The Images of Blackness: Savages, Workers and the Emergence of the Counter-imagination in Germany (1884-1925)

The author interprets the figures of European workers and colonized Africans presented as slaves of capitalism and imperialism, the image that circulated in the social and cultural imagination in Germany after the Berlin Conference (1884-1885). The aim of the article is to introduce the concept of...

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Main Author: Agnieszka Więckiewicz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Adam Mickiewicz University 2020-06-01
Series:Praktyka Teoretyczna
Subjects:
Online Access:https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/prt/article/view/23815
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spelling doaj-07f12907f7a2437795e92f2a2db9a1b42021-08-02T20:58:26ZengAdam Mickiewicz UniversityPraktyka Teoretyczna2081-81302020-06-0136210.14746/prt2020.2.6The Images of Blackness: Savages, Workers and the Emergence of the Counter-imagination in Germany (1884-1925)Agnieszka Więckiewicz The author interprets the figures of European workers and colonized Africans presented as slaves of capitalism and imperialism, the image that circulated in the social and cultural imagination in Germany after the Berlin Conference (1884-1885). The aim of the article is to introduce the concept of “counterimagination” and show how the image of the rabble became juxtaposed with a visualization of the black slave. The author argues that both figures were considered to be a real threat to the German social order and to German Kultur, and concentrates on the popular images of the “other” circulating in the German visual culture after 1880. The first part of the article is devoted to the aesthetics of the weekly satirical magazine Simplicissimus founded in April 1896. In the second part, the aggressive propaganda campaign against the Occupation of the Rhineland by French colonial troops is discussed. The author describes the mechanisms of envisioning black soldiers and points out the anticolonial reactions to the “Black Shame” campaign. https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/prt/article/view/23815countervisualityvisualitycolonialismracepropagandaracism
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Agnieszka Więckiewicz
spellingShingle Agnieszka Więckiewicz
The Images of Blackness: Savages, Workers and the Emergence of the Counter-imagination in Germany (1884-1925)
Praktyka Teoretyczna
countervisuality
visuality
colonialism
race
propaganda
racism
author_facet Agnieszka Więckiewicz
author_sort Agnieszka Więckiewicz
title The Images of Blackness: Savages, Workers and the Emergence of the Counter-imagination in Germany (1884-1925)
title_short The Images of Blackness: Savages, Workers and the Emergence of the Counter-imagination in Germany (1884-1925)
title_full The Images of Blackness: Savages, Workers and the Emergence of the Counter-imagination in Germany (1884-1925)
title_fullStr The Images of Blackness: Savages, Workers and the Emergence of the Counter-imagination in Germany (1884-1925)
title_full_unstemmed The Images of Blackness: Savages, Workers and the Emergence of the Counter-imagination in Germany (1884-1925)
title_sort images of blackness: savages, workers and the emergence of the counter-imagination in germany (1884-1925)
publisher Adam Mickiewicz University
series Praktyka Teoretyczna
issn 2081-8130
publishDate 2020-06-01
description The author interprets the figures of European workers and colonized Africans presented as slaves of capitalism and imperialism, the image that circulated in the social and cultural imagination in Germany after the Berlin Conference (1884-1885). The aim of the article is to introduce the concept of “counterimagination” and show how the image of the rabble became juxtaposed with a visualization of the black slave. The author argues that both figures were considered to be a real threat to the German social order and to German Kultur, and concentrates on the popular images of the “other” circulating in the German visual culture after 1880. The first part of the article is devoted to the aesthetics of the weekly satirical magazine Simplicissimus founded in April 1896. In the second part, the aggressive propaganda campaign against the Occupation of the Rhineland by French colonial troops is discussed. The author describes the mechanisms of envisioning black soldiers and points out the anticolonial reactions to the “Black Shame” campaign.
topic countervisuality
visuality
colonialism
race
propaganda
racism
url https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/prt/article/view/23815
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