Образы-представления о Черном континенте и африканцах у германского колониального офицера Рудольфа Ганссера
Images and Understanding of the Dark Continent and the African People in the Writings of German Colonial Officer Rudolf Hansser

Summary/Abstract: The German Empire, having entered the colonial race of the Great Powers later than the other countries, by the beginning of the ХХ century could become established on the relatively small territories in various parts on the world, its biggest lands being situated in Africa. Rwanda-Urundi and Tanganyika in the eastern part of the Dark Continent as well as Cameroon, Togoland and South West Africa in the west belonged to Germany. There exists a number of works about the German dominance in Africa. However, understanding by German colonial officers of the importance of their own mission in the host countries, native inhabitants and relations with them have not been sufficiently studied. The given article is to partially compensate for these shortfalls. Its aim is to reconstruct the understanding of the Dark Continent by colonial officers of the German Empire which predetermined their behavior on the Dark Continent. The sources of the current research are personal materials and official documents belonging to Rudolf Hansser (the diary, letters and reports) covering the period 1896—1902. Taking into consideration the fact that R. Hansser was a typical representative of colonial officers, while assumptions have to be made about his individual knowledge and worldview, his understanding and views on the Dark Continent can be spread to all junior German colonial officers of the late XIX — early XX centuries. The methodological basis of the given research is the publications in the field of imagology and intelligentsia studies. The understanding of the images and the stages of their formation (ethnic, foreign-policy, stereotypes and images of a foreign culture) is based on the developments of the Centre for the Study of Russian History of the Russian History School (Russian Academy of Science). The definition of the officer case R. Hansser belonged to as an autonomous social and intellectual community is the achievement of the school of intelligentsia studies of Ivanovo State University. Intelligentsia is considered as a part of a broader notion that is intellectuals. The behavior patterns of western intellectuals (weak people, independent experts, outsiders and nonconformists) are in the focus of attention. The results of the research are the following. The understanding by R. Hansser of the Dark Continent and the Aborigines are within the frameworks of the traditional for that time discourse: willingness to serve the native land in the colonies is combined with the desire to move up a career path and to reach material well-being. However, paternalism towards the natives and the feeling of superiority over them led to the appearance and development of racist ideas that formed a definite behavior towards the African people. At the same time, Hansser’s enthusiasm turned into disappointment under the influence of a number of failed projects and the lack of career development. However, the officer explained his failures by different factors but he never accepted his own blame.

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