between colonial institutions and the local (African) population, but they also established new social and economic links to the civil population and reinterpreted as well as negotiated the relationship between ‘colonizers and colonized’.  Hence, there were interlinkages between the different protagonists and institutions that constantly negotiated the composition of the East African colonial society.

These complex and entangled realities of German colonial East Africa were, further, not cut off from other world affairs. Quite the contrary. The world around 1900 was decisively shaped by patterns of globalisation, and European colonialism was integral to this global process. The concept of “colonial globality” describes the increasing processes of global interconnections characterised by capitalist structures, imperialist interventions, intercultural exchanges and migration flows. The entire global economy depended on the integration of non-European raw materials, markets, and labour, not only in Europe but also in other world regions, such as (German) East Africa. Particularly, large-scale infrastructure projects like railways were not only dependent on an international workforce, but also fuelled colonial discourse and imagination in Europe, in Africa, and beyond.

With the global history of labour having gained increased attention recently, so far neglected fields of the employment and the protagonists of labour have been studied. While several aspects of labour in colonial German East Africa do still lie in the dark, this study attempts to reveal several aspects. First of all, it attempts to highlight the roles of those protagonists involved in labour that have hardly received any attention in the labour historiography of (German) East Africa. This applies especially to the multi-ethnic group of European labour recruiters and Indian craftsmen involved at several working sites. Secondly, it attempts to illustrate the interconnections of labour and labour recruitment between the central railway’s construction site, the Otto Plantation near Kilossa, and the Tendaguru excavation site in the Southern part of the colony. On a higher level, my research enquires into the interconnections between these three ‘Islands of sovereignty’ within the ‘Indian Ocean Area’, and within the world-wide links of the ‘colonial globality’ around 1900. As many of the possible interconnections might have also turned out to be dead ends, the research further attempts to illustrate where and why ruptures in these global interlinkages occurred.

Taking a closer look on each working site of the individual ‘Islands of Sovereignty’, this research project attempts to illustrate further the areas of conflict regarding the labour of all protagonists involved at a working site. The agenda and agency not only of the colonizers, but also of the colonized, are to be investigated. The agenda of the colonial administration and its personnel are thus taken as one important aspect regarding all working sites. The very same can be said for the (African) workforce involved, whose ability to protest, and opportunities for agency, have not been studied sufficiently. Still, the companies involved also played their part regarding each ‘Island of sovereignty’.

WiSe 2017/18
„Ostafrikanische Perspektiven auf den deutschen Kolonialismus von ca. 1900 bis heute“ (Übung). Lehrstuhl für Europäische Expansion (19./ 20. Jahrhundert), Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf.

„Einführung in die Transkulturelle Geschichte“ (Aufbauseminar). Lehrstuhl für Europäische Expansion (19./ 20. Jahrhundert), Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf.

SoSe 2016
„‘Kein Platz an der Sonne‘ – Deutscher (Post-)Kolonialismus in Afrika. Grundzüge, Debatten, Methoden“ (Übung). Lehrstuhl für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, Universität Regensburg.

Rösser, Michael und Hirschbeck, Walburga. “Spuren des Kolonialismus. Kolonialismuskritische Erinnerungsarbeit im Rahmen der Städtepartnerschaft Würzburg-Mwanza.“ Rathaus Würzburg: 14.3.2017.

Rösser, Michael; Hirschbeck, Walburga and Kisalya, Fulgens (Berlin Postkolonial). “’Historia si Mchezo’ – ‘History is no Joke’. Vortrag und Diskussion. Postkoloniale Perspektiven auf die Geschichte der Stadt Mwanza.“ Rathaus Würzburg: 22.11.2016.

Rösser, Michael/ Spoerer, Mark. „Kontinuitäten der Zwangsarbeit vom kolonialen Deutsch-Ostafrika zum Ersten Weltkrieg (Polen, Litauen, Belgien)“. Arbeitskräfte zwischen militärischer und wirtschaftlicher Rekrutierung. Arbeitstagung des programme de formation recherche (PFR). Wirtschaftsgeschichte des Ersten Weltkrieges. Teil 2. Ökonomische Ordnung und Handlung der Unternehmen. Ruhr-Universität Bochum: 5.-6.11.2015, Ruhr- Universität Bochum, in: H-Soz-Kult,URL: https://www.hsozkult.de/event/id/termine-29228(18.10.2015):
Rösser, Michael. „Kolonial-Deutsch. 'Zwischen Sprachideologie und Sprachplanung'.“ Tag der
Sprachen. umdieecKe! Regensburg. W1 Zentrum für junge Kultur Regensburg: 28.6.2015.

Rösser, Michael, Prisms of Work: Labour, Recruitment and Command in German East Africa, Berlin/Boston 2024. Open Access. lesen
Rösser, Michael, Juristisches Seminar. Theodor von Gunzert, in: Koloniale-spuren-heidelberg.de, (5.12.2017). lesen
Rösser, Michael/ Huebner, Friederike, Migration nach Palästina. Eine jüdische Jugendliche in Balfouria, in: Praxis Geschichte extra - Dokumente des Holocaust (2011), S. 18-19.