Grindel Images Of Europe

Susanne Grindel, Georg-Eckert-Institute for International Textbook Research Images of Europe. Colonialism and European identity in 20th century wall charts 1. Europe as a Construction Concepts of Europe are as diverse as its beholders. For some Europe means progress, humanity and freedom; for others it stands for intolerance, colonialism and genocide. Which images are used to represent certain concepts of Europe is always a statement in the discussion about Europe’s self-understanding. ‘European’ is not what is taking place within a space defined as Europe; it is what has been understood as European in perceptions of the European Self and the Other (Schmale, Malmborg/Strath). I will investigate the extent to which these concepts of Europe have been subject to change using the educational medium of the wall chart. 2. Images of Europe in Educational Media: Wall Charts and Textbook Illustrations Wall charts and textbook illustrations, while different from a functional point of view, share a fundamental aspect. The significance of an image they might feature is only truly unveiled by considering the specific conditions of their use in the classroom. Wall charts and textbook illustrations are therefore both educational media that have enjoyed a key importance in the classroom. This is no longer the case for wall charts, however, which were most widely used in Germany from 1870 to approximately 1950. Since the mid- nineteenth century, wall charts developed – not least thanks to the technical opportunities offered by lithography – into an autonomous educational medium that remained independent from textbook illustrations. They lost their important function as an educational medium, however, early in the second half of the 20th century, and have led an existence as archive treasures or as subjects of research on education history for around two decades (Ritzi 1998, Stach/Müller 1988). Textbook illustrations appeared as early as in the 17th century (Johann Amos Comenius, Orbis sensualium pictus, 1658), but comprehensive or even extensive use of images in textbooks gained momentum in the 1980s. The question as to whether textbooks remain the primary medium of teaching can be answered – despite rival multi-media teaching materials, virtual learning environments or cooperative forms of learning and generating knowledge by the fact that the demand for coherent interpretations, especially in the subject of history, remains high, and so textbooks have not been renounced yet. Quite on the contrary, the textbook remains the first port of call in matters of thematic orientation, as is illustrated by 1

the attempt to write a common European history textbook, which was only resumed as a topic of debate in 2008, and the second volume of the Franco-German History Textbook, which was successfully completed last year. The interpretative authority of wall charts stems, as does that of textbook illustrations, from the fact that they are official educational media. As such, they represent the (school) knowledge of their time. They depict information that has been organised in a particular way, the reservoirs of knowledge considered objective and relevant and thus destined for passing on to the next generation. They convey authorised knowledge in a condensed and – at the same time – highly selective manner. From this point of view, wall charts are, as are textbooks, instruments of political influence, societal control, and cultural translation. Images and portrayals thus conveyed cannot be interpreted in isolation from the context of education history or from their representations within these media. This will be demonstrated using the example of visual constructions of Europe. Images of people, events or structures are thus imbued with a meaning via the specific contexts in which they are portrayed, a meaning that identifies them as European or non-European. 3. Images of European Colonialism – National Past or Shared Memory? The concept of Europe sketched at the beginning suggests a stance that approaches Europe in a way which is neither programmatic nor essentialist, does not work towards a master narrative or an histoire totale grounded with the history of civilisation or even Eurocentric approaches; rather, it addresses the matter via a specific aspect of European history that in turn demands to be viewed from a variety of perspectives (national, transnational and global). Wolfgang Kaschuba proposes a similar path in his description of the perspective on Europe held by his field, human anthropology, as follows: ‘European human anthropology is unable – and indeed unwilling – to analyse or essentialise European identity. Rather, it attempts to reconstruct images, drafts and practices with a ‘European’ connotation – concepts of Being European’ (Kaschuba 2008). This includes internal and external views of Europe and Europe’s interweaving with the world at large. I have therefore chosen modern European colonialism of the 19th and 20th centuries. For reasons of scholarly pragmatism I will refer to Africa, and particularly the German colonial empire. Colonialism appears to be an appropriate research area for two reasons. Firstly, the European states undertook colonialism with a relatively high level of motivation; they considered colonial expansion to be part of Europe’s civilising mission abroad. Secondly, in a similar way to the Holocaust, colonialism seems to be becoming another European site of 2

