The South Pacific is where Central European fantasies and reality collide. This course examines the ever-changing relationship between the German-speaking nations of Central Europe and their connection with the South Pacific, including Aotearoa, Sāmoa and Tonga. This course will be broken down into two key sections:
1) German Colonialism in the South Pacific situated in the broader context of German Colonialism and settler colonialism. We will consider the impact of Germany in the South Pacific through colonial photography and read the colonial and travel writing of two women about their experiences in Aotearoa and Sāmoa before and after the First World War.
Central European art, films, and fiction set in the South Pacific has been influential in forming the understanding of the "Other". We will read and analyse the works from the early 20th Century and compare them with contemporary revisionings. Christian Kracht's award winning Imperium (2012/2015), for example, retraces the footsteps of August Engelhardt, a disillusioned German, who left Germany for the South Pacific in the early 20th Century in order to form a "coconut cult". How has Central Europe's understanding of the South Pacific shifted in over a century?
2) The South Pacific in Central Europe- reframed and reclaimed? From the Peoples Shows in the 19th Century to contemporary theatre, film, and art; this section will look at how the South Pacific has claimed their space in Central Europe. Excerpts from From Samoa with Love? Samoan Travellers in Germany 1895-1911: Retracing the Footsteps (2014) will allow us to consider the legacy of the Völkerschauen/People's Shows alongside the controversial Humboldt Forum and the current debates surrounding museums and museum repatriation. The analysis of South Pacific contemporary art, poetry, film, and guest lectures will allow us to fully consider the ongoing dynamics of the Central Europe and South Pacific connection.