Journal Article

Colonial Intimacy: The Rechenberg Scandal and Homosexuality in German East Africa

Schmidt, Heike I.

2008

Overview

Homosexuality was also common among the German emperor's closest confidants and political allies, and there were even-unsuccessful-demands in Germany to decriminalize the practice.8 At the same time, German officials and settlers in the colony expressed great concern over what they perceived to be propriety, which had to be preserved under all circumstances to uphold white civilization and to sustain the colonial project as they understood it.9 In order to grasp the German colonial experience, it is important to consider that in the nineteenth century Germany had undergone fundamental changes in all spheres of society. While the greater sexual opportunities for Europeans compared to the metropole noted by Aldrich are apparent, at the same time Germans in the colony-from settlers to the governor himself-considered keeping up appearances in front of colonial subjects as crucial.12 With the postcolonial turn and the challenge of the subaltern studies approach, historians such as Frederick Cooper and Laura Stoler have raised new questions when they point out that colonial studies need to break down strict dichotomies between colonizer and colonized in order to avoid reproducing the colonial vocabulary and grammar.13 Some headway has been made in complicating our understanding of the colonial encounter by showing the interdependency and mutual flows of ideas and knowledge.14 Still, the historical study of colonialism needs to be further developed to fully acknowledge the extent of shared space, knowledge, and experience between colonizer and colonized and the role of rumor and gossip in the colonial experience.15 This is what will be called colonial intimacy, a term chosen to emphasize this proximity without denying or belittling the unequal power differential and the omnipresent colonial violence.16 Colonial life worlds were shared spaces between colonizer and colonized.\\n He knew Zanzibar well, as he had served there as German consul in the 1890s, when male sex workers, including cross-dressers, offered their services openly in Ng'ambo, the African part of town.141 In moving the men's brothel to Zanzibar, the German colonial government addressed the immediate crisis of gossip and rumor associated with it, and the administration orientalized same-sex practices.

• Publisher: University of Texas Press,University of Texas at Austin (University of Texas Press)
• Subject: 19th century / Africa, Eastern - ethnology / African Continental Ancestry Group - education / African Continental Ancestry Group - ethnology / African Continental Ancestry Group - history / African Continental Ancestry Group - legislation & jurisprudence / African Continental Ancestry Group - psychology / Colonial government / Colonial history / Colonialism / Colonialism - history / Colonies / Colonies & territories / Confidants / Cross-dressers / Decriminalization / East Africa / Ethnic Groups - education / Ethnic Groups - ethnology / Ethnic Groups - history / Ethnic Groups - legislation & jurisprudence / Ethnic Groups - psychology / European Continental Ancestry Group - education / European Continental Ancestry Group - ethnology / European Continental Ancestry Group - history / European Continental Ancestry Group - legislation & jurisprudence / European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology / Experience / Gender Identity / German language / Germany / Germany - ethnology / Gossip / Governors / Historians / Historiography / History / History, 19th Century / History, 20th Century / Homosexuality / Homosexuality, Male - ethnology / Homosexuality, Male - history / Homosexuality, Male - psychology / Humans / Interpersonal Relations / Intimacy / Investigations / Judges / Judicial Role - history / Lebenswelt / Local Government / Magistrates / Male / Masculinity / Men / Men's Health - economics / Men's Health - ethnology / Men's Health - history / Men's Health - legislation & jurisprudence / Military Personnel - education / Military Personnel - history / Military Personnel - legislation & jurisprudence / Military Personnel - psychology / Political alliances / Postcolonialism / Power structure / Prejudice / Prostitution / Proximity / Public administration / Public officials / Race Relations - history / Race Relations - legislation & jurisprudence / Race Relations - psychology / Rechenberg, Georg Albrecht Freiherr von / Rumors / Scandals / Settlers / Sex workers / Sexual behavior / Sexual Behavior - ethnology / Sexual Behavior - history / Sexual Behavior - physiology / Sexual Behavior - psychology / Sexual behaviour / Sexual Partners - psychology / Sexual violence / Sexuality / Social aspects / Social Conditions - economics / Social Conditions - history / Social Conditions - legislation & jurisprudence / Social Control Policies - economics / Social Control Policies - history / Social Control Policies - legislation & jurisprudence / Society / Socioeconomic Factors / State government / Studies / Subaltern identities / Verdicts / Violence / Vocabulary