memory located somewhere between national shame, national grandeur and a future European community of responsibility. Up until now, however, this dark chapter of European history has only been discussed on a national level. Wall charts from 1911 onwards usually focus on the topic of colonialism from an ethnographical, biological or geographical point of view. They feature population groups, the flora and fauna of Africa, or pictures of ‘our colonies’. The larger lithographs from German East Africa of German South-West Africa were published as ‘German colonial wall charts for teaching and decoration, for the school and at home’. They feature life in the colonies or the so-called ‘German protectorates’. A trademark of the wall charts was their highly artistic design and realistic depiction; there are numerous coloured lithograph prints portraying exotic as well as fascinating African landscapes. They present impressive cloud formations, huge areas of flat land, the banks of Lake Victoria or Kilimanjaro in the distance. Tellingly, these are never pure landscapes. Nature is always depicted in the context of human settlements. View from Kilimanjaro of the Massai Steppe and the Ugueno Mountains, 1911 The picture entitled ‘View from Kilimanjaro of the Massai Steppe and the Ugueno Mountains’, which was printed with the Leipzig publishing house Wachsmuth between 1911 and 1928, shows a tent with the black, red and gold flag on the top ridge in the foreground. In front of it, a European in colonial dress sits in a chair; around him and at varying distances, black men sit or crouch while they work in the camp. The drawing is in sepia tones and conveys a relaxed and calm atmosphere, possibly during a rest stop on a mountain tour to 3

Kilimanjaro. The male figure sitting in front of the tent entrance appears at the right-hand edge of the picture and appears slightly raised, subtly dominating the scene. German East Afrika: Native Village of the Coastal Region, 1939 In most cases, the European influence by representatives of colonial power is immediately recognisable, such as in the wall chart ‘German East Africa: Native Village of the Coastal Region’, which was published in the Practical Schoolman series in 1939. Measuring 66 x 100 cm, it shows a scene designed by the contemporary artist Willy Planck, who worked with strong light and dark contrasts. We see a lively market situation beneath high palm trees and with a long row of huts in the background. In the foreground, a black lady in bright red clothing smiles at the beholder as if about to invite him into the picture. In the right-hand far section of the picture, we notice a European dressed in a white suit and hat, and who unlike the rest of the picture appears stiff and static. Everywhere in the picture we can see curved lines, from the cloud formations down to the tradesmen crouching on the ground; the European, however, is conspicuous on account of his pure white clothing and rigid pose, a marked contrast to the dynamically portrayed black lady in the foreground. The European or German holds himself upright; he strides with dignity. 4

From German East Afrika, 1911 Even wall charts that do not feature representatives of colonial powers are identifiable as products of the colonial view of Africa. The picture ‘From German East Africa’ from the years 1911/1914 shows a village with grass huts being entered by a group of black men returning from a hunt with ivory. Far away in the background we see an assembly of whitewashed houses with solid roofs, probably a mission station or a colonial administrative base. The ivory, a precious natural resource, and the administration building, perceived by Europeans as an ‘outpost of civilisation’, function together in this idyllic portrayal. They describe in subtle, pictorial language two significant features of colonial expansion: the interest in natural resources and the justification of this colonial exploitation in the civilising mission that was the guiding argument of an alleged ‘superiority of the white race’. 5

