Linie 4: Coffee and colonialism

Title page of the journal "Der deutsche Kulturpionier. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Kolonialschule Wilhelmshof", 1922, Vol. 22 No. 3

Coffee is one of many products that found their way into our German homes through colonialism. But even after the end of the German colonial period, coffee continued to be produced and consumed and colonialism continued by other means. In her presentation “Colonialism without colonies? The magazine 'Der Deutsche Kulturpionier' after 1919” in the public lecture series Linie 4, organised by the BGHS together with the vhs Bielefeld, Catharina Wessing uses the example of the history of coffee to look at the period of the Weimar Republic and its relationship to colonialism.

During this time, the German Empire had formally given up ‘its’ colonies. But there were many colonial enthusiasts who continued to pursue colonialism. This was also the case with the students of the German Colonial School in Witzenhausen, Hesse. This school had already existed since 1898 and trained young German white men to manage farms and ranches in the German colonies. Among other products, this also involved the cultivation of coffee. To improve the students’ networking, the magazine “Der Deutsche Kulturpionier” was founded in 1900. Former students reported there on their experiences and gave tips that were read by colonial enthusiasts worldwide.

Catharina Wessing works as a research associate at the Institute for World Society. She has been working on her doctorate since 2020 on the topic “Kolonial-landwirtschaftlicher Wissenstransfer in der Weimarer Republik. Eine Analyse aus globalgeschichtlicher Perspektive". In addition to all topics related to German colonialism, she is interested in intersectionality and post-colonial studies.

The lecture will take place on Monday, 05 June 2023 at 6.15 p.m. in room 240 at the vhs Bielefeld, Ravensberger Park 1. The event will be held in German.

Here you will find information about Linie 4 and the presentations in the series.

Paths to a professorship - concrete!

On 22 May 2023 at 5 p.m., the BGHS will host an online meeting entitled "BGHS Alumni's Experiences on the Way to a Professorship" with seven BGHS alumni who have already found their paths to a professorship or a position as a lecturer. With them are:

• Edvaldo Moita, Professor of Public Law at the Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil
• Andrea Kretschmann, Professor of Cultural Sociology at the University of Lüneburg, Germany
• Sebastian Teupe, Assistant Professor for Economic History at the University of Bayreuth, Germany
• Bettina Mahlert, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Li Sun, Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds, England
• Viktoria Spaiser, Associate Professor of Sustainability Research and Computational Social Science at the University of Leeds, England
• Raphael Susewind, Lecturer in Social Anthropology at King's College London, England 

In conversation with Clara Buitrago from the BGHS office, the colleagues will talk about their own paths to professorships and whether this was indeed a dream come true. They will also give tips on career paths in academic science and answer questions. The event will be held in English.

To register, please send an email to bghs@uni-bielefeld.de.

Linie 4: The dream of the "strong man"

Reich President Friedrich Ebert parading an honorary company of the Reichswehr on 11 August 1923, the bank holidays in the Weimar Republic (Photo: Georg Pahl, BArch Bild 102-10884)

Convinced republicans were a rarity in the military of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). Most soldiers in the Reichswehr had a conflictual relationship with the state they had sworn an oath to. In her presentation "Von ‘Herrennaturen’ und ‘Eunuchen’ – Das schwierige Verhältnis der Soldaten zur Weimarer Republik" ("Of ‘Gentlemen's Natures’ and ‘Eunuchs’ – The Difficult Relationship of Soldiers to the Weimar Republic") in the public lecture series Linie 4, which the BGHS is organising together with the vhs Bielefeld, historian Carolin Kaiser explores the reasons for this. 

In addition to the origin of many soldiers from nationalist circles and an elitist self-image, she identifies another factor – the relationship between masculinity and politics. At the time of the Weimar Republic, the language of politics was often peppered with allusions to gender and sexuality. Thus the Versailles Peace Treaty was described as a "rape", its arms restrictions as "emasculation" and pacifists as "eunuchs". It was not only the National Socialists who dreamed of a "strong man" at the head of the nation. In the conflict between a democratic and an authoritarian regime that characterised the 1920s and early 1930s, the latter was considered the "manlier" option. Carolin Kaiser looks at the impact of this social atmosphere on the military and asks: Was the understanding that many soldiers themselves had of what a man and soldier should be like simply incompatible with the image they had of democracy and parliamentarism?

Carolin Kaiser studied history and comparative literature at the universities of Bochum, Stockholm and Tours. Since 2021, she has been doing her doctorate on the topic of "Masculinities in the Reichswehr. Soldiering and Gender in the Weimar Republic" at the BGHS. She is a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation.

The presentation will take place on Monday, 22 May 2023 at 6.15 pm in room 240 at the vhs Bielefeld, Ravensberger Park 1. The event will be held in German.

Here you will find information about Linie 4 and the presentations in the series.

Doctoral Thesis Award

© Kathy Baerg Fotografie

The Bielefeld University Society (UGBi) awarded the prizes for the best doctoral theses at Bielefeld University on 18 April. BGHS alumna Katrin Weible also received an award for her doctoral thesis.

In her doctoral thesis "Social citizenship for 'the poor'? Large N data construction, conceptualisation, and comparative analysis of social cash transfers across the global South", Katrin Weible addressed the question of what programmes similar to our social assistance, which have also been introduced in many developing and emerging countries since the 2000s, contribute to the social protection of poor and vulnerable groups. She will soon be taking up a position as a consultant at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, advising the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development on social protection.

The BGHS congratulates very warmly!