"From Ruga-Ruga to Askari: Intersections between African History and Military History"

Based on a revisionist approach to military history, Michelle Moyd uncovers the intentional lives of African colonial conscripts.

 Download Podcast

Duration: 50:11

Transcript   * This might take a few seconds to load.

 

This paper will highlight research methods used in the writing of Violent Intermediaries: African Soldiers, Conquest, and Everyday Colonialism in German East Africa, a social and cultural history of African soldiers (askari) in the German colonial army (Schutztruppe) in East Africa from 1890 to 1918. In particular, the talk will focus on the use of German colonial sources to reconstruct askari experiences and aspirations. The paper also points out the still largely untapped potential for historians to do compelling work at the intersection of military history and African history.

Michelle Moyd is Associate Professor of History at Indiana University—Bloomington, where she teaches African history and military history. Her book, Violent Intermediaries: African Soldiers, Conquest, and Everyday Colonialism in German East Africa was published in the New African Histories series at Ohio University Press this year.

This lecture is part of the Monday Africa Seminar Series organized by Professor Ghislaine Lydon, UCLA Department of History.

Published: Thursday, November 6, 2014