Transport on a Suspension Railway in East Afrika, 1914 Similarly, the wall chart ‘Transport on a Suspension Railway in East Africa’ published by Wachsmuth-Verlag from 1914 to 1936 shows the steel supports of a cable car extending into the almost endless expanse of the East African mountains. An impressive technical achievement, so the perspective and design of the wall chart suggests, was exported from the familiarity of its home country into the unknown, unexplored and uncivilised world of Africa. The term ‘suspension railway’ (Schwebebahn) was perhaps not chosen accidentally, with its connoted associations with the Wuppertal Suspension Railway (Wuppertaler Schwebebahn) back at home. In 1903 the suspension railway was opened in Wuppertal and its steel support structure was regarded a milestone of contemporary German engineering. To a certain extent, the wall chart conveys the ‘blessings of colonialism’, which brought infrastructure and progress to East Africa, developing the land. Wall charts such as these were designed as decorative elements in the classroom or, at the same time, as adornments for households with an interest in emigration. They are characterised by the ethnographical viewpoint with which anything worth knowing about life (as a European) in the colonies was to be imparted. Any portrayals revealing the power relations in the colonies in a drastic manner were purely accidental. Some wall charts were designed based on photographs from the collection of the German Colonial Society (Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft) founded in 1887. These photographs were supposed to convey everyday life in the colonies to those back at home as vividly as possible, to provide potential settlers with information or to propagandistically support the spread of colonial ideas. 6

Germany needs colonies, 1938 The wall charts mentioned were consistently re-published from the era of Imperial Germany up to National Socialism. The loss of the colonies as a result of the First World War hardly appeared to affect wall chart production as far as the subject matter was concerned: the images from 1911 were printed unaltered until well into the 1930s. In the National Socialist period, however, they were joined by others with a more aggressive geopolitical orientation. The wall chart entitled ‘Germany Needs Colonies’ from 1938 shows a world map measuring 66 x 100 cm with a key clearly detailing the locations of natural resources and picking up on colonial revisionism or imparting it in schools. An ‘Outline Map of Africa’ from the year 1939 showed the African continent with mountains and rivers. For the most part, however, Africa appears on the map as a white dot, a wide open space that appeared absolutely ideal for colonisation by a ‘people without space’ (Volk ohne Raum), as the nationalistic or voelkisch propaganda would have it. 7

Africa is explored and colonized, 1939 Wall charts from the time of the Federal Republic only slowly began to free themselves from the colonial perspective. Africa is still depicted as the underdeveloped antithesis or the adverse negative of Europe. Economic relations between the new Federal Republic and Africa are not portrayed on the level of partnership and economic exchange; rather, Africa is perceived as Europe’s ‘natural resource supplier’ or as a ‘land of gold and diamonds’, as two wall charts from 1956 demonstrate. 8

South Africa – Land of gold and diamonds, 1956 Africa- natural resource supplier for Europe, 1956 Even the somewhat smaller posters on elementary historical facts (33 x 50 cm) from the years 1963 and 1972 primarily portray the African continent as an object of a history dominated by Europeans. The poster shows – under the title ‘Africa is being explored and colonised’ – how Europeans on ‘exploratory expeditions’ investigated the innermost areas of the continent and European states founded colonies in Africa. The presentation may have made efforts towards objectivity; nevertheless, it remains captured by the Eurocentric perception, ascertaining self- evidently that ‘up until 1800, only the coastal areas of Africa were known to us’. No attention is given to the fact that complex social and economic systems had been in place with a rich culture and intensive working strategies – which, unlike their European counterparts, had not been based on written language or a monetary economy – long before the arrival of the Europeans. 9

Africa is being explored and colonized, 1963 It was not until numerous African colonies gained independence in 1959 and the process of decolonisation had begun that the perspective on Africa in school wall charts began to change. ‘New Paths for Colonial Country’ or ‘South and East Africa – A Country of Encounters with Europe’ announced two wall charts from 1960 on the former German colonies. New paths for colonial country, around 1960 10

