Betwixt and between. An anthropologist's perspective on the history of African Studies in Germany

Peter Probst

Africa Spectrum, 2005, vol. 40, issue 3, 403-427

Abstract: The present essay aims to contextualize the recent debate of African Studies in Germany in a wider comparative and historical framework. Taking up an anthropological perspective it is argued that the specific issues in question mirror the well known features of ethnicity whose dynamics can be identified in the study of academic group identity as well. In order to substantiate this argument this essay explores the development of African Studies in Germany with respect to the shifting relationships among and between the various segments constituting the field. It is concluded that its peculiar status of being "betwixt and between" the two major spheres of British and French influence has all the potential to ensure German research a privileged position vis à vis the other players in the European league of African Studies.

Date: 2005
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