A wall chart from the year 1984 symbolises a change of perspective. Entitled ‘Colonial Rule’, it is based on a colonial photograph from the year 1885. It originated from the older ‘Practical Schoolman’ series, and was probably used in class from as early as 1911. The photograph can be found in archives under the title ‘Travelling in Colonial Style’; the newer wall chart uses the title ‘Colonial Rule’, however. The photograph shows a European in white tropical attire being carried in a hammock with a parasol by four black men. A fifth man is obviously carrying his luggage. This photograph, formerly a colonial photograph of affirmative nature, has now – on account of altered global relations and increased confrontation with the colonial heritage – become a chiffre of colonial rule and thus of a burden on the European past that is far from being overcome. The fact that the photograph is printed in a current history textbook for sixth-form level reinforces this interpretation. As there is no note pertaining to its former use on wall charts, however, it remains unclear whether the textbook authors were familiar with the photograph’s history. The photograph is freed from its original colonialist context and re-read in the course of the postcolonial turn (Bachmann-Medick 2007) as an illuminating example of European self-portrayal. Travelling in colonial style, 1984 The image document shows a typical colonial situation, with clear racial segregation, obvious power relations – and a touch of colonial romance. The racist and violent sting of colonialism is invisible here. In the textbook, however, these aspects are at the forefront. The text focuses 11

on resistance to colonial oppression and colonial war. The contrast between the statement of the picture and that of the text rather emphasises the contradiction between the Europeans’ self-image – determined by racist arrogance and smoothed over by the civilizing mission – and the external perspective on colonialism which includes colonial violence. Rather, the picture depicts colonialism as something exotic and unknown; in any case, nothing threatening or challenging. At the same time, it does not focus on any specific colonial nation or situation. The picture could have been taken in any colony. The key, which remains of a general nature, emphasises the transnational character of the portrayal. It is not a nationally specific type but a rather milder way of depicting European colonialism. The text accompanying the picture supports this transnational reading. Here, the negative aspects of German colonial rule are portrayed, without, however, overlooking its European framework. Idi Amin, 1975 The picture was used widely – and continues to be today – not only in textbooks but also in academic and popular portrayals or exhibitions on colonialism. The later ‘reversal’ of the photograph’s message when Ugandan dictator Idi Amin had himself photographed in a sedan chair carried by whites in 1975, underlines two points. Firstly, the photograph has adopted the character of a key frame (Pandel 2008) that is understood transnationally and transculturally as a chiffre for colonial exploitation. Obviously it is an image that has ‘made’ history (Paul 2006). It is a component of collective image concepts not only of German but also of European colonialism in general. Secondly, the photograph is an exemplary model of a 12

European pictorial tradition that ascribes crucial significance and dominance to the figure positioned in the centre. The imbalance in power appears all the more dramatic due to the visible contrast between the one fully clothed European and the five only partially clothed blacks. Pictures such as these transport European patterns of interpretation and conceptual worlds; they are read before a background of European iconographical tradition and are supposed to convey the ordered, civilised presence of Europeans – as well as their racist arrogance – as having a stabilising and positive effect. Such photographs intimately combined authority, discipline and order with European presence. In this way, they shaped the image of colonialism not only in Europe and irrespective of whether these states participated in colonial expansion (Jäger 2006), but also in the former colonised states, as demonstrated by the ‘new translation’ of the scene by a postcolonial dictator. 4. Conclusion: Shared Memory and Collective Identity This short passage through portrayals of colonialism on wall charts may have demonstrated which concepts of Europeanness are thus transported and how Europe perceives itself via a process of distancing itself from the cultural Other. Images of colonialism once established knowledge that was given a Eurocentric order, generated myths of the ‘White Man’s Burden’ as Rudyard Kipling putit or defined collective pasts of colonial dimensions and empires. I find it particularly noteworthy that colonialism is not only an example of a national perception of Europe but that it also allows for conclusions on a shared European responsibility towards the colonial legacy. For portrayals of colonialism are always linked to concepts of Europe and its heritage. The extent to which educational media understand critical confrontation with the colonial past as a European mission or – alternatively – banish it from collective memory is a contribution to the development of a European identity. This is connected to the concept of history that is more than a mere construction, and it demonstrates the virulence of memory. Memories cannot be harmonised by official interpretations or organised images of history, as demonstrated by the debates in France surrounding the so-called ‘loi mémoirielle’ of February 2005. Pasts that have not been overcome remain in the present where they can support or hinder solutions to contemporary problems. Transnational migration for example increasingly permits unresolved European conflicts of history to evolve into matters of domestic politics (Leggewie 2009). In this regard, the debate on shared memories, on dividing and connecting views of the past can contribute towards the emergence of a European awareness – something like a European identity. As far as colonialism is concerned, it could be said that here, another negative 13

founding myth for Europe and a new European memory site are taking shape, which, just like that of the Holocaust, can lead via national shame to a European community of responsibility (Eckert 2008). But which part do educational media play here, particularly wall charts? It is striking that their style and manner of presentation, even their contents, have hardly changed, even throughout the ruptured course of the 20th century. This medium has obviously pre-established its method of presentation: the intensity of the artistic design, the schematisation of types and topics, as well as its avoidance of detailed explanations and texts. Texts are only included in larger amounts whenever smaller posters are made out of the wall charts to be summarised in folders and contemplated closely. Textbook illustrations are presented in a very different manner to wall charts. They are located in a mesh of various references and are interpreted by captions, authored texts, source excerpts or other image documents. Intermediality and multiperspectivity are characteristic for modern textbook illustrations. Use of wall charts in the classroom, however, demands their consistently reductive nature, which determines their limits while at the same time increasing their power of suggestion. In any case, they are not instruments of multiple-perspective teaching. Wall charts are rather more useful as an identification challenge. In the specific case of colonialism, they outlined an Africa that was both foreign and yet at the same time penetrated by European civilisation. In Africa, they thus equally contrived a vision of Europe that was typical of the time. Wall chart illustrations thus demonstrate most intensively how technical possibilities and goals of education policy can be more closely entwined than we initially suppose. 14

Bibliography Bachmann-Medick, Doris (2007): Cultural Turns. Neuorientierungen in den Kulturwissenschaften, Reinbek: Rowohlt, 2nd ed. Eckert, Andreas (2008): Koloniale Vergangenheiten und europäisches Gedächtnis, in: Internationale Schulbuchforschung 3, 691-694. Jäger, Jens and Martin Knauer (ed.) (2006): Bilder als historische Quellen. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink. Kaschuba, Wolfgang (2008): Europäisierung als kulturalistisches Projekt? Ethnologische Beobachtungen, in: Europa im Spiegel der Kulturwissenschaften, S. 204-225. Leggewie, Claus (2009): Schlachtfeld Europa. Transnationale Erinnerung und europäische Identität, in: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik 2, 81-93. Malmborg, Mikael af and Bo Stråth, (ed.) (2004): The Meaning of Europe. Variety and Contention within and among Nations, Oxford and New York: Berg. Pandel, Hans-Jürgen (2008): Bildinterpretation. Die Bildquelle im Geschichtsunterricht. Bildinterpretation I, Schwalbach/Ts.: Wochenschau Verlag. Paul, Gerhard (2006): Visual History. Ein Studienbuch, Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Rupprecht. Ritzi, Christian and Ulrich Wiegmann (ed.) (1998): Zwischen Kunst und Pädagogik. Zur Geschichte des Schulwandbildes in der Schweiz und in Deutschland, Hohengehren: Schneider-Verlag. Schmale, Wolfgang (2001): Geschichte Europas, Wien: Böhlau. Stach, Reinhard and Walter Müller (1988): Schulwandbilder als Spiegel des Zeitgeistes zwischen 1880 und 1980. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. 15

Grindel Images Of Europe

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Grindel Images Of Europe — Document Transcript

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